ASR Blog

How punk is network TV?

The rebellious "sport" of skateboarding will be all over network TV this weekend. Kids can get their fix between the Dew Tour on NBC and the Maloof Money Cup on CBS. The little wooden toy has come a long way. I remember when I got chased by security just for carrying my skateboard into the mall to buy a soda. Now kids go to the mall to get geared up. Some people like how big skateboarding has gotten, some people hate it and want to keep it underground. Personally, I’m happy I don’t have to hear about pro’s pulling shifts at UPS to pay the rent anymore. There’s a lot of garbage that comes with growth, and sure a lot of kids will try it, fall once, and give it up. But skateboarding has always been able to weed out the ones who aren’t really into it. We all have friends that “used to skate” until they got their driver’s license. So love it or hate it, get ready to O.D. on TV with the Dew Tour, Maloof Money Cup, and the X Games right around the corner. No matter how big skateboarding gets, it will always be punk. Its one thing to sit on the couch and watch somebody skate, but it’s another thing to actually do it.

Matt

What is your water footprint?

It seems like the more I learn about the environment, the more I get bummed out. We’ve all been aware of our carbon footprint for a while, and trying to make changes to minimize our individual impact on mother earth. Now, thanks to Surfers Village we can understand our individual water footprint. The Water footprint of an individual is defined as the total water used for the production of the goods and services consumed by the individual. It can be estimated by multiplying all goods and services consumed by their respective virtual-water content. Check out the article and get freaked out. As the population continues to grow, and as we continue to make a mess of the planet, our water demand is outpacing what the planet can replenish. You can find some examples of the water footprint for individual products and get a better understanding of what’s happening. Everything is listed in Litres. Unless you recently brushed up on the metric system, here’s how a Litre converts. One litre is slightly more than one U.S. liquid quart. There are two pints in a quart. So, two pints at Hensley’s equals one Litre. Now that I know my water footprint on a Friday night is over 200 litres I need to change some other things in my life.

Read the article, check out the examples and calculators, and spread the word. If it’s yellow let it mellow.

Matt

This is goodbye

I'm sad to say that this is my last entry for the ASR blog. I want to thank everyone who read and commented to my entries this past year, I appreciate everyone taking the time in doing so. The hardworking staff at ASR will continue to write the blog themselves, so please make sure to keep checking it and making reading the blog part of your daily routine.

Have a wonderful summer!
Alex

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?

Best advice on growing your company

My first job out of college was working in the production department of Surfing Magazine, and one of my many duties was to collect ad film (you can see it was a long time ago—we actually used film) from our advertisers. I can’t tell you how many start-up clients came in big—with spread ads—only to be canceling their contracts a few issues later. Point being—these little guys would come in huge, with no budget, hoping to grow their brand, only to go under a few months later. So, when I was at the Group Y function last week, and Rob asked the panelists what the best piece of advice was in growing a company, I was interested to hear their answers. . .

SkullCandy Chairman Jeff Kearl said, “Surround your company with smart people.” He made a big deal about this, pointedly saying don’t hire anyone off the street just because they are cool or used to be pro. He said that SkullCandy is really careful on whom they hire, and it sounds like the potential employee has to go through some rigorous interviews. Jeff also brought up the point of not being afraid to get advice from industry leaders. He routinely calls people such as Paul Naude from Billabong, asking his opinion on SkullCandy expansion ideas. Of course not everyone has a black book full of CEO’s numbers, but it shows that networking and getting yourself out there is not a bad idea.

Dan Levine, president of RVCA says, “Own your backyard before layering on new regions, territories, and accounts. Conquer the 60 mile radius from where you are based and branch out from there.” This advice can be seen in the success of companies such as Volcom or Nixon. Volcom is synonymous with
Newport Beach—one of the first things Richard Wolcott did was get the locals on board with the Stone, the brand grew underground from there. Nixon owns Encinitas—it seems as if everywhere you go, there’s a Nixon logo somewhere. They even sponsor the surf forecasts on the lifeguard towers—genius.

The last piece of advice came from Bruce Beach, co-founder and CEO of Electric: “Running your company should be a passion—you love it and have fun doing it. Once it becomes a job, get out. In good times and bad, keep looking at the vision.”

Bruce’s advice is my favorite—it’s something we should all stick to, whether we are the CEO or the grunt making deliveries. Love what you do.

International Surfing Day

Today is International Surfing Day, and after driving around and checking out my local beaches, it seems as if everyone is doing just that—surfing. The day was created by Surfing Magazine to give, “a chance to promote and celebrate the sport while bringing awareness to the state of our oceans and beaches.” The magazine works with Surfrider, and the two held a series of beach cleanups (at least 100) throughout the world. For more info, you can click on the official website.

As I said above, my local beaches are crowded with people taking advantage of the day. (It probably helps that it’s currently 80 degrees and there’s a swell hitting.) Lower Trestles about 40 people sitting on the peak, and there was a 30 minute wait to get into San Onofre at 9:00 this morning. So, what did you do to celebrate the day? And, out of curiosity, what do you think of today, International Surfing Day, and tomorrow, Go Skateboarding Day—do you think they’re good to have? That they promote the sports? Or, just insiders are in the know?

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

Nike 6.0 on the scene

Back in April, I had written about Nike 6.0 sponsoring the WQS surf contest, the Lower’s Pro, formerly known as the Body Glove Surfabout. Only one of three contests that are held at Lower Trestles each year, I was surprised that a endemic brand wouldn’t want to get their hands on the title sponsorship—with the marketing that comes with it—for one of the best surf breaks in the United States.

Well, it looks like Nike 6.0 isn’t going to let go—it was announced earlier this week that they have signed on as an associate sponsor for the AST Dew Tour and AST Winter Dew Tour. I’ve never been to a Dew Tour event, but from reading the press it gets, and seeing the television coverage, it seems to be the next big thing after the X-Games. If Nike now has a hold of that, what are they going to go for next? A new WCT contest in some exotic location? It’ll be interesting to watch and see.