Does, for example, Kauli and the French dude moving to NP/JP improve your opinion of the brand, and make you value their equipment more (or less)?
What about graphic design? If you couldn't choose between two products would you lean toward the one that looks nicer?
Magazine reviews. How much do these influence you? (trick marketing question)
Do you read the statements such as "drastically improved early planing" with a pinch of salt?
Do you value statements like "this year again, we changed nothing but the graphics" highly?
DOES.THIS.TYPE.OF.STUFF seem silly to you?
Id probably say everyone is influenced by the marketing of brands - even if its only very little - i dont think any one could say they werent - otherwise there wouldnt be multiple brands. They survive commercially by sucking people into buy thier stuff 
Knocked off for Chrissy have you EP?
Marketing = selling. Anything goes if its not illegal.
We expect to be lied to and we are.
However selling is more subtle than bare faced lies.
No one is immune. No one with a dollar is safe.
If they go all out we all spend all our money on windsurfing kit and die of starvation. This is no good. The evil marketers are faced with the difficulty of managing a finely nuanced juggling act - that of keeping their market alive while maintaining their market share.
Free choice, HA! Don't think you're not hypnotised. You continue to live only by the grace and greed of the market.
The market is God.
Does, for example, Kauli and the French dude moving to NP/JP improve your opinion of the brand, and make you value their equipment more (or less)? No
What about graphic design? If you couldn't choose between two products would you lean toward the one that looks nicer? Yes. More like one would turn me off more than I like one more.
Magazine reviews. How much do these influence you? Yes, they influence me. Sometimes greatly, depending on the magazine and what is said etc.
Do you read the statements such as "drastically improved early planing" with a pinch of salt? Yes, I'm a bit of a sceptic sometimes.
Do you value statements like "this year again, we changed nothing but the graphics" highly? At least they were honest
DOES.THIS.TYPE.OF.STUFF seem silly to you? Much of marketing seems silly to me. (Trick question?)
same answers as nobody.
I read a few mags, and if a model gets consistently good reviews (good for what I want / need, that is) by various tests, year after year, I'd reckon that product would have to be good. Are mags truely objective? - well I guess they rely on the brands for advertising revenue, so are probably not going to totally cane a company that they take money from - but most tests are good for pointing out the best attributes of a product, and what type of sailing / sailor / situation that gear is good for, so in that respect I rely on them.
Does, for example, Kauli and the French dude moving to NP/JP improve your opinion of the brand, and make you value their equipment more (or less)?
Yes... to a point. Not so much who moved there this year, but who had major input into the existing models and consequently where they were tested. EG 3 yrs ago or so Scotty was testing a lot of EVO's at Esperance and I saw how they really worked there so I bought them. EG2: JP and NP test a lot in Pozo and similar onshore-ish locations but starboard and severne do a lot more here. Affects my choices..... (no Baldrick, no need to fire up)
What about graphic design? If you couldn't choose between two products would you lean toward the one that looks nicer?
No, can't see that I'd never be able to pick between 2 boards as shape is a very personal thing and they do feel quite different
Magazine reviews. How much do these influence you? (trick marketing question)
A lot.... no so much what they recommend but they rank waveboards on a looseness scale or an early planing scale... so it is not absolute but you know how they compare to each other
Do you read the statements such as "drastically improved early planing" with a pinch of salt?
Do you value statements like "this year again, we changed nothing but the graphics" highly?
Very much so. It is hard when they radically change things and you liked last year's sail so you buy this years same model and don't like it. That is what I like about Simmer as they are very open about changes and don't make sweeping statements about airy fairy feelings it will give u in your soul etc. More like "same as last years but a bit more power." With smaller manufacturers you can email the designer and within 24hrs have an answer like luff lenght 1cm shorter boom length 1.5cm longer and reduced leech tension in the top 25%.
"Marketing is Perception"
The message/sell... ..[}:)]
"Perception is Reality"
Then you go out & buy/consume.....
.
It must work, since guys show up here in the spring (it is winter here, currently -30C) with brand new gear all the time. Just the spreading of the new equipment and comparisons and measurements and all that takes about a month off their sailing time...
