Good snow on the East Coast has offset a bad winter on the West Coast, helping Burton Snowboards to increase snowboard and apparel sales this year, Founder & CEO Jake Burton said prior to last night’s halfpipe competition at the Sochi Games. News reports two years ago suggested the sport had peaked in popularity and used data showing the decline in snowboarding participation over the last decade. But Burton said that was “bullshit.” “The sport is healthy, and the business is doing great, but it’s not as easy as it used to be,” he said. “We’re impacted more than ever by weather and the economy.” The European economy has been particularly problematic for Burton’s company. Youth unemployment in some European countries is 50%, and that has been a challenge for snowboarding’s business. "Snowboarders are young,” he said. “They’re punished by the economy.” Snowboarding is participating in its fifth Olympic Games, and Burton Snowboards outfitted the U.S. and Finnish snowboard teams and sponsored more than 25 snowboarders participating in the Games. Burton said the Olympics usually provide a small boost to the company’s e-commerce business and retailers. But the real upside is the exposure it provides to future participants. “The Olympics lights up kids and all kinds of people,” Burton said. “If they were thinking about snowboarding, this might push them over the ledge” (Tripp Mickle, Staff Writer).
GETTING BIG AIR: NBCNEWS.com's Bill Briggs reported snowboard makers are "stealthily winning the Games’ logo war by bathing the boards’ undersides in colorful, large and eye-popping lettering." U.S. snowboarder Jamie Anderson "frequently flashed a GNU emblem that spans half of her board bottom while soaring toward slopestyle gold Sunday," while Canadian Mark McMorris "similarly blazed the Burton label that eats up the full belly of his board as he grabbed bronze on the men’s side of the event." Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov yesterday "shredded to gold in the men's halfpipe, spinning atop a Quiksilver board with, ironically, the smallest logo in the competition." NJOY Global Head of Brand Dean Crutchfield said, "These companies have been getting the perfect (logo) placements. They're the ones getting everybody abuzz. It's inspired thinking." Goviva President Robert Tuchman added, "The advertising on the bottom of the boards is really impactful -- so many TV cameras and angles that the pickup is superb." Briggs noted the Olympic Charter covering advertising at the Games states that no "'publicity, propaganda or commercial' can appear on athletes, their sportswear, or their accessories." Only their gear maker’s name "is allowed to show." The Charter’s rule No. 50 states, "Any manufacturer’s identification that is greater than 10 percent of the surface area of the equipment that is exposed during competition shall be deemed to be marked conspicuously." Briggs noted despite the rule, McMorris’ board is "technically half slathered by a logo, and Anderson’s stick is roughly one-quarter covered." Many riders "push the emblem envelope closer" to 50% (NBCNEWS.com, 2/11).
