This years release of new bows to the market was full of teasers, tidbits and pure marketing genius, or was it? The king of marketing tricks for the 2011 season was without a doubt Bowtech. They began with teaser videos posted across the net that alluded to a one of their new bows, the Assassin. Late in 2010 they released the Assassin along with the rest of their line, minus their flagship bow. Rather than release the 2011 Bowtech flagship bow during the same time period as their other bows, as well as the lines from most other major manufacturers, they elected to save the final unveiling for the ATA show on January 6th. There were hints, a veiled image on their website and all sorts of rumors surround the release of the “Invasion.”
Anyone who reads archery related message boards will have undoubtedly come across multiple threads trying to first guess what the Assassin was, then the Invasion at a later date. This provided huge amounts of hype for Bowtech for several months as people fought, squabbled, guessed and moaned about the impending release of the bows. Archery Report saw huge jumps in searches related to “Bowtech 2011″, “Assassin” and “Invasion” along with other words and combinations. So much in fact that by far the number one searches leading to the site and pages accessed on the site were all Bowtech related.
Notice the huge spike in hits on January 6th, almost all extra hits due to the Invasion
Marketing genius? Perhaps. It certainly benefited this site in terms of traffic, especially the day the Invasion was unveiled and the site traffic doubled. On the other hand, message boards were littered with negative posts about hate for Bowtech for teasing and dragging things out, often punctuated with phrases such as “I’ll never buy Bowtech again” and “They’ve lost me as a customer!” Which leads me to ask, was all the hype worth the disgruntlement as well? Why are people so upset that Bowtech didn’t release their products with everyone else? Is this the type of marketing strategy that will continue and expand in the future?
Personally I found the hype fun for the most part, but at times a bit tedious. In my opinion the naysayers really have no ground to stand on; Bowtech is not bound by any laws or rules that say they have to unveil their product during any specific time frame. I chalk most of it up to message board trolls and internet anonymity that had people belly-aching about Bowtech’s methods. They probably did lose a few customers in the end, but overall the vast amount of hype and advertising had more people talking Bowtech than all other brands combined.
What do you think? Did Bowtech market with ingenuity and brilliance or just irritate you?
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
That was just smart marketing; they picked up more shooters than they lost.
That was just smart marketing; they picked up more shooters than they lost.
For me it was a disapointment that new bowtech.
Not only Bowtech but also uther bowfactory’s cam on the market with short A-A bows.
In my vieuw 37″ A-A is the absolute shortest bow for targetshooting.
What a bunch of hype about nothing. It’s just another bow like any other manufactures. I think BowTech is losing a share of the market and is trying to hype up prospective buyers with a bow that is not any faster, any quieter, anymore forgiving, etc. than bows that are pesently out therte by Mathews, Hoyt, Pse, Elite, Martin, and thw list goes on and on.
Point #1 If you are into speed what bow stands out this year for you, over all, hits to a website does not mean anything, if the bow is just like the same as every other bow doesn`t mean anything.
Point #2 What company took the lead in womans compound bows, so far Mathews Passion ,I was looking for a bow for my wife to be better then the Passion, not this year. with a 23′ draw.
Point #3 Great looking bows, some lite, some fast, some just look the same, But the Seeker 365 now thats a bow, not saying its a great bow, but what it can do, no videos on this bow when shooting it.
Just some thoughts.
I’ve got five bows, there’s only so much a company can do too improve on what they already have on the market. They may change the riser appearance or cams, a new camo color, they may increase the speed up some, by shorten brace height, but all-in-all, most bow will basic stay the same. So, too get mad at Bowtech for not releasing their flagship bow, there’s other things that one to get mad at, but Bowtech or any other bow manufacture, for just releasing a product be it a bow or whatever, it’s just not worth the energy or time. Find something else to get mad at!!!!
Shut up and shoot the new bowtech if you shoot it you will buy it!
Remember, if it feels great in your hand shoots the way you want it to, then that will be the bow for you, not all are into speed and looks of a bow, its just nice to see that more and more companies are giving us the consumer more choices, we can only use one bow in the field at a time.
