ASR Blog

Skateboarding in China

I posted a story in Industry News about the growth of skateboarding in China. The article states that skateboarding is becoming less underground and more mainstream--Chinese skate brands are popping up, making buying a board affordable, and companies such as Quiksilver and DC Shoes are now distributing their product in the country. There'€™s also an Asian X-Games, which, according to the article, was put in place in order to scout new Asian talent. China also boasts the largest skatepark in the world. The article reads, ". . . SMP International, an Australian-owned skateboarding company, finished construction on the world's largest skatepark, located in New Jiangwan City outside Shanghai. More than 12,000 square meters in size, the park features the world's biggest vert ramp, the world's largest concrete skate bowl, and a 5,000-seat stadium."

Obviously, China's potential as a contributor to action sports and consumerism is still largely untapped, and these signs show that it will explode one day soon. Raph Cooper, creator of She Hui (Society) Skateboards, the first domestic Chinese skateboarding company, hits the nail on the head when he says,€œ"If we can keep it hyped up in China, if we can keep the business going well enough to be able to feed the scene for competitions or for demos, then we could really see China putting a big impact on skating as whole."

What do you think of this? Does the company you work for sell it's product in China?

Group Y discusses how to market your brand during a recession

One of the most interesting questions that Rob Campbell asked the three panelists (click here on the Group Y event that took place Monday night) was, “How do you market a brand in times of economic recession?” Obviously, everyone is stressed, budgets are tight, and the knee jerk reaction of most people would be to cut marketing and advertising. However, Bruce Beach, Co-Founder and CEO of Electric Visual, and Dan Levine, President of RVCA, said that one must do the opposite.

Bruce told the story of launching Electric—the company was founded in 2000—the same time as the dot com explosion and downfall. They weathered that storm, but then 9/11 happened, and they had another tumultuous time to get through. In Electric’s third year of business, the product finally caught up, and they were driving in the fast lane. The one thing that Electric never scaled back on? Marketing. During these tough times, Bruce said they kept on advertising and they kept their team. He believes this is the number one thing to do to get your product flying off the shelves.

Dan agrees. He said that in times like today, you’re tempted to, “cutback and be influenced by conditions. But your brand needs to tell a story—your accounts and fan base are counting on you to do that.” Dan goes on to say that your marketing has to be concise and tell the same story, and this gets done by your advertising campaigns—both print and online. He says the number one thing to do in a recession is to, “never lose sight of why your audience is coming to you.”

Good advice by both—and something that all print and online sales reps will love to hear.

*Photo taken from Transworld Business website. From left to right are:Skullcandy Chairman Jeff Kearl, Panel Moderator (and Publisher of Transworld Business Rob Campbell, RVCA President Dan Levine and Electric Co-founder and CEO Bruce Beach

Go Skateboarding Day

You have a little over two days to figure out what you’re going to do for Go Skateboarding Day, which is this Saturday, June 21. Created by the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) in 2004, the event “originated as the day for skateboarders to have fun, to raise awareness about the issues we face, to show the world what skateboarding is really all about, to reclaim our culture and to define skateboarding as the rebellious, creative celebration of independence it continues to be.” Since that first day on June 21, 2004, thousands of people have responded and have either put on or participated in skate events, just rolled around with their friends, or even stopped by their local skate retailer to say hi. If you haven’t decided what you’re going to do to celebrate, check out the IASC site for some ideas. And, Go Skateboarding!

Group Y gets the networking done

Last night the Group Y Network presented a discussion on the building, growth and maintenance of successful niche brands. Set in a panel format, the panelists were three industry heads which included, Dan Levine, President of RVCA, Bruce Beach, Co-founder and CEO of Electric Visual and Jeff Kearl, Chairman of Skullcandy. Moderated by Rob Campbell, Publisher of Transworld Business, the night provided some interesting details on what these three men believe is the core of a successful company during the current economic situation. Check back later this week for more information on what was said. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the night.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve attended a Group Y event, and I was amazed at the amount of people who came compared to last year. The crowd was varied—a sampling showed ex-professional surfers, photographers, retail owners and people from design and PR firms in attendance. It truly does make for a good networking night.

Mark Sperling and Liz Randall, Group Y Founders

Bruce Beach, CEO of Electric with his lovely wife, Kristen

Left to Right: Robyn Lass, who is now jobless since the closing of Future (anyone need a writer?), with Lindsay Tredent, Music Marketing and Content for MySpace and Adryan Roane Ritter, a freelance writer and photographer

Left to Right: Keri Gross, Sales and Marketing for Innovate Partners, Angie Smith, Group Y, and Peter Campbell, Sales Operations for DC

The scene outside. . .

