What does this say about Nike?

barryboymunro

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I'm sure some of you will know Mark Crossfield from his youtube channel and you may have different opinions on him but his reviews are pretty good and he is fair. He tweeted today that a major manufacturer has refused him some of their clubs to do reviews on them as they were not happy with other reviews. Now he has not come out and said who the maker is but his hints suggest it was Nike and their Vapour line of drivers.
What does this say about Nike as a brand and their new line if they refuse someone who is quite popular on the internet a chance to review their stuff? He has gamed the Nike Covert driver and hybrid recently so he likes their stuff. I feel that by not allowing him the chance to review then publicity is going to be worse than any review he may have done.
 
It's not something that is unique to either Nike or Marc Crossfield. Happens.
 
Unless we know that company is Nike, for sure, I don't think it would be right to comment on them specifically.

There have been other companies withhold products from review sites for the same reason in the past.
 
I'm sure some of you will know Mark Crossfield from his youtube channel and you may have different opinions on him but his reviews are pretty good and he is fair. He tweeted today that a major manufacturer has refused him some of their clubs to do reviews on them as they were not happy with other reviews. Now he has not come out and said who the maker is but his hints suggest it was Nike and their Vapour line of drivers.
What does this say about Nike as a brand and their new line if they refuse someone who is quite popular on the internet a chance to review their stuff? He has gamed the Nike Covert driver and hybrid recently so he likes their stuff. I feel that by not allowing him the chance to review then publicity is going to be worse than any review he may have done.
I understand why he is upset but if a company doesn't want to give someone some clubs to test its their choice. If I owned a company and someone was putting out negative reviews of my product I would probably put them on ice and focus more to people who will give me positive reviews.
 
It's not something that is unique to either Nike or Marc Crossfield. Happens.

As per usual, Hawk puts the hammer on the nail.

It sucks, but it happens.
 
I bet it happens more times that you know about.
 
It doesn't really say anything about Nike at all.
 
Not surprising. Considering how often his reviews mention that the latest marketing bullet point doesn't necessarily translate to increased performance, he probably hacks off marketing guys a lot.
 
So he goes out and buys them at discount pricing through his pro or whatever his contacts are. Problem solved. Lets see the review. He has no excuses.
 
Says nothing. Nike had THP in house and let them dissect the new line. They've also had THP review their stuff in the past.
 
I don't think it makes business sense, regardless of who the company is. But I'm not paid by the company to make marketing decisions, so my input doesn't really matter.

~Rock
 
More people know Nike, less people know Crossfield. This is not mainstream news people will remotely care about. I say Waaahhh for him. Plenty if companies don't participate at all or end participating with testers and reviewers.
 
By them not giving him the product he'll get it anyway and review it so it's less hassle and less bad publicity if you give it to him in the first place. Him asking the question "is this new technology better" is what we are all thinking anyway so why should they be worried.
To me they are worried he rips them a new one but Nike are a big company and should not be scared of one person reviewing it and should stand by their product and not be scared. Maybe they are just happy getting gold stars from GD which nobody reads anyways.
 
It's called capitalism. They spend millions to make sure their product is heralded as the next best thing, so if they don't think a particular setting will fit their agenda, they won't supply clubs. As some others have mentioned, this probably goes on all the time and is probably a practice of just about every major OEM.
 
By them not giving him the product he'll get it anyway and review it so it's less hassle and less bad publicity if you give it to him in the first place. Him asking the question "is this new technology better" is what we are all thinking anyway so why should they be worried.
To me they are worried he rips them a new one but Nike are a big company and should not be scared of one person reviewing it and should stand by their product and not be scared. Maybe they are just happy getting gold stars from GD which nobody reads anyways.

I bet GD gets more readers than Crossfield gets views.

IF its true, I think its lame, so I'm there with you and I'm not a Crossfield fan. But these things really aren't unheard of in the industry. Plus, lets face it, there's ALWAYS more to the story.
 
I've heard of Nike. I've never heard of Mark Crossfield until this thread appeared.

Other OEM's have also done this.
 
If he really wants to review the product, he can always purchase the product and give his review. I personally think it's in poor taste to tweet about that type of stuff, and to me says more about Crossfield than it does Nike or whatever manufacturer he was tweeting about.

But that's just my opinion.
 
They had Rick Shiels out for a full fitting and I'd argue his assessment of Nike in the past has been much more harsh than Crossfield's.

Clearly they are free to do what they want, I don't think it's the smartest decision. Heck Callaway had Crossfield on Callaway Talks to sit down with with Harry.
 
Has he hammered Nike is reviews in the past or are they just going by him reputation? I don't care how great your equipment is there is always someone who won't like it. Considering that he is followed by a good number of "golf addicts" I could understand their reticence. He can be quite annoying but he does lots of reviews.
 
Like someone said previously, unless he comes out and states specifically who it was, all we can really do is speculate. And let's not forget that Crossfield bagged a Covert Tour for a long time.

MyGolfSpy is really good and up front with their reviews. When they do their annual tests, they're very forthcoming about who sent in products to be tested, and who refused. A lot of guys just review what they get, and don't make a fus about it otherwise. I say good on the companies who put their products out there with these smaller groups for testing, but there are a LOT of internet-based reviewers, and it's gotta be expensive to put clubs out there for all of the reviewers to take a look at.
 
He plays the Nike hybrid so he does like some of their offerings. I find it kind of strange, maybe he changed his view on the company. I know the rest of his irons and wedges are Mizunos and TM driver and mini driver


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Didn't he already review all their new drivers?

Also the way he's handled the news on twitter is super childish and completely unprofessional.

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I don't think it says much. I would guess that this happens more often than we think, we just don't get to hear about it.
 
Mark Crossfield does make tons of comments about companies' marketing strategy and not buying into the scheme, etc. Yeah, they're his opinions but as an official tester/reviewer, I'd rather him just hit the clubs and show the statistics, rather than putting down a company.
I've heard him talk down about TaylorMade's marketing and recently the Nike's. Just shut up and hit the ball Mark!
This is why I like Rick Shiels better than Mark these days.
 
I watch his videos for a different perspective on clubs, but I'm sure it happens a lot.
 
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