I've been meaning to write this for a while, and after watching the 2/10/13 show, now is as good a time as ever. Others, if I am completely out of touch, please feel free to tell me so. These are just my concerns about the brand, and I hope that I am wrong. If not, feel free to discuss.

There are a lot of new brands coming up that is making the field almost as diversified as the sport was in the early-mid 90s:

Ebonite, Hammer, Columbia, Track, Brunswick, Storm, Roto-Grip, 900 Global, DV8, Lane #1, Motiv, Lord Field, Visionary... the names go on and on. I honestly can't remember a time when we had this many ball manufacturers in this sport (lessee.. in my time, up to 1999, I remember seeing Brunswick, Columbia, Ebonite, AMF, Fab, Nu-Line, Quantum, Storm, Track, and Lane #1, and that's it! 25 years worth from when I was born until 2000).

But while I know that each one goes through its time of being popular, the one brand here that really appears to be falling off by the wayside, is Ebonite.

All of the rest now still have a strong following, and lately, Storm is the flavour of the day. Hammer is still going strong, but to be honest, Ebonite has been struggling since the Mission Domination/250K.

Looking at the 2/10/13 show, and seeing Tommy back on TV, with the 10 balls that have come out between the Mission 250K and now (Mission X, Pursuit/Pursuit S, Elevate, Innovate, Exceed, Endure, Persevere, Challenge, Champion), it actually shocked me to see that he went back to a Gamebreaker, rather than some of the newer equipment Ebonite has (yes, he did go an Innovate later in the block, but still). The Challenge is a monster of a ball, and I know you should use the ball best suited for the condition, not what is newer (newer /= better), but seeing someone revert back to a 5 year old ball doesn't generate much confidence in the new products they are putting out, especially since Ebonite isn't seeing much air time on TV as they were 3 years ago.

Plus the videos.. As I've said before in other places, the market-speak is hurting their presentation of their gear. For example, their latest video for the Champion is barely a minute and a half, and half of that time is spent trying to stoke up the excitement as if it's a trailer for a Bond movie, with very little on the ball, and even when we see the ball, we pretty much see the same angle thrown by the same bowler, and nothing on how any of the balls used were laid out and drilled, patterns used, nothing. There's just a lot lacking there.

I also wonder if the multi-manufacturer deals are hurting them, in the fact that you aren't seeing the marquis bowlers often. Yes, you see Barnes and Fagan for Columbia and Track, but Ebonite only has 2-3 left, in Jones, Kulick, and Terrell-Kearney, and apart from the Women's series, you're not seeing either of them at all. Apart from them, O'Neill and Pluhowsky, everyone else is multi-brand: Mika, Johnson, Parkin, Blanchard, etc. While that may help to get EBI more exposure, Ebonite as a brand is really falling behind.

I wonder if this is part of the reasons why everyone and their mother is flocking to Storm, or at the least, avoiding Ebonite. All of this competition is great for the consumer, but also breeds innovation, and Ebonite may not be breeding it enough.

I only post this because I'm concerned where Ebonite is headed; I've been using their gear almost exclusively since the early 90s, and for me, their gear has been phenomenal. But now, something just isn't right.. I don't know what the answer is here for Ebonite, but what I do know is that they need to think of one and think of it fast, otherwise people will forget what Ebonite is.

BL.

There were several other manufactures available in your time that you didnt mention. New companies and go. With the internet and todays market place it is no longer just regional its global. Ive not seen much from EBI that Ive been impressed with and here locally literally no one throws it. Hammer and Track are the much bigger sellers. I think the Curveball Hardball and Cyclone is there best release recently.

I've noticed that around here too.  Only 1 person in my league throws Ebonite on a regular basis and that is just the Cyclone.  The rest of his stuff is Brunswick.

Now I have an Ebonite Vital Energy except I haven't found use for it since this past summer.  It's a decent sanded pearl ball, but very condition specific.

Most everyone throws Storm/Roto, with some people throwing Brunswick/DV8.  There are a few players who throw Track/Hammer/C300.  One of my teammates has some balls from 900 Global in his arsenal and is the only person in our league to throw that brand.

I think part of it is that Track/Hammer/C300 are all focusing on talking about specific things with ball motion, covers and core design to produce balls to make their products appeal to a wider group of people.  Those 3 brands do a good job when it comes to product videos.  Hammer has to be the best at that because they typically have at least 3-5 different styles and layouts showing the widest possible use.

