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]
