Freeride Inc

"Thanksgiving Breaks" Powder Surfing

2009-12-28T11:10:00.001-05:00

Cool snowboard, er snowskate, video from an old filmmaker friend. Worth watching to the end for the best tricks.

"Thanksgiving Breaks" Powder Surfing from Jeremy Jensen on Vimeo.

Shaun White's Secret Half Pipe

2009-11-27T11:04:00.005-05:00

Watching it continue to drizzle November rain here in central Connecticut, I finally got caught up on some blog reading. Came across this featured section of Shaun White's website, a mission he went on last year at Silverton Mountain in Colorado's San Juans. Wife and I went on our second honeymoon there a couple years back, last winter we were in Utah. I can't imagine the decision making process that went into this Red Bull project. Was someone from Red Bull (or Burton or Target) coming off the back side of this famously lift-accessed backcountry ski area, stopped and thought "hey, this would make a perfect place for a half-pipe"?

Aside from the James Bond 007, AK style heli drop off and Shaun's usual enthusiasm of all things snowboarding, the tricks themselves are amazing. You're introduced to a giant, very out of place looking superpipe in the middle of avalanche country. The first thing that caught my eye, however, was a large square-shaped structure at the bottom of the pipe. At first I figured they had something larger in mind than just a solitary pipe session for Shaun White. Perhaps a contest, maybe a deck to hang out on, some sort of VIP area for Burton and Red Bull athletes. Not exactly. This is the foam pit that would become instrumental in testing a new series of pipe trickery. Now I'm not an expert on frontside this or backside that, but it's pretty clear to see how a foam pipe would help progress the sport, as Shaun says "two years in one day, ONE day!" Another quote on that subject, "there's no powder in the half pipe."

But my favorite quote of the whole series of videos would have to be "it was perfect."

Here's to Mr. White stomping some of these in the X-Games and Winter Olympics this season.

Enjoy!

http://www.shaunwhite.com/projectx/?fbid=GbOZZbbJlKO#/halfpipe

Networking (In)Efficiency

2009-11-25T14:16:00.004-05:00

Procrastinating my Econ project and inspired to write something about networking at the same time...

It could be said that networking is highly efficient and highly inefficient at the same time. Sometime earlier this semester, my first in the full-time MBA program at the UConn School of Business, I heard the following statement: most jobs are already filled by the time they are advertised. (When I say "job" I also include "internship" by extension, since that's what I'm talking about right now). By the time a company has realized a requirement, defined a job, and funded it, someone internal to the process has already decided who best to fill the job. It could be someone within the company, or someone who has done an expert job of marketing themselves to the company through networking, previous job searches, or uploading a resume. So many of these jobs probably aren't even advertised in the first place. From the companies' perspective, this is highly efficient.

Conversely, those of us on the outside looking in spend countless hours searching for jobs. Eventually all job searchers are matched with a job, ideally the best job for their skill set, with some percentage left to populate the traditional or current unemployment percentage. Assuming a representative selection of people have to find jobs the traditional way, it's a highly inefficient process no matter how you slice it. Because of outside pressures job searchers apply for multiple jobs, often those they aren't even qualified for. And despite, or perhaps because of, the information carrying capacity of the Internet, jobs go unfilled because they are too difficult to find.

If only there was a more orderly system of matching the right job, to the right person, at the right time.

First Marketing Post

2009-10-12T20:50:00.003-04:00

Well, here goes, my first post derived from my Market-Driven Management class at UConn...

I skipped class today. That means I actually skipped the very class that influenced the insight I'm writing about. So goes life. I was up until 5 am finishing our 2008 taxes (we got a six-month extension). To make up for missing class I actually sat down and did ALL the reading.

While reading an article called "Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand" it struck me the discussion about the three questions was very similar to the five questions we ask in military planning. Specifically, the five Tests for Validity we use to evaluate Courses of Action (COAs) -- the possible options -- available while planning an operation.

The parallels between military warfare and marketing are striking. You might think nothing could be more different than killing the enemy and attracting customers, but you'd be wrong. Marketers rightly consider the enemy to be competitors and the objective, the 'land', to be consumers. Taken that way, the five military tests are to ensure the plan to 'take the hill' so-to-speak, is valid. The article's 'point of difference' filter questions are then a little more tangible, at least in my military mind. They're how to ensure your product positioning approach will be successful winning the hearts and minds of customers.