I`v shoot Darton 3800, Bear Attack, Hoyt Max, Alphaburnner, Refex bows, PSE Omen, Q5, Bowtech 350, to name a few, its what you like in a bow, what feels great to me may not be good for you, but one thing I can tell you all bows do kill and at the end of the day we all want DEAD BUCK DOWN.
I have been shooting Bowtech Bows for about 6 years now. I have shot alot of bows over the years. All bow manufacters not day strive for one thing and that is speed. When you think of speed you go to Bowtech, PSE, Maybe Mathews. Mathews bows, with one exception (monster bow) have good speed but can’t get the energy out of a single cam bow. Bowtech bows have great energy and wonderful speed. Guess what guys, I think bowtech hit the nail on the head. The new Invasion is dead in your hand and quieter than any bow I have shot, 343 fps w/7″ brace height, and energy to boot. I was at the ATA show and so was BOWTECH, want to know something? I walked around the ATA show for three days and never saw a Mathews booth, Doesn’t say much for MATHEWS does it. Now that is stupid Marketing. LLike David said Shut up and shoot the Invasion. Then buy it and become a REAL MAN.
I shoot a recurve……..but I keep up on what is happening in the compound archery world. FYI Mathews was spending about $250,000 to do the ATA show. They are now donating that same $250, 000 plus to the “National Archery in the Schools Program” to promote and teach archery to the students. The program is now in 48 states. Matt Mcpherson’s reasonong was that the money spent for the ATA show could be better utilized for the NASP, because he holds his own dealer show at his headquarters in Sparta WI and the ATA show was just a duplication. He stated all this information in an interview he done for a dealer magazine called Inside Archery. Alsot their new Z7 is spitting arrows out at 340ft/sec……………thats not bad for a solo cam. The invasion being a dual cam is only 3ft/sec faster. I have no ax to grind with any manufacturer, but the facts are the facts. Talk about marketing, Mathews must be doing something right………based on gross sales, they are the largest bow manufacture in the world……fact!
It seems bowtech is making a lot of people nervous. This invasion has the mathew crew taking over this page. The nasp program is a good thing. But is serves 2 purposes. One is to get kids involved in archery and the second is to put mathews bows in kids hands to help secure future growth.
And as for facts, bowtech is second to pse in total sales.
The new bowtechs with the overdrive binary is a great design, possibly the best. 2 symetrical cams that are fully slaved and with split harness on both ends. What can be any better?
Bowtech is certainly flexing their marketing muscles this year, and whatever the case, they have people talking. Whether or not that translates into more sales for them during the course of the year is yet to be seen, but they do have everyone’s attention. Are they the best bows? To some people. I for one am happy that there are plenty of choices for archers and many quality manufacturers and bows out there so that we have many to choose from.
Buc has a good piont, Joshua you made your point, but we can agree to disagree on many things regarding bows, but for me I was hoping that BowTech was going to put out a faster bow then the Destoyer 350. and arrow companies to fit the fast bows. I know Gold Tip (KE) is putting out new arrows as well as Beman ICS Speed and Carbon Express .
I think bowtech has changed as a company very much from what they started out as in 99 .They were a company that was all about a combination of speed and shootability,that is what bow hunting is all about they came into the market with awsome customer awareness ,meaning what the people wanted and made bows people loved.THIS IS WHEN I WAS A BOWTECH MAN!! They were awsome.In the last years they shooting for we make things nobody else does ,i think there loosing what archery is all about.The bottom line is this aint hollywood ,this is the average man deer huting ,or target shooting there is a ton of bows on the market that are smoother and quieter than that cam system and just as fast .and these bows are easier to tune ,and keep in tune.i hate the hipe ,lets hunt .If i wanted hollywood I’d watch a movie!!!!!!!!
Well said Keith.
buc, It sounds like mathews might be throwin their own party so they won’t be over shadowed by competition. Donating the money is a good thing…but even that is just advertising for them…just saying. Everyone is making great bows these days. Refuse to follow!
