There is a lot of skate action going down this week that isn’t The Street League. What better time for Rob Dyrdek to kick down all the details on The Street League? And yeah, he’s pretty convincing.
[Link: Street League]
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This really is more of a personal reminder to ourselves than to anyone else (we’re getting pretty forgetful these days), but tomorrow the Agenda Trade Show kicks off its two-day run at Huntington Beach, California’s Hyatt Regency Hotel. As if you don’t have enough going on this week. . .
To whet your appetite for Agenda check out these photos from the January 2010 Berrics Agenda.
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A horde of action sports marketing zombies are gathered in Huntington Beach, California today (August 3, 2010) for group Y’s second annual Action Sports Conference where they will share ideas on how to strip more meat off the bones of action sports.
If you’re hungry for action flesh and want to learn how to transform youthful passion into corporate cash then by all means, follow along with Transworld Business as they “Cover It Live”. Follow the jump for the tweeting details.
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Film producer Jimmy Hawkins, 51, and musician Gregg Cassity, 56, (both of Southern California) have a new event that is going to blow everyone away, according to a story in the Daily News. The men are owners of the National Association of Powered Skateboard Racing and they’re saying it’s the next big thing.
“Powered Skateboard Racing will be sweeping the globe,” Hawkins said in one of a series of bombastic e-mails promoting the sport. The two men and their roster of about 20 racers hope to turn this weekend lark for daredevil skateboarders into a professional sport by finding bigger venues and acquiring sponsors, equipment manufacturers and media attention. . . The result is the scene that unfolded Sunday at the Encino Velodrome when a bunch of dudes jumped on motorized skateboards and raced around the high-banked concrete oval in what is either the next hot sport or the latest example of California nuttiness.
We can already hear the organizer potential sponsor pitch: it’s Gen-Y’s own version of NASCAR. Loud billboards going round and round. Sounds like a great addition to ESPN’s X Games.
[Link: Daily News]
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Kris Markovich has taken his Given Skateboards brand to a new distributor according to a release issued by Switchboard Inc.
“Through this new partnership, Kris has more time to focus on his passion for art and design,” says Mark Sweetser, VP of Sales at Switchboard, Inc. “The Switchboard Inc. family, is excited to bring Given Skateboards into its long term distribution plan.”
For the complete details follow the jump or click here for an interview with Switchboard’s Sweetser on Malakye.com.
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It is the dream of many distributors to either be brought home by the mothership with a nice cash buyout, or grow large enough to buy the brand themselves. Volcom Australia’s John Clapham went the previous route and is selling the distributorship to Volcom corporate, according to a press release.
“We are very excited to more formally be coming under the Volcom global umbrella,” said John Clapham, chief executive officer of Volcom Australia. “We believe this will strengthen the company’s main aim to grow our share of the market and will enable us to take the brand to the next level in Australia and New Zealand.”
As usual, details on exactly what Volcom paid for the distributor were not disclosed. They also say this acquisition will be “neutral to earnings in 2010.” For the entire release, follow the jump.
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People sometimes forget that Ken Block has always been a businessman first and an action sportsman second. In this interview with Transworld Businesses‘ Mike Lewis Block again reminds us that DC is worn by every kid in Hicktown USA for a reason–Ken understands what drives teen passions and how that passion translates to dollars. Here’s an example:
Even a brand like Vans or Nike, they’re doing it in ways that really are counterproductive to what people thought in the past would work. Those brands do everything, they sell everywhere. Vans and Nike are both sold in JC Penney’s,” Block says. “Who would think a brand that sold at JC Penney’s would still be cool to a core consumer and a core skateboard retailer today? Well, they’re doing it and it proves that as long as you can send the right messages to the right people you can pull off some pretty interesting business moves. It’s the same thing that we do today, and every brand in our market really does – you have to continue marketing in the right way, to the right people, with the right messages. It’s pretty easy to fuck up, but there are ways to find the right paths.
Yeah, it’s as ugly as action consumerism can gets, but from the sales side it’s genius.
[Link: Transworld Business, Times Live, and Sports Business Daily]
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Looks like the high fashion diva Erin Wasson was a little too high maintenance for RVCA and they have cut her contract, according to the fashion blog Fashionista.
According to sources inside the company, RVCA dropped Erin Wasson because her team was too hard to work with. “Total chaos and the epitome of unorganized,” according to one person we spoke with. We know, what a shocker.
Then again, we’re guessing Ms. Wasson was pretty expensive and RVCA wasn’t exactly flush with cash. . . until lately.
[Update 6 PM, July 20, 2010: According to RVCA: “. . . the fashionista Wasson story is completely false, I’m sure it will be down or have a correction printed by tomorrow.” And by “completely false” RVCA means that Ms. Wasson will no longer be with the company, nor will she design another line for the company, but that’s because her contract expires on December 31, 2010. Not because she was “too hard to work with.”]
[Link: Fashionista]
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It’s rare that we have even the slightest bit of interest in any of SIMA’s Bootcamp seminars. On August 18, 2010, however, SIMA will be hosting an Athlete Management Boot Camp in conjunction with Wasserman Media Group that features a strong line-up of panelists including BIllabong’s Graham Stapelberg, Hurley’s Pat O’Connell, Firewire’s Mark Price, Mosaic’s Susan Izzo, WMG’s Blair Marlin, and the guy most responsible for “professionalizing” action sports athletes WMG’s Steve Astaphen.
“Athlete management is not only a crucial component to the surf industry, but one that is ever-changing and evolving as our sport, athletes and lifestyle continue to grow in the mainstream spotlight. At Athlete Management Boot Camp you’ll hear from some of our industry’s own experts, as well as from the preeminent managers and agents in the athlete management category, and learn best practices for managing athletes today, getting the most out of your signed athlete, what surf brands can learn from more mainstream athlete management, and more,” said Doug Palladini, SIMA President and VP of Marketing for Vans.
The seminar costs $175 for SIMA members and $275 for non-members. Follow the jump for all the info.
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After 15 years of writing action sports business analysis for publications like Transworld Business, Ski Area Management, Boardsport Source, Snowboard Canada Business, and others Jeff Harbaugh has joined the modern era. For the last couple months he has been providing his “commentary, analysis, and advice” directly to the people through his blog Jeff Harbaugh’s Market Watch.
While his analysis often pisses people off, one thing is certain: it is always entertaining, insightful, and opinionated; three things that are rare in action sports business media. The most recent topic Jeff dropped in on is, not surprisingly, Billabong Acquiring West 49.
Billabong’s strategy may be opportunistic with regards to timing (anybody’s acquisition strategy is) but I don’t think there’s any doubt that they have been planning to make retail a bigger part of their business. The presentation on West 49 says, in part, “Billabong has a long track record of successfully acquiring and integrating ‘bolt-on’ acquisitions consistent with its key strategic objectives of growing its brand portfolio and expanding its retail distribution network.” (Emphasis added) And their store count has grown from 49 in 2004 to 510 this year assuming they complete the West 49 deal.
And better yet–Jeff has posted every Market Watch column he’s written since 1995. Check it out if you care, and if you do, put him on your RSS reader.
[Link: Jeff Harbaugh’s Market Watch]
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