Slick Marketing at the Sportsman Show

[Andy]

Anyone else pick up some of the allegedly "only in Canada since Wednesday" Spider Thread braided line at the Sportsman Show?

I must admit, I fell hard for it. I thought it was a great piece of marketing. Their flashy shirts, both on the displays and on the ton of sales staff, caught my attention quickly. My son has been collecting fishing shirts, so we were at a disadvantage at the start.

The salesman who talked to me like we were best friends was polite, courteous, and very focused on his product. They made you feel lucky to be "allowed "to by one of their shirts for $20.00 if you bought their line. We walked out of there with two shirts, and two spools of line each. My son won one of the spools at the spinning wheel setup. I sorta assumed that it was a Spiderwire product, until I took a closer look at the box, well after the purchase. How is a fellow to notice, what with all the colors, the spinny thing, free stuff, and of course, a couple attractive young women placed in strategic locations? The line may be crap, who knows, but it was worth it for the entertainment alone, especially when my daughter saw my son and I walked around the house wearing the same fishing shirt. The look on her face helped make it all worthwhile. Andy

[Mark Kulik]

Dont worry Andy-the line definetly is not crap-its my braid of choice this year also, its good stuff-you'll be happy with it!

[DRIFTER_016]

Yep, those darned snake oil salesmen!!!!!

You sir, have been fleeced!!!!!!

[BigSmallie]

I checked out the line, it looks decent, The product has been in the U.S. for a quite a while but since Shimano bought Powerpro , the Canadian distributor chose to promote the new line. It did sell well. Spider Thread is a completely different company than Spider Wire.

[bicephalic]

Yep - aside from a Fish City Tshirt from Taro and the Chonger and some crappie tubes, it was the only other thing i considerd buying. Got a lot of info from one of the guys pushing it, who recommended the yellow strongly - only way I escaped was because I didn't find a reel for the price I wanted to pay to put it on! Likely this saved me from buying one of the shirts too.

 

I think I'll try the line regardless though - let us know what you think of it!

 

B

[Andy]

Interesting. I will let you know if we like it. I called the 1-800 # on the package and it went to Redwing Tackle, a familiar name in the fishing business. Andy

[eyefish]

I would be one of the "snake oil" salesman that was at the show. I can assure you that this is completely different than spider wire.I'm sayin that not because I'm sponsored by them but because it is the truth

Edited March 25, 2009 by eyefish

[Terry]

yeah you were fleeced

 

keep the shirts

but send me the line and I will look after it....LOL

[Andy]

I look forward to trying it out. I kinda like the Spiderwire Stealth braid, so we'll see how it compares. To be clear, I was never misled about the maker of the line, I was just so impressed with the promotion that I didn't really bother to check who made/distributed it until after the purchase. My wife and I had friends with a display at the show, and they also made note of what looked to be an effective product launch. I was wondering if it is called something else in the US. I haven't read about it on any U.S. musky sites. And I don't feel like I got fleeced, I felt entertained. Feeling fleeced was the feeling I got filling up with gas last year, or the feeling I get when I submit my income tax return, or when I pay bank fees. Andy