Hey Chip ….nice to hear from you. First, ley me say again , I have no ax to grind with any bow company. I own recurves, stick bows, compounds, from manufactures like Proline, Hoyt, Mission, PSE, Martin Jennings, Bear, Mathews, and probably a few more I can’t think of at the moment. I love archery, subscribe to 6 bowhunting magazines just to keep up on what is happening in the archery world. I’m an archery only hunter, haven’t hunted with guns in 21 years but still own 32 of them.
I don’t think Mathews is worried about being overshadowed by competition. They have been the number 1 bow company for several years now. They outsell evry other bow manufacturer in the world. I read an interview in one of my archery magazines about Matt McPherson. This guy was making bows when he was a teenager in highschool. In the mid 80′s he made the fastest bow ever at that time….it was a Mcpherson dual cam bow. He broke away from McPherson archery and his partners, because he had a different marketing stradegy. Back in 1992 the archery world was just rolling along, when he introduced the first solo cam, which shook up the archery world……… which hasn’t been the same since. Look at the innovations that Mathews has brought to archery: solo cam , perimeter weighted cams, parallel limb design, harmonic dampners( which in turn created a number of different damping accessoies),slim limbs, roller gaurd, string supressors, zebra twist strings, just to name a few…..and lets not forget Genisis bows, which are in every archery shop in the country. Many of todays archery companies are using his innovations. I would venture a guess that he is making more money on patent royalties than a lot of companys are making period. Matt Mcpherson has been a BOOM to the archery world. I know a lot of people that don’t like Mathew /Matt McPherson, for what ever reason…… from the conversations I hear in the 4 archery shops that I frequent………but lets give credit where credit is due. With that being said, I know a few people who don’t like Jack Nicholas, but you can’t say he’s not the best golfer of our time.
Shoot’em in the middle!
Buc, Point taken. I can’t deny mathews history. I too have owned numerous mathews bows as well as other major brands. Thanks for the history lesson. STAY FREE!
Hey Chip……right back at you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, improvements to bows take research and development, bowtech technology is the same, just bigger cams, no real improvement to the technology, if it was my pick, Q5, they created a first with dual cam, an in-line string and ceramic guides on cable arm…so put money into companies that improve the technology not just hype, microsoft does that constantly and we the real users (linux) are tired of it !.
tt, q5 technology… yeah, so what? Who has really “NEEDED” to buy a bow in the last 5 years? None of the bow companies have really broken any real new ground. How much faster, quieter and smoother can you make a bow anyway? Don’t get tired of it. It’s chevy vs. ford, come on man!
simply put mathews with all there advertising[ solo cam] makes one cam bows when as far as designs go ,all they can do is add gadgets and push the grip back to make them faster,look at the reflex on the risers they are well made bows but one cam bows as smooth as they are ain’t goin any faster.thats why they made the monster bows but with there advertising they won’t put there mathews name on it .as far as bowtech refuse to follow was a mistake in my opinion because now there off on journey somewhere i wont go there new bow has the same cams maybe a different geometry but still the same cam system as there destroyer bows i don’t like the hype because being different and having something different doesn’t make it better.as far as im concearned the fastest /most forgiving/smoothest/quietest/with the least amount of reflex in the riser ,that is tunable,and stays in toon,IS THE BEST BOW.plain and simple ,do you want to look good trying to do it or have the equpment to do it easily.ive shot mathews and bowtech,and im moving on to try a k&k archery bow,no hype just a awsome bow with great specs!
Hi all
Word on the PSE X-Force Omen any thoughts.
Haven’t shot the Omen…….I stay away from bows with less than a 7″ brace height. I believe the Omen is 51/2″ Other than that I’m sure it’s a fine bow. By decreasing the brace height, it increases the speed, but is definitely less forgiving when it comes to accuracy. Just my personal preferences.
bowtech seems to have changed their marketing to a brand building strategy and less of a product oriented approach.
I think that what they did was good. If people are dropping Bowtech from they purchase list bc of a release date, they aren’t the customers you want. The die hard fans will contiue to grow as along as the bows deliver and they stay focused on building their brand in the bow community.
