True, I guess the answer is largely dependent on your opinion of popularity.
Yoyofactory have the most aggressive and ambitious marketing, which is why I would assume that they are the most well known wordwide. However, for all of YYF’s fame, I don’t think they have the same affection or brand loyalty from their supporters as CLYW do.
The advantage Chris has is he’s been able to aquire great popularity, whilst still keeping the feel of a small, niché-y company with a close family of players. Whilst YYF is incredibly well known (and makes fantastic yoyos I might add), it very much has that large-faceless-company feel about it, which is why I feel it doesn’t get the same adoration.
Popularity in terms of size of customer base + notoriety = YYF > CLYW
Popularity in terms of niché and fondness = CLYW > YYF
Just look at sales. Most CLYW seem to sell (and sell out) a lot quicker than YYF throws, and they also retain their resale value a lot more. I rushed in quickly to grab a new Superstar when they came out, fearing I wouldn’t get one, and yet they sat in stock for ages, despite the limited quantities.
Meanwhile, CLYW is selling out Yeti’s within minutes…
I would agree to an extent. I perceive YYF to have as many loyal fans, but they are “less vocal” about their adoration. It may be that YYF fans know the company is huge and they don’t feel the need to help the company market, or ensure that it gets well deserved attention. So, instead, YYF fans may be more likely to just put their money where the internet version of their mouth is…and just call it a day. I think a lot of this perceived wild popularity is observed by forum users…of forum user behavior. The majority of yo-yo buyers are not on the forums in discussion, or shopping the forum BST. I think CLYW is popular on the forums, but in the wider scope, YYF is wildly popular in terms of presence, and extremely accessible as well.
I agree that the only measure I have of company popularity is these forums so I’m going purely based off the info I have. Having never been to a contest in America I’m unaware of the general non-forum-going-consensus.
Well, we all see what happens with the lucky boxes, so that’s probably true.
I wonder what the popularity of yoyorecreation in Japan is like compared to things like CLYW and YYF…
^ Funny thing is, I saw a lot of CLYW popularity on the forum from day one, but I never paid much attention to it. I just sort of ignored it for awhile. I’m the type that if I hear a lot of buzz about something that I never really took interest in before I heard the buzz, I don’t give it my full attention. I was mostly buying solids, and still do, so the colorway appeal had not caught on with me. Also, in the beginning I was not into expensive yo-yos, so I overlooked them.
I eventually tried them, but it took a while. I actually tried almost everything else out there, and figured I might as well try them. I discovered that I really enjoyed a few of the models. The colorways caught on a bit more because I started getting into some amateur photography, so the colors kept things a little more interesting from that perspective. But, it represents about 5% of my collection…if that.
Here are some of things I’ve observed, I no particular order of importance.
-The Peak. Somehow, this yoyo has achieved mega-legend status in the yoyo community.
-Small numbers of yoyos in a run. While this is no longer quite true (there are plenty of CLYW in the YYE store), it certainly was for a while. This presented an image of a rare, desirable item.
-The team. The CLYW team has within it some of the most popular names in yo-yoing right now.
-The colors. From my knowledge of yoyo history, it seems to me that CLYW was the one who made the splash type ano well known and popular. They still have some of the most popular colorways out there.
-They make good yoyos! While many say that their yoyos are a bit overrated, popular opinion still says that their yoyos are good (if not great) ones. The Chief is one of the most popular yoyos out there, and they make plenty of other popular models.
-The price. This is sort of a divisive issue. Some people believe that the yoyos’ performance doesn’t justify the price, while others obviously do, since they buy them. Nevertheless, to someone who hasn’t experienced a product directly, high price often presents an image of quality and desirability. I know it did for me before I got my first CLYW
-Marketing. Chris is very good at this.
-Hype. I feel that this came about because of the previously mentioned things, and now just further fans the flames of popularity.
Ferrari is an Italian sports car manufacturer which is really expensive and makes really good cars. If you had a Ferrari, you would be the cool kid on the block pretty much. The Beatles were an English rock band who formed in the 1960’s. They were the most influential rock band in their era. Some people actually called their popularity “beatlemania”. They became widely known and there are huge fans even today (me). So I was comparing CLYW to those because they are really good and popular, and they are sometimes on the expensive side so not everybody can afford them. Hope I helped.
Must be hype. That’s obviously the only possible answer as to why a company that produces some of the best yoyos ever designed is doing well. Hype hype hype.
Probably explains all those contests their team wins, too.
Everyone is saying hype and marketing, and those are a big part but at the end of the day there is one thing above all… well designed products. If CLYW made crap products it wouldn’t matter how good the marketing is. At the end of the day there are companies that just resonate with members of the community. The best part of this community is that there are so many choices to fit everyone’s style.
The question I would like to see answered is, why is it so popular now to bash CLYW?
Again, there are so many companies why not just go find a different company to build up instead of tearing down a company headed by a genuinely nice guy who stirs little to no drama in the community? It would be one thing if Chris came on YYE and insulted players left and right, but even when a thread stirs up a large amount of vitriol, like some of the Yeti posts, Chris comes out and tries to make it right, even going so far as to apologize to the people yelling the loudest.
I think the problem is just how many people are tired from hearing CLYW. You go into a recommendation thread and you’ll get plenty of people who swear by clyw and that’s all they throw and all they ever want to throw. They won’t give other companies a chance because they’ve come to the conclusion that clyw fits them perfectly. You can easily see that in the BST’s where people only want to trade for CLYW and give no other options. I don’t think chris is the problem but the fanbase itself that likes to spread their love of clyw even when it’s not wanted.
