DYE has Proto, should AGD have a "Pro" label?

[ultralight]

dye created proto as their "budget" label. to distance their lower end products from their elite high end name.

should AGD create a higher end/tourny/pro label, and product line (based on Xvalve) to distance their excellent products from the old "mags suck" stigma?

it has worked for many companies over the years. how many of you knew tht DeWalt, makers of "rugged, contractor grade power tools", was created by Black & Decker to change their "toy tool" image?

the big three automakers keep the names of smaller companies that they buy as division titles in order to keep that particular brand's customer base. and the tactic works very well.
most people who are not part of the auto industry and/or don't live in Michigan, don't know which brands (saturn, cadillac, mercury, dodge) are owned by which parent companies (GM, Ford, Chrysler).

let me know what you think.

[SpecialBlend2786]

I dunno, it could be a good idea.

Then again, the name AGD was well known for making one of the greatest tourney guns back in the day (68 automag). So they DO have a great reputation for making high end markers. The name does stand for something, and i think that is why alot of people still buy mags, for the legendary AGD service and quality.

[Glickman]

i stopped hoping for new things from agd quite a while ago

[ultralight]

while mags have a great reputation for quality among mag owners and AOers, they have a decidedly negative reputation in the pro/tourny scene.
i've even heard TK talk about how Pros wont touch mags due to the bad rep.

i'm suggesting a new tournament friendly "coat of paint" for AGD's quality products in order to shed the bad rep that is attatched to the name Automag.

now, don't get me wrong, i'm primarily a woodsballer. but it seems to me that tournament paintball is where the money is, where the advertising is, and where little timmy's mom is dumping outrageous ammounts of coin to deck him out in all of the latest and greatest gear.


dream the impossible dream!!!

[Skoad]

So they DO have a great reputation for making high end markers. The name does stand for something, and i think that is why alot of people still buy mags, for the legendary AGD service and quality.

They USED to have a great reputation for making high end markers.


Technology changes, and if you want to keep up you have to change too. AGD seemed pretty stubborn for a while, either that or they just didn't have the resources to compete on the electro market.

[Glickman]

i'm suggesting a new tournament friendly "coat of paint" for AGD's quality products in order to shed the bad rep that is attatched to the name Automag.

eh?

one coat of paint will do that?

heck, ill COVER pete rose with it, that should work..



personally i dont think color will change anything. yes, some tourny people may be (yes, i can make jew and tournyballer jokes, well, because i am one ) that dumb, but most are looking for performance, usually over color. (although youll get the dumb kids that will go for a gun just for color)

[ultralight]

"coat of paint" is in quotation marks because it is a metaphor. meaning, same proven, reliable x-valve technology, new marker platform, and new name.

[Enemy]

they need something high end before they can make a high end brand dont you think???

[warbeak2099]

Bingo. They currently don't have a supermarker that they can market as their pro label flagship gun.

[LudavicoSoldier]

While a "pro" AGD line would be nice, I think that they would have to come up with something that would be much more air efficient to even think of competeing in todays market. Lets face it, the mag in any form is a pretty bad gas hog compared to todays electro guns. It wold seem that a flagship marker needs to have a certain list of things to be appealing to tournament players, such as:

1. Air efficiency
2. Weight (the emag is a beast compared to a timmy)
3. Modes of fire (ramping, etc)
4. Crazy milling and ano
5. Bells and/or whistles
6. Tourny cred

After the death of the X-Mag, I doubt AGD is chomping at the bit to release another expensive, exclusive gun. I simply dont believe that AGD has the capacity and/or financial backing to put out something that could compete with your shockers/matrixes/timmys.

[purple]

Ever hear the saying "you hear what you expect to hear" dunno where some people are getting the impression that people think "mags suck". every field in san antonio/houston i've been to everyone has been totally impressed with mags and think they are the shiznit. I mean i've had refs coozing all over my emag/tac and saying they wish they had a mag, mags are the shiznit for accuracy, etc. Maybe Texas is odd or something, but everyone is swinging back into agd's favor here. I mean, where else do you see 3 XMags and 2 emags in one day on the same field? I love agd products, and i also love WDP products, hence i have both. Quality is #1 in my book, and they both have it in spades.
I think AGD is fine the way it is. no need to make an AGDScion or somesuch. I'm glad AGD doesnt make STBB guns to pad their profits.

Purple

[JimmyBeam]

yea maybe if this was 1990, but since AGD doesnt feel the need to put out anything new, whats the point of having a pro label with 10 year old technology?

[astroboy]

I agree with everyone that says AGD needs to put out a new gun using completely new technology and not just a re-hash of their AIR valve. Why? Because people like new things. However I don't know about air efficiency being a huge concern. The ICD Freestyles are not very efficient and neither is the matrix nor shocker. A bonus but it doesn't seem to affect the sales of the aforementioned guns.

IMO the new gun should:

(1) look sexy and sleek

(2) shoot extremely fast ala 30+ bps... I can hear people screaming now "when are you ever gonna reach that speed etc etc"... we've all heard those arguments defending the slower bps but we, as consumers, are fascinated and attracted to bigger and better stats... those people who buy the suped up mustangs, camaros and Porshes rarely, if ever, are able to reach the limits of their toys but the thought of having their toy capable of extreme feats is a major turn on! Yes the valve can shoot crazy fast but the limits of the e-mag is only ~20 bps

(3) it has to be electro... so bite the darn bullet and pay SP their fees and put out the guns like ICD, etc. why? because the best selling guns are electro... the A5 was hot and may still be a good seller (anomaly?) but I believe the Ion has proven that electros rule...

There's two ways to do it:

(A) be extremely expensive and sexy ala DYE
(B) be less expensive and have less quality parts ala SP

Marketing! Marketing! Marketing! Advertise like DYE and SP, etc... For some reason AGD didn't want to advertise using tournies and magazine ads. WGP, WDP, etc all do and they are all fairly sucessful. Name me a successful brand that doesn't market. AKA? Palmers?

[JimmyBeam]

How old do you think the Hammer-Poppet valve technology is?

Guess we gotta get rid of all the Timmies now too

true

[Chronobreak]

i stopped hoping for new things from agd quite a while ago

werd

ide say if your unhappy or want something else other than what agd is currently offering..move on

if agd isnt going to advertise at the least you think their going to make another brand name that they done havy any producst for?