IMO motiv is where they are because of smart marketing and planning as well as the competition "not improving at the same pace." It has been a great product for years now... But EBI and Bruns, and even storm did not see them coming at all. They're a big deal now and some of the other brands can put out superior equipment all they want but the consumer likes the motiv branding...
If it looks good, rolls good and strikes better..you might see the death of a few other players in this industry very soon...
I think this is a really good point. Even though Motiv comes out with new balls quicker than they used to, they still aren't exactly flooding the market with multiple releases at one time. It's normally 1 ball, let the hype build up, and then move on to the next. The other thing I noticed with them is that they seem to fill in the holes where needed and their equipment stays out longer. It's a good thing, because they have really created a versatile lineup in the past few years. Plus, having been a Storm/Roto guy for a while, I like that they are continually improving the performance. In fact, they may actually be better than Storm/Roto or the other lines at this point. From my own experience, they offer great performance and a little of everything from high/low diff/RG, asymmetrical/symmetrical, and of course the covers.
Where the other companies were caught looking was with Brunswick having stayed with a single reaction for so long. Only more recently (and with introducing DV8) did they finally become much more versatile and offer reactions and shot shapes that people have been wanting for a very long time. And now, their equipment looks the best that it has been in years.
Same with EBI- their 4 brands were flooding the market constantly that their new releases had no time to gain traction in sales. IMO, their covers need to improve and they do need to add some more versatility with what individual balls can do.
Even Storm and Roto Grip to an extent were caught in this too. Storm constantly has been using the same covers/cores but just putting new names on balls to sell. A perfect example of this is when they tried to replace the Hy-Road (hybrid) with the CrossRoad, Fire Road, and so on. None of that worked as the Hy-Road has been around for over 5 years now. However, moving Schlem to Roto Grip I think has helped them because they now offer even more versatility with shot shapes and different core/cover combos and it will help that line grow. Storm has also now started to do that the past few years on their higher end releases such as the Sync, Byte, Vivid, Lucid, and the Crux.
If anything, Motiv going the way they have with continually improving their line but not flooding the market with several balls at one time is a good thing. Add to that a young but good pro staff that has begun to win on the regional/national tour and I only see them continuing to move up. It will also force the others to step up their game and that type of competition will only produce newer and better stuff for all of us.