What's the word on Dark Ops at bladeshow?

I guess they figured they still had a reserve of hyperbole to expend when they set up that booth. "The finest tactical fighting knife in history", indeed ..... :rolleyes: That's really going to win people over at Blade! :) Those guys haven't learned anything from the thrashing they got on this and other forums. They may become the first knife producer to never actually sell any knives.
 
Nathan S said:
I guess they figured they still had a reserve of hyperbole to expend when they set up that booth. "The finest tactical fighting knife in history", indeed ..... :rolleyes: That's really going to win people over at Blade! :) Those guys haven't learned anything from the thrashing they got on this and other forums. They may become the first knife producer to never actually sell any knives.
Click to expand...

I also noticed that they had a full page ad (page 3) in this month's Soldier of Fortune magazine.
 
Nordic Viking said:
I also noticed that they had a full page ad (page 3) in this month's Soldier of Fortune magazine.
Click to expand...


I don't know which is more significant, that Dork Ops is advertising in Soldier of Fortune, or that NV is reading Soldier of Fortune. ;)
 
DaveH said:
maybe there advertising is not extreme enough for their target audience. Maybe the need the Quetin Terratino & Samuel L Jackson advertising firm:

Listen mtfkr's! I got a knife so sweet it will make you #$%$777 and **%. And when you're around the ladies it will make them %%^&( #$%*( 9(8 9^$# too!!

Mfrkr you better buy this knife! Doncha hate it whne some mtyfkr mtfkr has let you down on the job? Well listen here mtfhkr! 'cause this knife here mtfkr, will evisevrated the fky mtfkr AND is evidence free! That's right, no way they can pin this on you mtfkr! the mtfkr cops won't know which way is up mtfkr!!

--------------

Ok this is a serious idea, maybe they should get the knives put on the cover of some gangsta rap cd covers. That way every rapper and his crew will need them. Keep the danimation features, but add some gold and diamond hilighting, a super extra large lanyard to hand for 1 inch gold necklaces, etc.. Secetrect hiding place for drugs, you get the picture.
Click to expand...



PERFECT! I think you've hit on Dark Ops new ad champaign. But, they'll need a new name... hmmmm... Bling Ops!
 
Nathan S said:
I don't know which is more significant, that Dork Ops is advertising in Soldier of Fortune, or that NV is reading Soldier of Fortune. ;)
Click to expand...

I wasn't reading the articles, just checking out the pictures :D
 
Chuck, kudos for the special picture. Very funny. I went by their booth and intently looked at the patterns in the display cases. A fellow walked up, but did not stop, did not say hello and certainly did not try to show his product or ask us to stock them. I am not sure why you would go to the Blade Show and not show any interest towards end users or dealers.
Very unusual business tactics to say the least.
 
At the beginning of Meredith Willson's American classic, The Music Man, one of the traveling salesmen gives some good advice, "Ya gotta know the territory."

Mike Dye is one of the larger knife retailers in the country. You gotta know who he is so that when he walks up to your booth, you invite him in, shine his shoes, that sort of thing. To treat him like any other slob (despite his outward appearance as such :D ) is to bite the hand that might feed you.
 
Gollnick said:
Mike Dye is one of the larger knife retailers in the country. You gotta know who he is so that when he walks up to your booth, you invite him in, shine his shoes, that sort of thing. To treat him like any other slob (despite his outward appearance as such :D ) is to bite the hand that might feed you.
Click to expand...

Suppose it could be that they're just a little dim? :rolleyes:
 
did not try to show his product or ask us to stock them
Click to expand...

You guys sure this is not a John Goncz company?

You not going to buy this knife? yeah well your stupidity is so stupid!
 
It's interesting that no one has anything good to say but no one has ever even used one of their knives. What if, just maybe, you actually used a Dark Ops knife and found out that it was indeed "The finest tactical fighting knife in history", as they claim. I'm starting to believe that alot of the people who post here don't murder, assassinate, or butcher people as much as they'd like you to believe. Well, time for me to go get into my daily knife fight to the death. Wish me luck!
 
Michael Dye said:
Very funny. I went by their booth and intently looked at the patterns in the display cases. A fellow walked up, but did not stop, did not say hello and certainly did not try to show his product or ask us to stock them. I am not sure why you would go to the Blade Show and not show any interest towards end users or dealers.
Very unusual business tactics to say the least.
Click to expand...