Bowtech isn’t going anywhere but up.
shaun,bowtech can only sell bows to customers like you take it any way you want ,but i think were about at a 40 percent approval after trying the invasion ,on the forums,most people call it a tuning fork ,in my opinion my allegiance was the best bow bowtech ever made,and i too am going to shoot a k&k archery bow this year like gary [well said gary].
Hey Gary, go up and read my article to Chip. You can’t be serious about calling Mathews innovations gadgets. K&K makes fine bows which are utilizing many of the so called Mathews gadgets, and gadgets from other bow manufactures. K&K……being a late arrival, it’s hard to make a bow today that doesn’t utilize innovations already in the industry. Give credit where credit is due!
First of all kevin strother the owner of k&k archery has been around since oregon archery ,thats right before mathews.yes they are gadgets from bowtech and mathews,and ive personally been on hunting trips where things have litteraly flew off mathews bows when fired.thats what i mean by gedgets,things that will fail in a hunting situation.mathews is running out of options .they are smooth and quiet ,but to get them faster all they do is give the bow more reflex.i have friends that shoot mathews but dont like the new ones.ive owned mathews bows in the past,ill give them credit in there past work but not there new work.k&k archery dosn’t have anything on there bows that is technology from mathews ,id like to know where you see that .kevin strother ,started with oregon bows ,to just designing cams for companies,to bowtech,to elite archery,to strother archery,and now settleing into k&k archery,him and his wife kate.moving on at times to better himself and his family just likethe sports teams do,yes money.he is now making limited addition bows ,and they are awsome with no gadgets just great specks!
Hey Gary, first of all I’m not looking for an argument. You make it souind like these so called gadgets are flying off of Mathews bows on a regular basis. What exactly is flying off that we the consumers should be aware of. I’ve been shooting bows for over 40 years and have had a few things fly off, like string leeches, sight pins, nocks, etc. A lot of the problem was due to lack of maintenence on my part. But then again, a lot of the extras were crude and not as refined as they are in todays archery products.
Next I am well aware of Oregon bow company. They were a great bow company in their day. One of my friends owned a Mackinzie with black and white camo, shot a lot of deer with it, sold it and as far as I know the bow is still being used. I remember reading that the company was having problems with limb failure, which might have been one of the reasons they went into bankruptcy. I know Kevin worked in the design dept. He then went on to another company, I think it was called Horizon which only lasted for a couple of years, then Bowtec, Elite, and now K & K. There might be some in the middle that I forgot, but I think that is pretty much it.
You make the statement that K & K doesn’t use any of Mathews Technology……what about parallel limb design, string suppessors, zebra twist strings and cables. Then their is split limbs, string stops, past parrallel limb design, from companies like Alpione, PSE, Hoyt, etc. It’s almost virtually impossible to start a new archery company without using existing innovations.
When it is all said and done, I guess the word GADGET offends me. Companies like Mathews spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars developing new products to make archery a better sport for us……..on the 3D range and in the woods. Thats why we have pattens, and royalties paid to these companies for their time and exspense in developing these new products.
I wish Kevin and Kate all the success possible in their new venture…..K & K Archery. I also hope that they too can develop new (not gadgets…. but innovations) to make archery a better sport. Remember competition breeds success.
Shoot’m in the middle.
im not arguing im stating facts ,specifically about the speed issue.the word gadget to me means somthing that should be on a target bow and not a hunting bow .hunting bows should be as simple as possible to avoid problems in the field .Iguess this is my opinion,but this opinion is about 90 percent of the bowhunters i know ,you want to use the word inovation ,well the way i look at it is if a bow company gets a certain style bow that is really smooth to draw and shock free ,and quiet but only ibo rates at 318 ,then to improve it the next year they push the grip back and change the geometry of the cam.to ibo 340 fps.well it draws harder and is less forgiving .to me they took 1 step forward ,and 2 steps back .simply there regressing .mathews needs to get away from this solo cam thing!as far as mathews with k&k parallel limbs that is an argument who came out with it first ,as far as actualy parallel ,this is still being argued.they dont have zebra strings ,dont have string suppressors , mathews stops are on the cams.actually ive seen them fly off. as far as all the rest i never said k&k didnt have any technology from anybody ,ofcourse they do.but he kept his design simple!as far as competition breeds success ,in my opinion it breeds a nightmare with these bow companies ,they have stopped thinking of the customer ,and just want to have the new thing out there ,mathews is not alone .you shoot what you want and ill shoot what i want .im a bowhunter ,its all about whitetail !! by the way ive been a bow technician for about 10 years ,ive worked on them all.
