No Rotten Tomato: Shaun White's Marketing Deal Examined

White Starred In HP's "Hands" Ad Campaign

Pro skateboarder and snowboarder Shaun White's marketing portfolio is profiled in a FAST COMPANY cover story by Mark Borden, who notes each company White sponsors "meshes with a discrete slice of his actual life." White will often take a "central role, from the design of specific products to pulling deals together among his various partners." White, who will compete this weekend in Winter X Games 13, has deals with HP, Oakley, Target, Burton and Red Bull, among others, and his "instinct for pushing sponsors into new ideas and new territory is becoming part of White's value." HP chose White to star in its "Hands" campaign, because when it "wanted to connect to the youth market, it saw White as a logical choice." In addition, White's line of street-wear apparel last fall "appeared in Target stores across the country," and this year he "expanded his best-selling Burton collection of snowboarding gear to include a stand-alone extension for women." White previously had created "boards, boots, bindings, jackets, pants, and underwear" for Burton. But Borden notes the "easiest way to calculate White's commercial draw may be to listen" to videogame maker Ubisoft, which teamed last year with White to create the "Shaun White Snowboarding" videogame. Ubisoft Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Tony Key: "We wanted to move our portfolio to include sports and create a snowboarding product. Our only condition was to get Shaun White attached to the project. If he signed on, our plan was to build a billion-dollar franchise. If not, we wouldn't pursue it" (FAST COMPANY, 2/ '09 issue).