[Dynamic] 2020 Dynamic Discs Business Strategy

[BogeyNoMore]

I just realized... My take was that of a white person.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I felt my ethnic group were unfairly targeted and treated by police and the criminal justice system. I'm being 100 % serious here.

One thing the most recent movement after George Floyd's death has driven home, is to see things as others do... or at least as they might.

 

[joecoin]

While I mostly think this is a mountain out of a molehill take I will say we found it amusing/awkward beating through the bushes at league this week calling out to one another, "What kind of disc was it?" "A black felon."

How many in your league are not white? opcorn:

 

[SaROCaM]

I just realized... My take was that of a white person.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I felt my ethnic group were unfairly targeted and treated by police and the criminal justice system. I'm being 100 % serious here.

One thing the most recent movement after George Floyd's death has driven home, is to see things as others do... or at least as they might.

Yeah I have had a similar shift in thinking about things. When someone points out that something is a problem, it is easy to think, "It's not a problem to me, so it must not be a real problem." This kind of thinking holds us back from growth/progress. Left unchecked, something that isn't a problem for us now may become a problem for us later.

There is also always a cost/benefit. If something is a problem, what cost/benefit would come from addressing it?

As for DD disc names, there are different ways to think about it. They could have a glamorizing/normalizing (whichever word suits) effect. They could have the effect of bringing up awareness and starting discussion that leads to something more.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

It's fetishizing the criminal justice system in a way that a lot of people may not support.

Some may not feel this way, but using "felon" as a cool marketing term is kinda weird when you think about it. Especially if you were to think about it as someone who thinks there may be over-incarceration.

Tampa, thanks for helping me see something I don't think I'd have seen on my own.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure DD had no intention of turning anyone off with their naming strategy. You want to sell more discs to more people. They chose a naming strategy that seems cool from a certain perspective, but not from another.

Perhaps my change in thought shows how an "I don't see color" mentality won't get us anywhere.
My first post was an "I don't see color" type of comment. It wasn't until I acknowledged that I'm only looking at it as a white guy, that it even occurred to me that I might see it differently if I wasn't white.

 

[ryanrockmoran]

I agree with being somewhat uncomfortable with the DD naming system. I am a white guy in my 30s, so the criminal justice system essentially exists to protect people like me. But as current events and basically all of history shows, it is not the same for everyone. This is where the lack of diversity in disc golf becomes a problem. If there were any PoC in positions of power at DD when they were coming up with their naming system, they could have discourage it or at least been able to provide the perspective that black disc golfers might not find discs named "Suspect", "Felon", "Criminal" etc.. attractive. Obviously how DD names their discs isn't going to be the biggest problem in anyone's life, but it's just something that could easily have been different had more thought and perspective been put into it.

 

[Bogeyman928]

Maaaaan you ever have a big beautiful post typed up just to poof it away with a fat finger?? :wall:

Anyways IMO DD's core business strategy is approachability, the rest is kind of superfluous. In that light I kind of get why some people dislike them....theyre disc golf nerds and they dont try and be anything but that.

It doesnt seem to me that theyre even trying to capture the already existing"BigSexy" coverage crowd (innova guys are gonna innova) but their approachable nature makes them great for new players.

Admittedly ive never dealt with any other brand's customer service but in the 5 or 6 years ive been playing DD has ensured ill bag Trilogy until my arm falls off.

 

[tampabay]

Tampa, thanks for helping me see something I don't think I'd have seen on my own.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure DD had no intention of turning anyone off with their naming strategy. You want to sell more discs to more people. They chose a naming strategy that seems cool from a certain perspective, but not from another.

Perhaps my change in thought shows how an "I don't see color" mentality won't get us anywhere.
My first post was an "I don't see color" type of comment. It wasn't until I acknowledged that I'm only looking at it as a white guy, that it even occurred to me that I might see it differently if I wasn't white.

Happy to be here for a convo. I tried to make the initial post thought provoking rather than incendiary. Looking forward to more convos

 

[Powellrm]

This has been a really interesting thread and a good read through. Im 31 and started playing disc golf a year before the covid thing kicked in, so I got a head start on the addiction of throwing plastic in the woods. And trilogy takes up the large majority of my bag. I’ve thrown all manufacturers and over time I’ve migrated towards mostly trilogy. There are a few reasons why.

Trilogy plastic has the absolute best feel. I like how Lucid wears in well and doesn’t take forever like champion (for example) does. And their lucid-x is some of the best plastic on the market IMO. Their hybrid plastic is very good and I can’t wait for more of it. Biofuzion is a very underrated

Their discs tend to be a little more shallow, which is good for my smaller hands.

Their production feels consistent. I have several of the same discs cycling through my bag and over a span of two years I haven’t encountered any huge variations in flight. Innova on the other hand...I bought a star beast that thought it was a max weight champ firebird.

Lastly, their customer service is unparalleled. Really quick, kind, and communicative.

After reading a good bit of the thread, my take away is that people don’t like DD/trilogy because of their marketing style, which is modern and social media heavy. Your reasons and feeling are valid, but they’re just running a business with modern, real world marketing tactics. And yeah, they do cater toward the new crowd. So what? Innova put out a survey that said about 40% of current disc golf consumers started during covid era.

I’m glad folks have touched on the social/racial justice side of the DD naming system. I can totally see where folks are coming from.

