The 2008 Beijing Olympic Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest for its design and often referred to as a "white elephant," will be covered with snow on Saturday for the third edition of the Oakley and Shaun White Air + Style snowboard competition. Leading up to the event, Oakley ran online campaigns and window front campaigns in retail stores. Digital advertising included videos on the subway and commercials on BTV. The event is produced by Shaun White Enterprises and Oakley, along with help from local sports marketing company Shankai Sports, and is sponsored by Red Bull. The stadium holds 80,000 people, and a spokesperson from Oakley's PR agency, Ketchum, confirmed that the event's 20,000 tickets, ranging in price from RMB 80 ($12.84) to RMB 880 ($141.27), are sold out. When asked about logistics of planning the event, Shankai Sports CEO & co-Founder Feng Tao accredited their "strong relationships in China." Saturday will kick off the '12-13 Air + Style season, and it is also the first six-star event of the World Snowboard Tour’s running season. The Rookie Challenge was held on Wednesday, where Chinese riders under the age of 25 could compete, and the Rider Dinner will be held on Thursday. An Oakley spokesperson added that the target demographic has always been local Chinese, to promote the sport domestically, and they "have seen a majority of Chinese growth in the crowds every year."