Actually, the staff there probably were too Busy serving the hordes of invisible ninjas swarming the booth to notice one "non-ninja" customer!

I suppose saying somone should get fired is pointless, when it looks like everyone at Dork Ops is going to be out of work soon.

If anyone from Dork Ops read Mr. Dye's post above, can you imagine the reaction: "DOH!!!" <glance around wildly, tear at hair-begin sobbing>
 
Laceration said:
It's interesting that no one has anything good to say but no one has ever even used one of their knives. What if, just maybe, you actually used a Dark Ops knife and found out that it was indeed "The finest tactical fighting knife in history", as they claim. I'm starting to believe that alot of the people who post here don't murder, assassinate, or butcher people as much as they'd like you to believe. Well, time for me to go get into my daily knife fight to the death. Wish me luck!
Click to expand...

Good luck! look out for random or misdirected Blood-groove spatter from your inferior knives! :D
 
OK this "knife company" cant seem to produce a knife in year, then at the largest knife show of the year they have a huge booth that nobody seems to be going to and then when a VERY POPULAR knife saler walks up to see thier wares they ignore him. You would think that with as few people checking them out they would have all jumped up, ran over and kissed his feet. As for reviews ya kinda have to have something to review they havent even sent one to tac knives for evaluation then again maybe they did and even tac knives couldnt even give a thumbs up. God I bet the people that invested in dork-ops are wishing they had used thier cash as toliet paper instead of giving it to those dumbasses.
 
spyderknut said:
I'll give Dark Ops 8 months. This corporation will not need to be deanimated, they will starve to death. Blaring metal video loop every time I walked by. I didn't even stop to look at their knives but nothing in the showcase interested me on sideways glances. Lowest traffic per square foot per dollar spent than anything else I saw at Blade. BUH BYE.
Click to expand...

Hard to say. I can tell you that the readers of this forum and those that attend the Blade Show aren't Dark Ops target customers. Why they would spend the money to go there in such strength is beyond me but advertising without products seems strange to me as well. I can only guess that things are way behind schedule and they need to do something to fill the time and show the investors that they are doing something. I have no inside information so take what I say as pure guesswork.

One of the problems is that few people really understand how small the sporting knife industry is. One lousy month on the Dell Computer web site would blow away the whole knife industry's annual sales. It is possible to carve out a niche in the industry but not a huge one simply because there aren't any huge ones to carve out. Successful entrepreneurs in this business have to forego a lot of trappings and stick with the basics of business. I'm convinced that making knives is a lot easier than operating a profitable company in this industry. If they have visions of forming a $100 million per year tactical knife company, they will be sorely disappointed. There aren't any and there won't be one any time soon.

To DO's credit, their flashlight, the only product to be released yet, is very nice. It's a good product - one of the best flashlights I've seen. We'll see what the knives look like in time, I guess.
 
Knife Outlet said:
To DO's credit, their flashlight, the only product to be released yet, is very nice. It's a good product - one of the best flashlights I've seen. We'll see what the knives look like in time, I guess.
Click to expand...
I've never seen this light so i can't comment on it but I'm not sure I'd buy one even if it was an order of magnitude better than anything else.

I like to laugh along with the Dork Ops soap opera as much as anyone but I think there is a more serious side to it. Does the knife world really need big flashy ads for "the best fighting knives in history" and talk about "blood grooves" and "covert deanimations" and then have them on sale to anyone who wants one including kids? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying people shouldn't be allowed to buy whatever they want BUT there are any number of anti knife bozos out there who will use this stuff to illustrate why there should be more controls on knives. Is this a good thing? I don't think so.

For this reason alone I wouldn't spend my money with them even if they did have the best knife on the planet.


Sorry to get serious in the comedy thread. :)
 
You cannot BUY the background buzz that has justly benefitted brands as those developed by, say, Ernest Emerson or Mick Strider. The Dark Ops brand has jinxed itself from the beginning due to overreaching claims out of the starting gate. As though we can all get sucked into the hype if enough money is spent. The problem is, money that has been spent was in creating a brand where obviously sufficient numbers of potential buyers would be embarrased to say they bought one, let alone be caught lingering around at the expo booth.
 
Their knives were ugly. Their music was horrible. Their marketing...

ugh. They use the same folks Blackhawk does, and it's physically painful to read Blackhawk adds now. Dork Ops even more so.

I didn't stop. Maybe if I'd remembered I had my earplugs with me... :rolleyes:

John
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top