Tony Hawk at the SDSI Investor Forum at Skullcandy's San Clemente, CA offices

Tony Hawk was interviewed about his business ventures and approaches by SDSI Executive Chairman Bill Walton last week.

Here are two short video clips. First, Tony advises young brands to keep control as long a possible, even if the financial rewards are not as great.

Here, Tony talks about how he approaches new tricks and new business ventures, including how he came up with the idea of the Boom Boom HuckJam.

The original post was by Tiffany Montgomery. Click here to see the first two clips Shop Eat Surf posted of Tony and Bill talking business. In those clips, Tony talks about building a skate brand, and about keeping authenticity while selling to Kohl’s.

I’d stack the action, outdoor, and adventure travel audience and lifestyle up against any in terms of inspiration, devotion and enthusiasm. They are incredibly committed to their brands if addressed at the core of how they see themselves. Rather than telling them who they should be or how they should behave, connect to what they aspire to be. Whether it be a pro like Shaun White, or a die hard enthusiast living the life by putting in 150 days surfing all over the world for nothing but the love of it, creating that association goes a long way to being included in their admirer’s pattern of behavior.

How large is this audience?

• Participation in “core” outdoor sports and Activities is over 100m in the US alone according to the Outdoor Industry Association’s 2010 participation report. That’s nearly 1 in 3 people.
• According to the Snow Industry Association’s (SIA) latest report, 1 in 10 Americans say they ski, ride and/or snow shoe. That’s about 30m people the snow lifestyle appeals to, give or take.
• Check out the Transworld media kit which targets youth Action Sports . Who wouldn’t want to appeal to 25m 14-28 year olds?

Just as a caveat. I agree there is a big difference in the definitions of participation. There is a wide divide between those who actually skateboard regularly and those that just bought skate shoes for the one time they tried skateboarding. However, for our purposes it doesn’t really matter. It’s about appealing to one’s aspirations.

This is in by no means a new thing. Since the dawn of outdoor and action sports, brands both core and non-core have been striving to appeal to this audience. There are some classic examples of brands that have used this approach successfully to promote products that, technically, have nothing to do with the lifestyle but have become integral nonetheless by sponsoring events, movies and athletes as well as running campaigns that clearly connect them:

• For those that can remember Red Bull in the very early 90s. They were very much associated with the underground teen “rave” lifestyle. Shortly thereafter they made a conscious shift to re-associate with “action sports.” One look at their site makes this clear. Given the lifestyle’s ability to inspire emotions of energy, pushing boundaries, and excitement this was a great fit. RB is now closing in on being a $3b company.

• In the 80’s Subaru took their station wagon, which was not much more than a “tin can” on wheels (coming from a fan by the way), and attached itself as an integral part of snow sports industry to amazing success. Here are a few quick recent samples I found:

• I’m particularly fond of the new Nike, Dwayne Wade and Miami Heat. Who would have thought they NBA needed action sports to be perceived as exciting and new. Note you won’t see a basketball anywhere.

• Shoot, even Accenture, a management consulting firm, is using surfing. Thanks Tiger. Glad we could help.

Surfing was first recorded back in the 18th century, but it blew up in the US during the 60’s as the first movies came out and the Beach Boy’s started singing about it on ‘surfin safari’. It was also the advent of the shortboard in the late 60s which introduced the modern form of the sport.

Motorcross was getting popular already in Europe around the 30s with the first world championships in ‘59. It was introduced to the US in 1966 and took off in 1972 with the first stadium event in the LA Coliseum.

Skateboarding was started by surfers looking to recreate the experience when waves were flat around 1950. It hit the mainstream when Skateboarder Magazine launched and international championships were broadcast on national television in 1965. Technology-wise urethane wheels got popular in early 70s.

BMX begins with a single bicycle: the Schwinn Stingray, invented in 1963 to emulate the motocross experience. The Bicycle United Motocross Society was formed in 1970 and by the late 70s, the BMX Action Trick Team was being formed.

Climbing got really interesting with the advent of Free Climbing which didn’t use any artificial aids in the 60s. This is when the biggest climbing brands got their start. Most notably, Yvon Chouinard, the founder of what is now Black Diamond and Patagonia (and team) climbed the North American Wall on El Capitan. In 1968, Royal Robbins would solo the Muir Wall on El Capita.

Windsurfing was created in 1964 with Windsurfing International being formed as the first industry brand

Mountainbiking was started in the late 60s by Gary Fisher in the US on the hills of Marin County using the earliest form of mountain bike, called a “klunkerz,” with races starting around ‘75.

