Loading ...As the debate rages on, on this controversial issue, I like to personally look at this from the business angle.
As this hobby grows, so do independent coral farmers and their need to sell their stock. More farmers means more competition, and thus the need to be different from the rest. So how do they try to distinguish themselves from the rest? Do they walk around with giant signs? Do they have a trademark or a patent to a specific coral? But of course not. So how do they manage to stay in business, with fierce competition?
Coral branding.
I do name my corals and have begun doing that with all the corals I am working with. I always name mine with “AWE” before the name….
We vendors need to be responsible and market our corals as what they are. I try to always tell people how long I have had a coral, and how much it has grown in my captive system. My goal is to get every coral frag I sell to be as close to 100% captive grown as I possibly can….
My AWE Rouge millepora: I had 10 at the 2007 SW-CFM. Sold 1 or 2. Unknowingly Tyree got a piece from a local So Cal Reefer and Tyree made it LE. I went to BA-CFM with 8 and sold them all out in the first couple hours. I have had the AWE Rouge millepora for 6-7 years. Sold countless frags at the So Cal swaps. No one talked much about it until Tyree made it LE. Another example at how Lineage is a very BIG issue with hobbyists…
(Todd from AW Exotics)
This is a prime example of branding. Coke does it to soda. Honda to cars. Why can’t Todd do it for AW Exotics? Well from a business perspective, this is how fragging/coral businesses will stay competitive, and frankly alive. Without it, they cannot control their prices, or prices of their commodities. By naming a coral, you are creating a commodity. Whether it is sold by your own business or someone else (even a competitor), you can drive your name throughout the marketplace. It is almost like free advertisement.
Another question out of this is why do Coke or Honda have logos? Obvious Joe will tell you that it is a form of advertisement of their products, and name recognition for future products. So when Todd at AW Exotics places a AWE acronym in front of a coral name, he does the same thing as Coke and Honda have done. He scores a ‘logo’ onto a coral that will have lasting marketability for his business. If you disagree with this, just ask Steve Tyree, or Ming (Atlantis Aquarium), or Tubbs, or JenDub, or YourNameHere if they don’t benefit from placing their ‘logo’ on their corals.
Many in the hobby feel that this just drives the prices of corals. And they are right. The prices do inflate, but justifiably so. Certain people who run these business have been in the hobby for decades. They have seen what is being shipped from places beyond your reach. They know what to expect, and can distinguish what is rare (in the hobby). But, there are those people in this business to just make money, as the business side could be very lucrative. Unfortunately, this brings out the worst in people and ethics are quickly decimated. Coral branding gets abused. Coke is being imitated by Joe’s Cola and sold as Koke. Mundane and commonly imported corals are getting loony names just to attract customers. And this, in my mind, is where the business aspect of this hobby has crossed the line. It is sabotaging itself and it doesn’t know it. This will lead to devaluing the only tool that the businesses have.. branding.
Stay tuned next time for the hobbyist perspective on this hot issue…
Related posts:
- Coral Recognition: To Design or Not, part 1
- Coral Macros
- A Coral In Your Name
- The Impact of Recession On Our Reefing Industry
- Coral Reef Alliance Roundup!
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Trained by the thirteenth ring master of the Sian Xiuang Coral Temple. Currently is apprenticing the art of Acropora shaping in the ancient tradition of Ninja Fragging. Known as the SPS hero! 
I’ve read these threads lately, and it borders on ridiculous when someone tacks a name on a coral they’ve had for a year and shared with a couple people. However, whatever. I do have a couple Tyree corals, and indeed they look as they are ’supposed to’, are extremely hardy, and were a bit pricey. But, I bought them because they were a sweet looking animal, not because of a name.
The lack of use of good old latin names can be a little disturbing to me, and the number of downright absurd names I see for zoanthids makes me want to vomit, though I don’t really care for zoas anyway.
Either way, to each their own. No vemos las cosas como son, las vemos como somos nosotros…
I hear ya! I also eye corals for their lustre or brilliance. Most of my corals I obtain from shipments, and not from seeing them being talked about online. The funny thing is, I obtain corals not knowing that they already have names (given by hobbyists). It happened with some zoas, and now with SPS. It is somewhat humorous.
I disagree with it being comparable to Honda, or Sony etc. These companies engineer/design AND manufacture their products before they put there logo/name on it.
Boutique e-tailers are more like over hyped used car salesman to me. They didnt locate/discover said coral. No, they bought it off someone like everyone else. What would give me the right to go out and by a Honda civic and turn around and sell it as the ‘JB LS’? True, I do have that right I guess, but it would be silly…wouldnt it be?
-Justin
But of course it would Justin. But businesses use tactics to stay in business. That being whatever tactic that they choose. It doesn’t always mean that they are morally and ethically correct.