Discraft has some amazing molds: Comet, Buzzz, Zone, Nuke. They also have some great molds: Wasp, Crank, Challenger. I'm sure I'm leaving some out here.
But they've never pumped out mold after mold like Innova, and they're no longer the counter-cultural side of the big two. Because there is no big two anymore.
I think a lot of it does come down to marketing in a new media environment. Smaller companies can look bigger now by producing youtube videos and doing podcasts. There are so many disc manufacturers out there now producing really great discs, that everyone's share in the market has decreased, which is why its so important to maintain what each company has by aggressive marketing. I just don't see Discraft doing that.
After the big shakeup when Prodigy and DD came out, Innova recovered and Discraft seemed to take a bigger hit. Innova seems to have bet it all on McBeth, and they picked a winner there (what an understatement). They also created SpinTV to promote their brand and have released a solid lineup of hits like the Roc3, the Tern, G Star plastic, and more.
Why isn't Discraft promoting Nate Doss all over the place? They've released a good mold in the Crank, but that's about it. Titanium plastic didn't work, but they didn't seem to react to that until it was too late. They're releasing more vibrant colors now, but it doesn't matter. My local retailer hardly has any Ti and I don't think he's carrying it anymore (it's in the discount bin now) and I think that's because there just isn't enough space to carry something that's not really selling all that well. If they'd reacted to the failure of Ti a year ago at least, they wouldn't be losing that shelf space.
Meanwhile, MVP is hogging up shelf space with their releases. You've got MVP and Axiom, with hot new releases coming out all the time. When you look at their flight charts, you see how huge they are: they are dominating the walls with flashy, smart looking charts promoting their brand (actually, I think it's a bit much: you don't need RHBH and LHBH, as well as 30 square inches of repeated material on the right border like they have, but I digress.) They are conquering the walls and the shelves, while Discraft is being edged out.
It's only ever so slightly at this point, but Discraft needs to be adding to their shelf space to maintain that market share, and I see them being edged out. They can't afford to lose anything. No company can when you've got a proliferation of manufacturers coming out, and a sport that still hasn't gone mainstream. So while the sport has been steadily gaining new players, the expansion of companies has far outstripped the expansion of the user base. It's a much more competitive environment now, and Discraft seems to be hanging on, rather than charging forward.