Ebonite on the other hand seems to want to play the marketing game hyping the brand instead of focusing on why a specific ball is a "need to have."  And Ebonite refuses to show TJ, Kelly Kulick, or even Jason Couch in their ball motion videos.  Why?  They should be showing their pro staff, and not Ed Gallagher or some pro shop operator that noone has seen outside of the local house before.  Plus, nothing since the Vital Energy or even the original Mission has interested me from their line.

What Ebonite should do is take a page from the Storm/Roto playbook on how to market.  You see videos with their pro staff, regional staff, amateurs, and you also have people like Schlemmer, Del Ballard, Peterson, and even Hank Boomershine talking about the technical benefits. 

Perfect Example:
The newest video for the Ebonite Champion on Facebook has only 6 likes + 1 share and 0 comments.

The newest video on Storm's Facebook was for the Vivid and that's from last year.  202 likes + 29 shares and 617 comments.

Storm/Roto does the best marketing job on all platforms, hands down.  They make you want their stuff, get people talking about their stuff, and back it up with how well the balls roll for a wide range of people.

Ebonite's videos aren't very good, but they are better than Columbia's videos (especially lately, where the Columbia videos only show Bugsy Kelly throwing the ball).
Ebonite needs to reach out to companies like Bowlingball.com, Tamer Bowling and Videoballreviews and send them some seed balls for video testing purposes. It helps to see different bowlers throwing the equipment. Hammer does a decent job at this but they are still a little too rev-heavy. Still, it's much better than any of their sister companies.

I haven't sold an Ebonite ball since the Innovate came out (which that ball looks pretty good)  Probably 90% of all my ball sales comes from Storm/Roto, with the exception of plastics (which Brunswick colors sell more for me)  Not saying they're bad I know some people who have had some success with Columbia, Ebonite, & Track, but Storm/Roto at least in my shop have taken over the market.

One thing that gets neglected is the local shops. Most bowlers throw what their local shops push the hardest. If the guys/gals in charge push C300, you'll see a lot of C300. If they push a ton of Storm, you'll see a ton of Storm. Now, what shops push the hardest usually comes down to which companies the operator gets the best deals from and/or what they personally like the best. So, again, I don't think it's a matter of people not using X-brand or Y-brand because that brand is inferior. I think it just comes down to what is being pushed by the people they're buying it from.

Evidence to support this comes from some of the earlier posts. One of the guys mentioned seeing mostly Track and Hammer at his center. There are very few new Hammers on the racks in my area these days, and there are almost zero Track balls in play. That's because we really don't have any shop operators hawking those brands around here. When we had local Big B shops, tons of people were throwing Big B. When that shop operator threw Ebonite back in the day, there was a lot of Ebonite on the racks. I'm not saying that trends don't change. I do think certain companies can become the flavor of the month here and there. Still, I think it mostly has to do with the local shops and what they're trying to push more than it has to do with actual ball quality. If I had to guess, I'd bet there are still plenty of Ebonite-heavy areas out there.

WOW, gloom and doom
Ebonite brands are very popular here
tons of Hammer stuff, track, Columbia and then Ebonite
I bet the large family that operates Ebonite brands would disagree with you isolated observations.
Last I heard, Ebonite has 50% of the total balls sold worldwide.
I happen to know somebody, who knows somebody, you get the point
They would not agree with you at all

They have some awesome new equipment and just because TJ used on old gamebreaker for a few shots, you have decided they are on the down and out?
Hey, that gold ball from the other company performed so well....all it did was leave corner pins...
that company is struggling because several of the guys used on the tele and it don't carrry.....waaaaahh, ball sucks, company sucks....

really??

Did I ever say that they don't carry, or the ball or company sucks? Read my post again. Of the 6 300s that I have, 4 were with Ebonite equipment (Total NV, Complete NV, 2x Mission Domination/250K).

Also I mentioned that I understand why TJ went with a Gamebreaker, as you should always use the ball that works for you in the conditions given, not what is newest out there. But in a marketing perspective, if you are the rep (read: the face) of the company you're representing, it does your company no good to use older, discontinued, hard-to-find equipment. Ebonite can't make the Gamebreaker anymore thanks to the new USBC rules in place.

