January 28, 2007

The Ronix Frontier is a Handsome Wakeboard

If I chose my board for this year based solely on graphics, I'd be ordering a Ronix Frontier. And let's not fool ourselves... every wakeboarder or snowboarder has purchased a board based on graphics. I am guilty of having done this once.

From the description that I've read, this board doesn't suit my personal riding style. But if they came out with a version with very steep rocker, I'd have to have a Ronix Frontier. It reminds me of the K2 Woody, and when that board was first made available, I chased down with every search option that was available at the time (which was the dealer directory in the back of Wakeboarding Magazine, the telephone, and K2 themselves who claimed to have no knowledge of a wakeboard division). If anyone has any photos or *gasp* interest in selling a K2 Woody to me, please email me. I Googled it and wound up right back here - it turns out that this site is the top hit for "K2 Woody".

So far, Ronix has been responsible for some terrific viral Marketing, and in general they have done a noble job of ensuring that their products hit the ground running. When we heard about their design challenge and saw some of the efforts on various message board, we were concerned. Concerned because design challenges and the Photoshop filters that tend to power them are very 1997. Not unlike our feelings about the graphics on wake boats, we believe that the wakeboarding industry could take it down a notch or 8 when it comes to graphics, icons and branding. We've felt that Ronix has been 100% un-annoying and very good for the industry so far. They have carefully managed their brand and we were worried that offering someone named "wakecat31178" a chance to be part of Ronix's branding strategy was potentially a misstep. We're still not sure what the ultimate outcome of the design challenge was, but we expect to hear about that soon. We're assuming that the Ronix Frontier is the work of a professional - and we like it!

Posted by erik