NWP 5-01, Navy Planning, Test for Validity (condensed)

Suitability (Adequacy): The COA must accomplish the mission and comply with the commander’s guidance; however, the commander may modify guidance at any time.
Feasibility: The force must have the capability to accomplish the mission in terms of available time, space, and resources.
Acceptability: The tactical or operational advantage gained by executing the COA must justify the cost in resources, especially casualties.
Distinguishability: Each COA must differ significantly from any others.
Completeness: Each COA must include the following: major operations and tasks to be performed; major forces required; concepts for deployment, employment, and sustainment; time estimates for achieving objectives; and the desired end state and mission success criteria.

Frames of reference, points of parity, and points of difference are the three questions alluded to by the articles title. Points of difference are defined as "strong, favorable, unique associations that distinguish a brand from others in the same frame of reference (e.g. market)."

In military jargon: how is one option different, or better, than the others?

Here are the tests described in the article:
Desirability, defined as relevant and believable
Deliverability, feasible, profitable, and preemptive, defensible, and difficult to attack.

The military analogies are killing me! Is it surprising I made this connection, given that I spent three months last year eating, drinking, and sleeping the Navy's planning bible, NWP 5-01, know affectionately as the "salmon-colored book", while rewriting a major war plan?

Back to marketing. To put military and marketing terms side-by-side:

Point of Difference = Distinguishability

Desirability (by the customer/audience)
relevant & believable = Suitability

Deliverability (by the company)
feasible = Feasibility "have the capability"
profitable = Acceptability "justify the costs"
preemptive, defensible, and difficult to attack = Completeness

So there you have it, the marketing to military translation of the important questions to ask when positioning a product in a given market, or frame of reference. As the article asks, "Are the points of difference compelling?" And as it points out, the points of difference aren't static for long. After all, no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

The Powder Highway contest

2009-10-11T08:42:00.002-04:00

Incredibly professional video announcement for a cool video contest. Cleverly plays off the Men In Black series. British Columbia must be banking on a ton of great 90-second videos out of this ploy.

TGR Deeper trailer

2009-10-11T08:32:00.002-04:00

Not out until Fall of 2010, this trailer should get big mountain fans stoked on the possibilities associated with ditching the heli and spending weeks in the high alpine getting after it. Jeremy Jones' voice is unmistakable as the clip rolls, and lends a lot of credence to what this video will be in the end.

Cross Country Snowboarding

2009-10-10T08:46:00.003-04:00

Nothing like a little humor to make up for the fact I woke up at 7:30am on a Saturday, waiting for a phone call that never came.

Like Rocky at Backcountry.com I too, thought this must be the latest in the series of kiteboarding videos. But I was pleasantly surprised to find a parody of snowboarding known as scootching. The guys had me at "rocking the triple-entendre" of outside sports.

If you take up this sport, just look out for "scootch leg", it'll have you walking in circles around the lodge.

TGR Re:Session Trailer

2009-10-03T13:25:00.002-04:00

The award winning producers at Teton Gravity Research (TGR) present their newest 16mm and HD film, blah blah blah... It's the new film from TGR! Be prepared to turn up your speakers at about the 1:40 mark of the trailer.

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

Re:Freeride

2009-10-03T13:13:00.000-04:00

Inspired. By Teton Gravity Research. I guess that's what it takes...

I'm speaking, of course, about getting this here blog up and running again.

As an MBA "candidate" at UConn, there are enough parallels between what we are learning in the classroom and what I used to do in the action sports marketing 'space' that it makes sense to continue.

My near-term goals: One ski or snowboard trailer per day, one marketing post per week.

Freeride Inc: The intersection between action sports and online marketing.

Freeride, Part II. Stay Tuned...

Voleurz Outdoor Education video

2008-11-30T19:04:00.000-05:00

Just got an e-mail from Darren of the Voleurz Family. This year's ski and snowboard (and skateboard) film is now available in HD on Vimeo.

Voleurz Outdoor Education from Voleurz on Vimeo.

In their words...

"For our 2008 video project we set out to capture our Voleurz family in its rawest form. For years we've surrounded ourselves with the craziest, goofiest, most random personalities on the planet, and in 2008 we felt it was time to portray these people and the good times we share while shredding together.
Producing Outdoor Education gave us the opportunity to travel the country, meet new faces, witness talented athleticism, and stay healthy and sane. We are lucky people to be able to, and its because of the support from friends, family and sponsors that make our goals possible. We'd like to thank you for joining us in '08, and invite you to continue to be a part of next years adventure."

I'm about 2/3 of the way through it (sucky connection in my hotel room) and it is vintage Voleurz. Can you say vintage for such a young group? Awesome music and the most creative videography and editing.

