Not everybody likes ice cream. But without having a nationwide survey you could probably draw the conclusion that a good number of people like vanilla ice cream. They don’t eat chocolate chips they don’t need syrup poured over the top. You don’t need a strawberry or cherries or a piece of pie. Just a nice portion delicious vanilla ice cream.
So, as fate would have it your favorite uncle Louis dies and leaves you a stack of presidents. After you get over this loss that broke your heart for five minutes, you count the money and realize you’re Rollin…
You love ice cream. And you know other people that also dream of the cream… you decide to be enterprising and open your own ice cream parlor. Opening day is a smash Hit! In your neck of the woods you become the hero of the people. And your location is called vanilla kingdom. You don’t even spend any time inside. You stand across the street with your Nikon camera taking pictures of the line that goes down the street.
Then, a few days later some guy walks across the street. He says hey aren’t you the guy that owns the place? You say that would be me. He says love the place. Love the ice cream. And do you think you can come up with another flavor? Because even though I love vanilla ice cream I like a little diversity. Maybe cherry vanilla or chocolate chip or vanilla with caramel ribbons or splotches of raspberry. Maybe you could be blast the ice cream or anodize it or hard anodized it or chrome plate it Or splash anodize it or put some color in the center of the cup? Maybe you could put some hubstacks on it or or beefcake the bearings?
Mister, (the guy says) I happen to be a businessman too. And one thing that I have discovered over the years is that you have to offer people options in order to generate higher sales. Let me give you an example. Let’s say for some odd reason you decided to design produce and sell… Titanium Yoyos. Let’s just use that as an example. Using a exotic metal in a great design and a very expensive price. A metal that is so durable is literally idiot proof with a few exceptions. You give it a brushed finish or a highly polished finish or a slightly be blasted finish and boy or boy, someway or another people come up with the money to buy those Titanium Yoyos. You’re happier than a runaway cow.
Sadly, after everybody that was inspired by one by one they’ve been there, done that…. And sales sorta flatline.
Then, one day you have an Epiphany. You have a vision. Suddenly you can see into the future. You didn’t even buy a lottery ticket yet you won something. You just happen to be driving by a car dealership and noticed something amazing. There were 30 Toyota Camry‘s all in a row parked in front of the show room gleaming in the sunlight. There were several vanilla colored ones but the rest were all different shades of whatever. And they sell those suckers all day long in all colors of the rainbow.
It finally sinks into your skull that even though titanium does not need any kind of protective film on it, that maybe more people would be inspired to buy a second one or third one or were the people that hadn’t bought one yet may like the various finish options besides ‘Raw’.
Putting a finish on raw titanium has nothing to do with durability and everything to do with desirability. The visual impact of the various finishes can inspire sales. It can inspire people to want one of every color. It can encourage people to convince themselves to somehow afford another one or just your first one.
That being said, there are people that are perfectly happy with one or an entire collection of nothing but raw titanium yoyos. And those same people after throwing for an hour or two sit down and relax at the dining room table and eat a big bowl of vanilla ice cream.
And others have a half a dozen Titanium Yoyos in various finishes and take turns playing with everyone of them before they sit down and eat a big bowl of Ben & Jerry’s everything but the kitchen sink flavor ice cream.
Variety is the spice of life. Personally, I probably have around 3 dozen Titaniums. None of them have any dust on them. Not one of them has been instrumental in improving my skill level. But within the quiver of stupid Pet tricks that I have mastered, when I’m in the mood to learn a crazy new trick that I know I’m gonna miss a lot as I wire the segments, I will only throw a raw titanium yo-yo because I know when I hear that loud ring sound that the raw titanium‘s take the best beating.
Personally, if a titanium yo-yo is gonna have some kind of finish on it like one of Jeffrey pangs amazing designs, I usually prefer that it is a Bimetal with stainless steel rings. That way I get the beauty of the various colorations but still have the durability of the stainless rims in case I have a little accident. For example, the Luftverk Acadia… it has a jade green dusted finish but polished stainless rims. On the other hand I have a Sunbird was kind of a sunrise dust finish on it but it’s a monometal. So if I ever bounce the Sunbird off the deck, I will end up with a wounded bird.
I think all possible colors and finishes establish a certain value in the minds of potential buyers.
Some finishes are for durability. Some finishes are simply for visual impact and variety. And some finishes actually make the yo-yo silky smooth and easy on the string. But all possible finishes do not necessarily result in exactly the same advantages.
