Many people at my alley changing to Motive.

[NewToBowling]

Beyond the Hooligan and Thug balls I mentioned in an earlier post Storm/Roto Grip are popular also. Sinister, Ride, etc

[foreverincamo]

Lots of EBI products where I practice. Mostly Storm and Brunswick where I bowl league. Have to look for Motiv when the season starts .

[rv driver]

I notice that my pro shop is featuring a lot more Motiv stuff -- posters, shirts, promo materials. And they have more Motiv balls in stock.

[Bradski9]

Our bowling alley is owned by a a father and son, both motiv staffers. So our alley favors motiv xD

[bubba809]

Haven't seen too many at my house. My friend has a couple and has been trying to get me to purchase one. I already have enough and really want the new legend solid.

...I have been enticed by the Jackal though.


Bloomin' Onions!!

[Mgower]

Our pro shop had a two ball deal on A Global 900 pair so I've seen those balls all over my center lately. Storm also has a very big presence.

[Aslan]

Storm still dominates the lanes. And Ebonite International (C300. Hammer, Track, Ebonite), despite their below average marketing, have a more lucrative sales partnership which tends to get their products pushed almost exclusively at many pro shops in the area...so I see those brands a lot.

DV8 kinda took a bite out of Hammer a decade ago or thereabouts...but I think Motiv is taking that business now. Motiv seems to be the "new cool brand" like DV8 was and like Hammer was. And it helps that in the past couple years Motiv staffers/pros have held their own quite well against Storm in competition...despite Storm dominating the tour in terms of sponsored players.

And you still see a ton of Brunswick out there...but Brunswick got hurt by the decision to move production to Mexico...that lost a lot of the blue collar die hard Brunswick folks...and add to that the recent decisions to sell off the bowling division and question marks about their eventual existence...it's kinda pushed people away from them. And that's too bad because from what I've seen traveling around and watching tournaments and such....Brunswick's engineering seems to be the best out there. Their balls perform at a very high level...definitely on par with Storm and seemingly of better quality given Storm's ball's tendencies/reputation to get used up faster (die early) and their tendency to crack sooner.

Rotogrip...top level players still are out there throwing Hyper Cells...but I've been disappointed in what I've seen from their lesser stuff. They got a lot of attention after that kid threw the 900 with the Asylum, but all their HP3 and HP2 stuff since I've seen nothing but disappointment. Radical was supposed to re-invigorate the Brunswick brand...but the initial reviews of the Reaxx were so bad that they released a Version 2 shortly after the original. The Guru seems to be showing up more and is a hook monster...so I think they've recovered...but still not a real player. And then there's 900 Global which went from being the red-headed step-child of bowling balls to an orphan that nobody cares about...then Storm steps in and they get back in the PBA and sign Chris Barnes...now they're back to being the red-headed step-child again.

Motiv is doing everything right...and when you do everything right, you tend to be successful. Can they ever be as big as the Big 3 brands/companies? Maybe. Can they ever be #1? Probably not. Storm is like the "super-power" of bowling ball manufacturers and is in such a dominant position....something really big would have to happen to push them to #2 or lower. Storm sponsors far more bowlers at every level, they're involved in amateur tournaments more than the other brands, they have an innovation (scent) that makes them stand out. Their marketing is first class, especially compared to a rather sub-par rest of the field, and they have top notch performance out-of-the-box...and the most complete LINE (Beginner to Pro) of any company by FAR...especially if you add in Rotogrip. And Storm does all of this while maintaining a fairly reasonable cost/pricing...and manufacturing domestically. Motiv has a much smaller line-up...and they don't have the same advantages of scale...prices tend to be higher.

[foreverincamo]

Where I practice there is a group sponsered by EBI, more specifically Hammer. They shoot ball reaction videos and post them to FB. They got me to try the Hammer Black Widow Legend, which is the only non-Brunswick/DV8 ball I carry. It has a different shape than any of my other equipment and I do like it a lot.
I've yet to see a Motive ball. I'll look for one tomorrow when I practice.