. . .with the scene inside

Left: Matt McClain, Director of Marketing at Surfrider with Wally Fox, Creative Director of Boost Mobile

Noleen Lovell and Zach Lyons of ChopShop

Nicole Grodesky--ex-WQS surfer and currently a Communications student with her boyfriend Bobby Shadley, a freelance writer

Hang Ten in Kohl's

There seems to be a trend of iconic surf brands moving into discount retail chains. First we were shocked by Shaun White cutting his sponsorship with Volcom and announcing a soon-to-be line of clothes by Target. Next we find out that Wal-Mart will be the exclusive supplier of OP.  After that we learn that Kmart will be producing their own surf branded clothing (is that an oxymoron or what?). And what about the Laird Hamilton line in Steve & Barry’s? So maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised to learn that Kohl’s has obtained the right to license the legendary Hang Ten brand and will be offering it in 240 of its stores. And, I shouldn’t be surprised to read that Quiksilver will be designing it. But, I am. I guess that they’ve had such great results with their Tony Hawk partnership that Kohl’s would like them to design the Hang Ten apparel as well. I don’t know, to me it just seems . . . weird. Everything is crossing over, it seems as if all brands are now incestuous, which doesn’t seem right to me.

Whiskey Militia— friend or foe?

You may have seen the Whiskey Militia feature that’s currently on Transworld Business site. It’s generated a lot of comments, mostly a back and forth argument of whom it’s benefiting and who is selling out as a result of the site. (In case you haven’t heard of Whiskey Militia—it’s a site where product is offered at incredibly discounted prices—but only for a short duration of time. Great for impulse buyers).

TW lists some of the stats of products sold—an incredible amount over a short period of time making the site an obvious success. But, is it benefiting anyone besides the consumer and Whiskey Militia itself? They clear out merchandise at rock bottom prices—how does this affect the retailer? Whiskey says the product is the current season’s, which I think would really be a blow to the brick and mortar shops, but one commenter, on the site, “Manufacturer”, says there is no way that can be true. Though they can’t speak for other brands, he knows it doesn’t hold true for his.

Backcountry’s ODAT Brand Manager Luke Cudney (Backcountry owns Whiskey Militia and ODAT stands for the business model, “One-Deal-at-a-Time”) says that it’s beneficial to the brands because, “It’s not gathering dust on the shelves of a clearance shop, watering down the market, or killing the vendors’ brands by getting sold to some kooks at TJ MAXX.” Very true, if I were a brand, I’d much rather have my product sell on a site like Whiskey Militia than a Marshall’s or TJ Maxx, though as a consumer, I do have to admit to shopping there and loving the deals.

It seems that in the end, in my opinion, it does hurt the retailer—the deals that Whiskey Militia has can’t even compare to clearance prices at your local surf shop (check out the price stats at the end of the TW Biz article). Meanwhile, the brands do benefit— they can do larger runs on items which results in higher profits while their product gets greater exposure with no extra work by them.

The State of the Tradeshow

Seems like the story about Sole Technologies, Circa and Podium pulling out of ASR is pretty big news for the Industry—there is a lot of talk on the message boards, and the commenter’s are all over the place on their opinions. Some think ASR is dead, while others say that there’s no way the buyers want it to go away. A lot of people are pointing to PacSun not selling closed toe shoes as part of the culprit, while others think it’s our changing climate and this wonderful recession the country is in. On Silverfish Longboarding, a commentator says that he will no longer support those companies who pulled out. On the other hand, “Mile_High_Mark” says, “Dealers will still buy those brands, and skaters will, too. Having hot-sh*t riders and models (shoes, not skaters) will do more for sales than a trade show”.

The most varied comments, however, are found on the Transworld Business site. “Jason Bergman” complains that ASR has turned into a regional show and its dead, while “Warren” says, “I think it is very arrogant of the companies to think that they can simply do more regional shows. It may work out for the shops form SoCal - but some of us travel a great distance to see all of the products in one place. That IS the idea of a trade show - right? The companies have done it to them selves - moving deadlines earlier and earlier every season.” Another user, “Big Picture”, agrees, stating that, “Tradeshows roll like the stock market and those that pull out when the going gets a little tough usually lose the most money. In a world of vertical retailers taking larger portions of the market I think these companies are better served standing united with the industry. An Island can be a lonely place.” However, the commentator goes on to say that, “ASR needs to change with the times and spice up the shows like the old days.”

