Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew
Athlete Updates - MD Am Skate
Trends and Insights – September 2010
September 17th, 2010 by admin
September Trends & Insights in Action Sports
Snowboarding
Wolle Nyvelt is taking snowboarding back to its roots. In 2007 he began building powder exclusive snowboards without bindings and has been improving them and his snow surfing skills ever since. Wolle dedicated over twenty days to no-boarding this season and his practice shows. You can find him no-boarding in two of this year’s biggest snowboard films, Absinthe’s Now/here and Volcom’s 9191 where he drops some serious cliffs and rips AK backcountry. Some claim that watching him no-board is like seeing a glimpse into the future of snowboarding.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew should check for updates in the world of action sports to see if it new trends like no-boarding become more popular in the future.
The 2012 World Snowboarding Championships in Norway
Norway will be hosting the first ever World Snowboarding Championships at Tryvann Vinterpark in 2012. It will consist of both men’s and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. Riders will qualify for the event through the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour and the through the WSF National Championships. W.S.C. The event occurs once every four years and could eventually play a part in the addition of slopestyle snowboarding in the the Olympic Program.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew should look to see if they can become involved in The World Snowboarding Championships as our athletes could be competing in it. Mountain Dew could advertise the contest on their website with a count-down timer until the first day.
Jeremy Jones’ Deeper
Jeremy Jones’ 2 year project “Deeper” debuted this month. Jeremy brings a whole new meaning to the term “gnarly” as he travels by helicopter and snowmobile boundaries into uncharted territory. The Bear Grylls of snowboarding hikes through nights, sleeps on peaks and racks up first descents. Jeremy hopes his project will get more riders hyped on freeriding rather than lapping the park all season. Check out his new snowboard company Jones Snowboards where you’ll find some mean big mountain / freeride decks.
Check out this clip that talks about what Deeper is all about.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Multi-year film projects create a lot of buzz in the snowboarding industry (That’s it That’s All). Danny Davis is a skilled rider in all disciplines of the sport and featuring him in a video of this caliber would help Mtn. Dew reach the core riders in snowboarding
Snowboard On the Rocks offers three snowboard movie premieres and four musical performances all in one night. We will be seeing more of this large scale snowboarding and music combinations in years to come. This event sold out at The Red Rocks Amphitheater, capacity just under 10,000. Over the years technology has made it easier for snowboarders to listen to music while riding and as a result now associate various songs and styles of music with the sport. Snowboard videos help solidify this association with their well chosen soundtracks.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Snowboarding and music go hand-in-hand. Mountain Dew should consider working with Danny Davis and the AMP Snowboarding Team to create a snowboarding and music festival, similar to the Frendly Gathering.
The Flow Team dropped their free full length video this month. Check out Scotty slaying both the back country and park with style and ease. It’s definitely one of the best video parts out for 2011 thus far. Scotty has outdone himself once again.
Skateboarding
Woodward is celebrating its forty-year anniversary by opening a fully accredited high school, Woodward U in Tehachapi, California. The “boarding” school will offer students online courses, hands on learning and access to digital art facilities and parks. Those fortunate enough to attend will head out to Colorado in the snowy months for a winter tutorial at Copper. In addition students are given the opportunity to study-abroad at Woodward’s locations in Beijing. Students don’t have to move to or live in California to attend the camp. Woodward Everywhere will let students take courses remotely as long as visits are made to the camp periodically. They are now accepting applications for action sports enthusiasts photographers, film-makers, musicians and artists.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Red Bull is currently one of Woodward’s partners, but Mountain Dew should look into working with other alternative schools and camps including snowboard camps.
Street League’s First Season Comes to an End
Two out of three of Rob Dyrdek’s Street League competitions went down this month and with a first place prize of 150,000 dollars, all that was certain was the skaters were going to put on a show. Street League is one of the most revolutionary things to happen in the world of skateboarding competitions. Twenty of the most talented street skaters in the world have united to form a series of competitions that represent core street skating like never before.
Street League has brought skateboarding into the homes of millions worldwide as the three stops were broadcasted on ESPN. Rob Dyrdek mentioned those who don’t know a lot about skateboarding might find the league underwhelming as we live in a day where everything must be bigger in order to be better. Many viewers are used to watching skating on mega ramps where pros narrowly escape bodily injury or death at every event. Rob remains optimistic about the league as it brought to light what street skating is really like and the fast paced judging keeps the competition moving and viewers engaged. ESPN and the roster are already on-board for another season.
The contest results are as follows: Nyjiah Huston took the first stop in Glendale Arizona, Sean Malto took the second stop with a huge upset over Chaz Ortiz in Ontario California and Shane O”Niell took the third in Las Vegas. Nyiah Houston took the overall win.
Street League recap – best of the big section
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew should look into having an exclusive rail jam with the riders competing in an urban environment.
The Outdoor Industry Eco Index
The Outdoor Industry Association (IOA) released a new program that called “The Outdoor Industry Eco Index” which will measure the environmental impacts of various products using the six stages of their life cycle: Materials, Packaging, Product Manufacturing and Assembly, Transportation and Distribution, Use and disposal. The index has been a work in progress since 2007, but now over 80 companies including Patagonia, The North Face, Timberland, REI and Quiksilver are on board in to try it and help work out the kinks. “REI Director, Product Integrity Kevin Myette says he’s incredibly excited about the breadth of companies signing on for the beta testing of the scalable tool, and sees this as the first step in a sustainability-based revolution in product innovation across multiple industries.”
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew should work to integrate sustainability into their image as the sports industry begins to pay more attention to environmental impacts. We could promote recycling of Mountain Dew cans at events and feature our athletes with environmentally friendly Mountain Dew Branded apparel.
Wondering what those strange boxes are made up of black and white blocks you’re seeing in magazines lately? They’re called Q.R. Codes. First used to track auto parts for Toyota, Q.R codes can now be found in magazines for commercial purposes. These beefed up bar codes have information embedded in the code itself that trigger the launch of a website or download files by simply snapping a shot with your smart phone’s camera. There are seven Q.R. Codes in October’s issue of TW Snow. Once scanned, the codes direct the reader to bonus video footage found on the magazine or advertising company’s website. I watched Devun Walsh’s behind the scenes video for his cover shot this month through a Q.R. code. Next time you come across one of these boxes scan it and see for yourself what this new technology has to offer.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew can use Q.R. codes in ads, on cans, and on-site at Dew Tour to bring consumers to the Mtn. Dew website and can download video content, announce upcoming Mountain Dew related events or enter a Mtn. Dew contest / giveaway.
Gatorade’s mission control room is dedicated solely to connecting with the consumers via social media. They have held over 2,000 one-on-one conversations with consumers since April and exceeded their Facebook likes by 200,000 five months in advance. The mission control room is home to four full-time employees and more than enough monitors where they disseminate the constant flux of information and feedback. This approach engages consumers with Gatorade directly and has lead to a spike in conversations about sports performance.
Importance to Mountain Dew
Mountain Dew should create their own mission control room to determine consumer needs more effectively and strive to engage consumer communication across social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare to name a few. Mtn. Dew should similarly help their athletes to better utilize their social media networks to engage fans and build the Mtn. Dew Brand connection. Mountain Dew can promote new flavors and innovations through social media contests and surveys, keep consumers informed with Dew Tour updates, and even engage in live Twitter conversations with athletes