with all the technology out there if you look around they already have the perfect bow if they want to make it but bowhunting is too hollywood now ,too flashy.in my opinion ofcourse ,i hope k&k stays the course .
What gadgets are on a hunting bow, that should only be on a target bow?
There are a lot of smooth, quiet, shock free bows out there that are fast, just a few that I shot, Elite hunter, Hoyt CRX , Hoyt Carbon Element, Mathews Z7, Mathews Monster 7, PSE Vendetta, G5 Prime, Bear Carnage just to name a few. All these bows are fast smooth and efficient.
K & K dosen’t have Zebra strings and cables from Mathews, but they have counter twisted strings and cables that were originally developed by Mathews. They also have a string stop, which is a take off of the string supressors developed by Mathews. What string stops have you seen fly off of Mathews cams, they don’t even have string stops on their cams. Also, what is wrong with solo cams?
I’m also a bowhunter….only….don’t hunt with a gun.
I’m 68 years old and just retired, sold my archery shop that I owned for 37 years. Some of my bow lines were Pro line, Ben Pearson, PSE, Hoyt, Onieda Eagle, Martin, Mathews, Mission, and Elite, all fine companys.
Finally, what is the perfect bow?
the roller guards, the string stops located at the cam,attached to the limbs,again to much reflex in the mathews risers.i personally dont like one cam bows,this is my preference.Congradulation on your retirement,but all these companies you are nameing i never said anything about them.I also am bow only with hunting ,the perfect bow to [me] is 34 inch ata ,split limb ,shock free [dead in the hand],ibo speed 340 fps ,with almost a straight riser,[not so called straight riser technology that comes with tunning issues] almost completely silent. close to a 81/2 inch brace approx.a stealth,speedy, hunting machine .With a lifetime warranty.i know your more experienced because of our age difference ,and i do have respect for my elders ,im not going to turn this into twelve post chat,so this is my last post.we dont agree,and thats that,this is the the usa.i left my opinon and your questioning it.i also have a ton of archery experience ,ive owned,oregon,bear,browning,continental,oneida,pse,hoyt ,mathews ,bowtech,strother,and waiting for my k&k vengeance.and ive repaired and worked on just about every company that i can think of ,has mathews done things for the sport ,yes ,but i dont like there products anymore ,its stale to [me] just like bowtech to[ me ] .im not alone ,alot of hunters feel like me,around here anyway.i think we probably would get along if we met ,but we would still disagree,but thats okay in my book.
God bless you hunting at your age still ,i hope i still will be hunting at that age .and good luck this hunting season.
Good specs for the perfect bow, But with an 81/2 inch brace height…..will be hard to obtain speeds of 340. I forgot to mention one thing that I do agree with you on your prior post……archery has gone Hollywood. I think the outdoor channel on cable TV does more harm to hunting than good. It sure gives a distorted picture of what most of us really do.
As far as hunting at 68, eat healthy, stay in shape, keep your family and God close to your heart, and you’ll be hunting hard way past 68.
Good luck with your new Vengeance!
A lot of really good points. I do also think the archery industry has worked to get more mainstream. I do think there is some positive to this by making the sport of bowhunting more popular. With that said manuf. can not forget to put out quality equipment each year vs. making it just look cool. Today’s bows are better than ever and everyone can find one that fits their needs from the beginner to advanced bowhunter.
I agree Bowhunter……….those manufactures (tag alongs) who are not innovative and are not putting out quality products are here today, and gone tomorrow. Cheap in is cheap out…..I believe most consumers are willing to spend the extra dollars for quality products. It only costs a few dollars more to go first class.