Qi Paddle Co.

Company or website name

Qi Paddle Co.

Slogan or Tagline

No information provided.

Describe your company and organization and target audience

Qi Paddle Co manufactures paddles and paddling products for all types of paddling including SUP, Outrigger Canoes, Surfski and Dragon Boat. We are a small company founded by three long time paddlers that met while paddling for the local boat club in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. Dbay is a primarily expat community. Kevin is from Southern California, Adie is Hong Kong Chinese, but born in California as well, and Leam is from Great Britain (N Ireland). We have all lived for many years in Hong Kong. (5-17) and are all well traveled. The target audience is both competitive and club paddlers in the 4 sports listed above. We expect the most quantity of sales to be in Dragon Boating. Believe it or not, Dragon Boating is the fastest growing sport in the world for the number of people participating. This year's CCWC is in Italy and the interest in Europe is very high. This is a sport that has been going on in Southeast China since before the Olympics were founded. It is a national holiday called Tuen Ng or Double Fifth. We will also sell in mainland China, and most of SE Asia. The paddle market is actually quite large but dominated by only a few large companies, and many small custom or local builders that do limited quantity. You may reference www.kialoa.com, http://www.quickbladepaddles.com, http://merlingear.com for companies that sell similar products to what we make.

The design should have the following

Our competition sells one thing and one thing only...and that is the image or vision of hawaiian or tahitian culture. Even the biggest brand Kialoa (which is in Oregon) has a hawaiian name and motif to everything they do. The basic idea behind our company is that we are an unabashed Hong Kong based company that sells high quality paddles and products. The reason I say unabashed is that Tahitian, Hawaiian, and US "assembled" paddles are bogus. 90% of the carbon blades on all the different paddle types come from China. The selling point for them is the image, the hawaiian flag or tribal logo that makes people feel like they are buying a local product, but they are not. It's just a sticker! Part of our marketing strategy is to build high quality paddles and products in China. In fact are samples are outstanding and use technology that no one else is doing. (heck the iphone is made in china and it's great.) I have already seen this same exact thing happen in the surf industry growing up. You had to have one of the local shapers to be accepted at the local break, you had to wear a certain brand, etc. Well, today most of the top shapers make their boards in China. So, here is the brand image. 1. We named the company Qi Paddle Co. "Qi" or "chi" is the name for the natural energy flow or life force in the body. (Hawaiians call it mana, yoga people call it prana, star wars called it the force, LOL) We want the company to have a spiritual aspect to it, because quite frankly, paddling does. Whether you are on a dragon boat with 20 paddlers, a steersman, and a drummer, or on an outrigger with 6, or even solo... When everybody is "in the moment" with mind and body, it is just awesome. We will never go further than that, nothing religious, no statements or stances, just the fact that while paddling, there is a connection between you and the paddle, between you and the ocean, between you and your team mates. 2. The "Asian image" or chinese image is not that of the recent communist revolution (when they wiped the culture out) but from the ancient texts. We like Hexagram 64 from the Yi Ching. It's in the Analects of Confucius, same book that gave us the golden rule. The hexagram is the combo of fire and water symbols. The result is a distinctive blocky, stripey, sort of yin and yang thing. The concept is not that different from the explanation of why so many Americans have chinese symbols on their arm, or chinese people wearing t-shirts with non-sensical english. It looks different, foreign, cool. Well looking at the hexagram, it reminds you of something pre-tribal, like looking at an egyptian hieroglyph. 3. On the shaft of the paddles, we have different quotes from the art of war. "A good leader leads by example, not by force" for example on the steersman blades. They are subtle, but add a nice touch to the overall feel. 4. As I mentioned before, people have been paddling here, since before the solar calendar, it's time they have a product to be proud of. A hibiscus flower on a paddle is viewed very differently here. 5. It is very important that the logo be in proper relationship to phi, the golden number. All the best logos do anyway, but it's part of the whole concept of connection.

This logo will be used for

• Online (Website, facebook etc.)
• Print (business cards, letterheads, brochures etc.)
• Merchandise (mugs, t-shirts etc.)
• Signs (including shops, billboards etc.)

This design should not have this in the entries

No information provided.

Colors to use in the design

Black on white, maybe an accent color.

Briefly describe your contest

Qi Paddle Co. (Dragon boat/ SUP paddles)