So, what I want to know is what you think. If you’re on this site, I assume you attend ASR, or are looking to attend. What’s your opinion of tradeshows in general?

HIC Sunscreen

I don’t usually use this blog to endorse products, but I have to let you know about HIC’s sunscreen—I was given a bottle at the Holiday Show and was told, “Try it, you’ll love it”, and I have to say that I really do.

Like a good product tester, I read the literature on the sunscreen, as well as watched the DVD. There were several endorsements—from skin cancer survivors Randy Rarick and Jodie Young to HIC’s team, which includes Jamie Sterling and Dane Gudauskas. Developed by Nic Martens, who used to work for Johnson & Johnson, HIC’s sunscreen is great because it not only protects you from UVB rays (the ones that cause a sunburn) but UVB rays as well—these are the ones that penetrate the deeper layer of skin and causes long term skin damage.

The other great thing is that you can use it on the kids, and as any beach going parent knows, the less stuff you have to bring, the better, and that includes separate sunscreen for kids and adults. The product rubs in really well, very dry, unlike some other brands that I’ve been testing out which are really greasy. Because it’s so dry, you can use it on your face—it goes on really smoothly. The materials say it doesn’t sting the eyes, and they’re right—neither the kid nor I complained about it running in the eyes. Best of all, it lasted a long time with no resulting sunburn.

The information pamphlet says 90% of skin cancer is caused from sun exposure. So, if you’re reading this blog, I imagine you spend a lot of time in the sun. Make sure to do your own research and grab a sunblock you like.

For more information on HIC’s, check out the site at hicsuncare.com.

Feedback on ASR Holiday Show

Yesterday I had mentioned that the vendors I had spoken to seemed to be pretty happy about the Holiday ASR show—I was curious to see how it was going for them considering we’re in a recession and shoppers aren’t as quick to spend their money. Here’s the feedback that I was given:

One sub-rep for Billabong said that the show was going great and they were writing orders. She said that they had at least “three appointments every hour on the hour.” The show was great for her—it meant fewer trips into the stores to show the line and there were plenty of buyers at the show, so it made it worthwhile to be there.

Vice President of Sales and Merchandising for Atwater, Greg Osthus, had a ton of good stuff to say. He said that the show seemed smaller than last year, but he hoped that ASR continues to do it because no one else offers a holiday show—it’s the one place where the brands can let the buyers see their holiday line. Greg also said that the Holiday Show is “all business—you get quality appointments with premium retailers. Buyers aren’t rushing off to their next appointment. They take their time, and you really get to talk with them.” Greg finished by saying that they had written a bunch of orders, so all in all, the show was a success.

A rep from one of the big companies, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the first day of the show was “crazy busy” but the second day seemed a bit slower. She wished to see more San Diego and Los Angeles vendors—she was bummed that it was so “Orange County heavy”. She believes that if ASR can get those other brands in, that it will bring in many more retailers. She went on to say that “the show is so inexpensive, people can’t afford to NOT do it. Even if you’re not launching a line for holiday, book a space and come in to sell your current line. It’s a great opportunity for some face time with the buyers.” She, like Greg, hoped to see the show grow, and get better.

Since several people had mentioned that they hoped ASR would continue to do the Holiday Show, I asked Group Show Director, Andy Tompkins about it. He said that they will definitely continue on with it, but are taking feedback to see how this last show went so they can tweak it to make it even better.

So, you read it here—any comments or suggestions, list them below so ASR can make the show work better for you.

Checking in at the Holiday Show

I stopped by the ASR Holiday Show today which is the second, and final, day of the show, and vendors had some great things to say about it. The main question that I wanted to have answered was how the show was going for them, and the reply was a constant good, which is great to hear. Retailers were present from all over—the buyer for Puerto Rico’s Bora Bora shops had attended, as well as the buyer from Costa Rica’s surf shop, Renas, who has a whopping 25 stores in the chain. Others were present from South America, Hawaii, all over the
US and Hawaii. One retailer commented that there were more buyers in attendance from other places than there were right here in our backyard.

Buyers take a break at a specially designated lounge just for them.

I also noticed some unusual brands exhibiting, as well as some newcomers: TapOut, Triptych, Jackson Industries, and probably the most unusual—Piloti, which makes driving shoes. I asked Andy Tompkins, group show director, about the eclectic mix and he replied that, “The Holiday Show is a great place to introduce your brand to the marketplace. Since the show is smaller than the January or September shows, it’s easier for a retailer to spot you. The companies get more eyes on their brand.”

Check back in tomorrow for feedback from the vendors on how the last two days went for them.