[rv driver]

Storm still dominates the lanes. And Ebonite International (C300. Hammer, Track, Ebonite), despite their below average marketing, have a more lucrative sales partnership which tends to get their products pushed almost exclusively at many pro shops in the area...so I see those brands a lot.

DV8 kinda took a bite out of Hammer a decade ago or thereabouts...but I think Motiv is taking that business now. Motiv seems to be the "new cool brand" like DV8 was and like Hammer was. And it helps that in the past couple years Motiv staffers/pros have held their own quite well against Storm in competition...despite Storm dominating the tour in terms of sponsored players.

And you still see a ton of Brunswick out there...but Brunswick got hurt by the decision to move production to Mexico...that lost a lot of the blue collar die hard Brunswick folks...and add to that the recent decisions to sell off the bowling division and question marks about their eventual existence...it's kinda pushed people away from them. And that's too bad because from what I've seen traveling around and watching tournaments and such....Brunswick's engineering seems to be the best out there. Their balls perform at a very high level...definitely on par with Storm and seemingly of better quality given Storm's ball's tendencies/reputation to get used up faster (die early) and their tendency to crack sooner.

Rotogrip...top level players still are out there throwing Hyper Cells...but I've been disappointed in what I've seen from their lesser stuff. They got a lot of attention after that kid threw the 900 with the Asylum, but all their HP3 and HP2 stuff since I've seen nothing but disappointment. Radical was supposed to re-invigorate the Brunswick brand...but the initial reviews of the Reaxx were so bad that they released a Version 2 shortly after the original. The Guru seems to be showing up more and is a hook monster...so I think they've recovered...but still not a real player. And then there's 900 Global which went from being the red-headed step-child of bowling balls to an orphan that nobody cares about...then Storm steps in and they get back in the PBA and sign Chris Barnes...now they're back to being the red-headed step-child again.

Motiv is doing everything right...and when you do everything right, you tend to be successful. Can they ever be as big as the Big 3 brands/companies? Maybe. Can they ever be #1? Probably not. Storm is like the "super-power" of bowling ball manufacturers and is in such a dominant position....something really big would have to happen to push them to #2 or lower. Storm sponsors far more bowlers at every level, they're involved in amateur tournaments more than the other brands, they have an innovation (scent) that makes them stand out. Their marketing is first class, especially compared to a rather sub-par rest of the field, and they have top notch performance out-of-the-box...and the most complete LINE (Beginner to Pro) of any company by FAR...especially if you add in Rotogrip. And Storm does all of this while maintaining a fairly reasonable cost/pricing...and manufacturing domestically. Motiv has a much smaller line-up...and they don't have the same advantages of scale...prices tend to be higher.

Interesting what you say about Brunswick. My pro shop's display wall used to be chock full of Brunswick. Now they've got like one Mastermind Scholar, one Exile and one LT-48. Period. Last year, they had 0-zip-nada Motiv (although they could order it). Now, they've got a wall full of Motiv, and it's all in the front. Even the Storm stuff has been moved back. I actually had to dig to find a Rocket and a Crux, back in the far corner. And they didn't even have a IQ Tour Fusion up there -- and no Tropical Breezes, either -- all stuff they had a wall full of last year.

I wondered if they've actually dropped Brunswick (although I didn't ask -- i was too busy dealing with getting my IT system installed).

I know that, in other retail ventures, companies contract with the retailers for display placement of their stock. When I worked in music retail, for example, Gibson stipulated that their stuff had to hang in the most prominent place on the wall as part of the contract with them, and I wonder if Motiv is doing the same thing in pro shops? I also wonder if Motiv is giving incentives to the pro shops in exchange for carrying more product?

[Bowlenheimer]

Mainly Storm where I play with some Rotogrip thrown in.