 

[elmexdela]

This has been a really interesting thread and a good read through. Im 31 and started playing disc golf a year before the covid thing kicked in, so I got a head start on the addiction of throwing plastic in the woods. And trilogy takes up the large majority of my bag. IÂ've thrown all manufacturers and over time IÂ've migrated towards mostly trilogy. There are a few reasons why.

Trilogy plastic has the absolute best feel. I like how Lucid wears in well and doesnÂ't take forever like champion (for example) does. And their lucid-x is some of the best plastic on the market IMO. Their hybrid plastic is very good and I canÂ't wait for more of it. Biofuzion is a very underrated

Their discs tend to be a little more shallow, which is good for my smaller hands.

Their production feels consistent. I have several of the same discs cycling through my bag and over a span of two years I havenÂ't encountered any huge variations in flight. Innova on the other hand...I bought a star beast that thought it was a max weight champ firebird.

Lastly, their customer service is unparalleled. Really quick, kind, and communicative.

After reading a good bit of the thread, my take away is that people donÂ't like DD/trilogy because of their marketing style, which is modern and social media heavy. Your reasons and feeling are valid, but theyÂ're just running a business with modern, real world marketing tactics. And yeah, they do cater toward the new crowd. So what? Innova put out a survey that said about 40% of current disc golf consumers started during covid era.

IÂ'm glad folks have touched on the social/racial justice side of the DD naming system. I can totally see where folks are coming from.

how much trilogy pay you to post this brief persuasive speech

 

[Alexplz]

I like DD fine due to some excellent molds. It was weird, before COVID I considered DD the most legit of the sort of boutique virtual manufacturers, as they seemed to be on top of their distribution.

I wanted to revisit the Escape this season, but I pretty much just can't. Instead, picked up some Valks, available locally in a broad spectrum of plastics.

They should and probably are considering going the route of Discmania, splitting their production. Their originals could include a select few classic molds and cut the rest, and start fresh with American molded plastic with a new naming scheme.

EDIT: just for fun, go with these molds in biofuzion and lucid, and the putters in classic:

Judge
Warden
Emac Truth
Escape
Felon
And I guess whatever their most popular Destroyer clone is... Enforcer??

 

[Alexplz]

It's fetishizing the criminal justice system in a way that a lot of people may not support.

Some may not feel this way, but using "felon" as a cool marketing term is kinda weird when you think about it. Especially if you were to think about it as someone who thinks there may be over-incarceration.

Took a quick look, just FWIW fetishizing is 100% the appropriate term here.

 

[Powellrm]

how much trilogy pay you to post this brief persuasive speech

Sorry to say, no payments unfortunately. But if they want to sponsor a 900 rated player, I wouldn't say no

 

[crd 81]

I committed a felony over 20 years ago (expunged now)and don't look at the Felon and think "how dare they be so insensitive to my history". I don't like the name because it doesn't carry any semblance to disc golf. It sounds like someone was trying too hard to sound edgy or cool. I think it is a stupid name like a bunch of other discs and wonder why companies can't have more creativity in their naming scheme.

Don't overthink it.

 

[wolfhaley]

I committed a felony over 20 years ago (expunged now)and don't look at the Felon and think "how dare they be so insensitive to my history". I don't like the name because it doesn't carry any semblance to disc golf. It sounds like someone was trying too hard to sound edgy or cool. I think it is a stupid name like a bunch of other discs and wonder why companies can't have more creativity in their naming scheme.

Don't overthink it.

I agree. But do any names of discs carry any real meaning to disc golf? The Birdie I suppose. Eagle too. What else? Mako3, Viking, Sampo, Wasp, Wizard etc. Innova naming them after animals isn't very creative either. Or naming a disc the animal for that matter. I also don't hear people complaining about the Stalker or Undertaker. Those sound like they'd be DD molds actually.

I'm with you though, don't overthink it.

 

[Rastnav]

I always thought DD was going for a sort of "Wild West" fetishizing, not related to anything current. I mean, you can certainly feel that is cringey as well, for good reasons, but it's not quite the same. Now, they certainly have turned that into criminal justice related terms, so maybe it's not that anymore. IDK, maybe it's the old man in me, but old westerns is where my mind went first.

 

[Moose33]

I always thought DD was going for a sort of "Wild West" fetishizing, not related to anything current. I mean, you can certainly feel that is cringey as well, for good reasons, but it's not quite the same. Now, they certainly have turned that into criminal justice related terms, so maybe it's not that anymore. IDK, maybe it's the old man in me, but old westerns is where my mind went first.

I think that might have been part of their original idea, probably got derailed a bit when Legacy took the Outlaw, Bandit and Renegade names.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I've never given the DD naming convention much thought from an ethical or socially conscious perspective.

However, I've been turned off by names like the Felon. I want an overstable 9 speed forehand disc. I go to the store and I look at the Raptor and the Firebird and the Felon. And I then I imagine the Felon taking off right and smashing into the kitchen window of the house on the other side of the small fence along hole 6. And I grab the Firebird.

 

[VictorB]

I agree. But do any names of discs carry any real meaning to disc golf? The Birdie I suppose. Eagle too. What else? Mako3, Viking, Sampo, Wasp, Wizard etc. Innova naming them after animals isn't very creative either. Or naming a disc the animal for that matter. I also don't hear people complaining about the Stalker or Undertaker. Those sound like they'd be DD molds actually.

I'm with you though, don't overthink it.

Don't forget the predator!

Most companies have weird naming schemes that make no sense. I think MVP does the best in staying 'within their IP' scheme.