Skiing slammed into the popularity as two friends with the coolest names in sports, Spider Sabich and Billy Kid, placed 5th in the ‘68 Olympics, inspiring the film Downhill Racer with Robert Redford before turning pro in 1970. To all you ski film innovators,  did you know Warren Miller by ‘69 Warren Miller was on his 22nd ski film, “any snow, any mountain” and was hitting full stride? If your not into the racing or film side of skiing, freestyle skiing was legit already by 1965 through pioneers like Bob Burns. In 1976 the World Freestyle Championships were held and ABC Wide World of Sports televised the event.

Snowboarding came into begin with the Snurfer in 1966, but was mainly used by kids. The first “adult” boards were being made by 1969 by Dimitrije Molovich and called the “winter stick” as covered in a variety of magazines, such as Powder and Newsweek. However it was the advent of bindings that allowed athletes to take it to a new level by Jake Burton and Tom Sims in 1977.

“Now in its seventh year, Liquid Nation Ball consistently amazes me each year as it has grown not only in the amount of fundraising support raised, but as a night where the party gets better and more exciting each year,” said Aguerre. “Liquid Nation Ball is fueled by a passion for helping others through surfing. I look forward to honoring each of our 13 amazing beneficiaries by raising support for their inspirational work and programs.”

Surf legends Tom Carroll and Mark Healey

Original Article by Kailee Bradstreet at Transworld

Riders from around the world gathered in a remote Alaskan parking lot for Tailgate Alaska 2010. From the terrain around basecamp to the rebirth of the King of the Hill – Epic out with Olympians, professional athletes and dedicated recreational riders. Nice job guys…

Tailgate Alaska 2010: The Movie – Trailer from TAILGATE ALASKA on Vimeo.

Social Norming is the practice of taking an “at risk” audience and making them aware of how their perception of reality compares with actual reality. Take an obvious example such as someone who drinks in excess (say 4 beers a night). Especially with younger audiences the perception is that they don’t drink more than the average person. Using social norming, you would use a credible messenger to show them that in reality they drink significantly more than than the average person who only drinks 1 beer (i’m making this example up)  per night.

Semper Ride took the approach of introducing professional athletes to address the perception that they didn’t ride safely and that was the only way to be successful. In fact most athletes work with a team of support personnel, wear more than the standard safety gear and don’t ride in a risky manner on public highways and streets.

The British have been noted for making some very powerful commercials in recent years. One of my favorites involves the Grim Reaper as the messenger. Take note of the statistical comparison between the incidents involving military personnel versus  the general public. The rest is just powerful emotional entertainment and messenging.

Melissa Ittoo let us know about how Crowdsourcing hits the silver screen with YouTube’s ‘Life in a Day” experiment.

“On 24 July film-makers will have the opportunity to take part in a cinematic experiment aiming to create the world’s largest feature film.

Entrants to YouTube’s Life in a Day project, which boasts film director Ridley Scott as its executive producer, will have 24 hours to record a snapshot of their life on that date and upload it to the project’s YouTube channel. The best footage will be selected and edited by director Kevin Macdonald for a feature film to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Anyone whose footage is used will be credited as a co-director, and all submissions will feature on the Life in a Day YouTube channel irrespective of whether they make the final cut.

The following instructions to take part are posted by the project:

• Visit the Life in a Day channel and learn more about the project. Be sure to read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video.  Also check out some of the sample videos for inspirational ideas.
• On July 24, capture your day on camera.
• Upload your footage to the Life in a Day channel before July 31.

Original article

Mashable’s take was “Inspired Bicycles’ team rider Danny MacAskill scales fences in and around Edinburgh, Scotland. The video is as mesmerizing as its hypnotic soundtrack from music group Band of Horses. It’s a solid example of how a brand pursuing a niche market – mountain bike trailblazers – can reach the masses with a brilliant viral video execution.”

At One Eyed Bird we believe Outdoor Adventure an Action sports can work for a variety of brands who want to leverage a “trail blazer” theme.

Sunglasses pose a quandary. As a small, relatively expensive item, they can mint retailers a fortune on a square-footage basis if the product mix is right, but if the buy is off trend, these fashion-focused fixtures are no more valuable than a pricey paperweight. Everyone is looking to reduce risks these days, and in the eyewear world, wary retailers are reeling in buys to make sunglass cases pay off. “We used to go for broke and stock the display super heavy and keep a large amount of back stock year round,” says Huntington Surf & Sport Buyer Mike Sheldon. “Now we run a very lean inventory in the off-season, relying on the reps to come in weekly and keep us full. In season we still load up heavy on the bestsellers but stay away or go much lighter on the fringy frames. Simply put, last year made us go lean and mean… and it’s working.” Original Article