Bit of background for me: I split my time between two cities: Las Vegas, and Sacramento, though I'm primarily in Sacramento now. Up here, there is only 1 EBI staffer (there were two: Leanne Hulsenberg went to Storm over the summer), and he's amateur staff; the next closest ball rep is the regional rep, and she's in Reno. In this area, Track and Storm are dominant, and that has come as a shock to me, as when I moved to Sacramento from Vegas, Vegas was a heavy Ebonite area, to where there are very up here.

In Vegas, there's more variety being thrown, but again, the main ball rep there is again, amateur staff.

In no way did I say that Ebonite is down and out. I seriously hope not, especially with me throwing their gear since the Turbo X. In the 36 years I've been bowling (I'm 39), I've had more success with Ebonite equipment than any other brand out there (my next would be Fab, followed by Columbia). Hell, for fits and shiggles and eye candy, I keep an Optyx Formula 1 and a TPC Warrior in my joey, have another Optyx NIB at home, and another NIB Turbo X just for when I want to pull them out. They are collector's items now, but that also tells me how good they were and that they can be pulled out any time to be used.

My Optyx can outperform their !Q Tour Pearl anytime. I'll even go as far as to say that the Gold Rhino Pro could as well (can't say that for the Pearl Quake).

To contrast that, I'm about to trade in the Mission X and Pursuit/S for something else (probably a Champion; I don't know), as they just didn't roll well for me (both have less than 15 games each), yet my Mission Domination and Undefeated Fire are staples in my bag alongside the Challenge.

I just think that some of the trends on how a ball is marketed has changed, and some brands are getting it right, while some are missing the boat.. Unfortunately, I wonder if they are missing the boat here. Showing the ball from only one angle of attack isn't going to work when we all know that everybody doesn't throw the ball the same exact way. This is where Hammer's videos excel here, as they have the tweener, the wheeler, the cranker, the down-and-in player, and the lefty. You get to see how the ball reacts from various angles as well as different hands altogether. There is also less of a sales pitch here, as they get down to what the bowler really looks for, which is specs, layouts, ball motion, and reaction.

We see ball motion and reaction, basic RG/Diff and finish, but nothing on other specs and layouts in the videos for the Champion, Pursuit/Pursuit-S, Mission X, none of the mid-range balls, and almost the Challenge (they did show pin-up/down and polished versions).

Isn't it also interesting that the last two balls that really sold well for them were thrown by those with the most versatile lines, and both of those being the Mission and Mission 250K? Kulick, Mika, and Allen sold those balls and then some.

Isn't it also interesting that in any Ebonite video, the ones that had anything as far as specs and layouts go were the Mission, Vital Sign, Hardball/Curveball, and Total NV balls, all of which were made with Ussery's assistance before he went on to become Hammer's brand manager?

I just don't know what the answer is to problem. I really don't. But I'm not saying that the company is going downhill, because they are selling and still selling well. But others here are saying it: It's the equipment that sells, not the marketing, and from their videos, more is being spent on marketing, which isn't helping. We know that their R&D and manufacturing are great; it may be that their presentation is just off, or isn't appealing to the younger bowlers, like the other brands are.. I don't know.

What I do know is that everyone here (at least those posting here, as they've seem to care about what I said, and I thank them for that) doesn't want to see Ebonite go the way of the dodo. I know they'll bounce back and bounce back strong, but I don't know when, especially with the fact that there is so much variety and competition out there now.

BL.

I appreciate the thoughtfulness and quality of your post.  This is provoking a very interesting discussion indeed.

I bowl all over Northern California and Storm dominates the region if what you see on the racks is any indication.  I would say Hammer and DV8 are next in line.

I rarely if ever see Ebonite balls themselves featured prominently in the pro shops, but always see Storm/Roto, Hammer, and Columbia.  I don't understand why.

Lately it seems I see Brunswick balls creeping into the shops around here, but that might be that I am noticing them because that's all I throw any more.

I am very happy that in the midst of consolidation that we have many smaller companies such as Seismic, Lane #1, Lordfield, Motiv, and Visionary that are still doing well, but that's another topic.

Why Ebonite seemingly neglects that name brand but does fairly well with it's other brands is a mystery to me!