Surfing Marketing Sucks, Wonder Why?
Written by John David, Wednesday January 07 2009
I sure as hell know why and I am not OK with it.
Alright - so walk through suburbia, a mall, a town in the middle of Idaho, a third world country INLAND area......no matter what you will see someone rocking a quiksilver tee or by now Volcom for sure. I am pretty sure that surf clothing is the most adapatble, trendy clothing out there and has been for like 15 years. Moms buy their kids surf clothing, girlfriends buy their boytoys surf stuff.
So the threads of the several biliion dollar industry are doing fine. BUT the sport itself has not transcended any major boundaries by a long shot. OK besides the US open in HB, at least speaking for the US. There are a few major sponsors that hop on some events, but it's small time. WHY? Because the ASP and surf fashion companies have a lot of saltwater in their head. I love you guys, but seriously.
A couple of decent partnerships with major lifestyle brands, or better yet, bring on a marketing company that DOESNT do surfing to get some new ideas, ya know like a good boutique one. And don't for a second think I am talking about selling out and diluting the sport. OH HELL NO. The core of the industry needs to really band together and stick to its' guns if your going to outsource like this.
My point is there is NO reason the Eddie or a Teahupoo or (like we tried) the Puerto contest isn't on ESPN constantly raising gazillions of dollars that we can put back into the sport, more importantly to beach cleanups and preserving the ocean.
And NO I don't think this will increase that much traffic and kooks in the water. It will increase traffic as a spectator sport. Does everyone who watches the NFL PLAYOFFS go out and buy pads and cleats and start running up hills with boulders......uh no.
People love watching surfing, my friggin' grandparents do. If it was done with a little more focus in directing it, it could become a major player in worldwide sports. But we can't be trying to push some 2' slop. It's gotta be done right, which seems like the barrier is resources.
It's a new era. Grow the sport. I gotta surf, my SW NW combo is leaving town.
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2 comments
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It's nice to read a good article about surfing, and the surfing marketing. But i must give my point of view... I think surfing as a sport have more coverage that the sport could ever imagine.... Surfing is one of those sports that is more fun to do it, than to watch it. Sure, people can stay 10 minutes on the couch watching Kelly Slater perform a 10 point round on the ASP world tour, but the regular public could ask..ok, and now what?... What i meant, Surfing is not meant to be a mass sport. Ok, just my opinion. Greetings from Peru.
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Great article! I didn't think about that... Everybody loves surf apparel but that hasn't really done anything for the sport. It's a shame. I agree they should bring an outside marketing group to drum up new ideas.