Keep it up!

Nick Bowie: Dean Cummings 'Access the Goods' ski video trailer

2008-09-25T23:42:00.000-04:00

I've only been heli skiing once, and it was in Alaska with Dean Cummings' H2O Heli-Guides. My buddy landed a job up there the year after taking the Guide School from Dean, and I went up to check it out the next season. He's now the lead guide, and I'm now wishing I'd pursued guiding.

Headed over to Freeskier TV for the first time this season to check out the selection, and was pleasantly surprised to see the most recent video uploaded was from Dean Cummings. Ahh, the memories...

Matchstick 'Claim' ski video trailer

2008-09-03T02:15:00.000-04:00

What better movie to review next than the owners of 'the ski movie' moniker. Matchstick mixes the best ski video on the planet with tongue-in-cheek parody of the very genre they created. Featured ridiculous POV, big mountain, and big air antics, the trailer will at least have you chuckling in places and searching the Matchstick site for the showing closest to you this fall.

And here's to the return of Saucerboy...

Powderwhore: The Pact ski video trailer

2008-09-03T01:26:00.000-04:00

The past five months I've only used my feed reader to keep up on the news, with a focus on Asia. The only other feed I remember reading was Noah Powell's blog at http://noahhowell.com, probably because it was one of the last I added last spring and because it's the only feed in my 'athletes' category.

So no better place to kick-off the season than with the latest Powderwhore offering, 'The Pact.' Powderwhore arrived in the somewhat overcrowded telemark scene in the fall of 2005 with PW05. In hindsight, it was perfect timing, as other telemark-only ski filmers all seem to have packed it in since then. With subsequent PW06 and PW07, the boys from the beehive state seem to have the motivation and dedication to keep plugging away, and now they are the biggest name in telemark ski videos.

With 'The Pact' PW has moved away from the programatic naming convention. And if the trailer is any indication they seem to have stepped it up in every category, if that's even possible! Already known for their deep powder, tight shots, blood and gore, they dug a little deeper for different music, more travel, and a more diverse cast. On the tech side, they introduce a split screen, something a couple of other filmmakers were talking about getting into last season.

Here's the direct link to the trailer on the old standby, YouTube. Well, some things never change.

I'm Baaack!!!

2008-09-03T01:15:00.000-04:00

Well, after a long summer of slogging away behind a desk, it's time to kick off a new season of Freeride Inc. I just returned from five months overseas with the Navy Reserves, where I was concentrating on some other projects

Now I've gone and been picked for mobilization to the Middle East with another Navy Reserve organization. Other than a possible early season trip up 395 to Mammoth, right now it looks like I will spend almost the entire winter and next spring in the 'sandbox.' And despite successfully taking the GMAT and getting into the MBA program at UConn, I've concurrently had to defer my pursuit of a graduate degree for one year.

After some introspection, I've decided the best way to pass the time might be to just keep on keepin' on. So its back to reviewing ski videos for the 2008-09 season. Hopefully review the trailer first, then get my hands on the actual video once its out, and follow up with a full review including Q&A with filmmakers, athletes, etc.

Here goes...

Southpark Skiing

2008-04-16T07:40:00.000-04:00

The word "Southpark" has some special meaning in my ski career. My full-time career in the ski business started at Mammoth Mountain, California. Mammoth is pretty much the epicenter of park skiing. They were one of the first to built terrain parks, hosted the SuperPark events for many years, and built the first Super Duper Pipe.

Back in the late 90s, Mammoth had three parks. One at Main Lodge under Thunderbound, or Chair 6. Since the entire park was directly under the chair, and the chair went from bottom of the park to the top, and no further, it was the ultimate park.

Over at Canyon Lodge, where I worked, there were two more parks. There was the Mini Park and Mini Pipe just above the lodge. It was perfect for introducing kids to both park and pipe.

But we had our own super park. It went from near the top of Roller Coaster Express (I can't recall the chair number) to the bottom. No half pipe, but it was otherwise legitimate. It was perfect for mid-level ski groups, and we had a lot of fun skiing there on our days off. The terrain actually allowed for some cool transitions, hips, and pretty big table tops. I landed on my back, side, and head more times than I can remember. Learned to stick all those jumps and session the park from top to bottom boosted the pride in "our" park.

Mammoth management officially divides the mountain East and West, but it always seemed like more north and south. For that reason, and the popularity of the TV show, we always referred to our park as "Southpark." The trail map my first year called it "Roller Coaster Park." By the next year, it was officially called "Southpark." Its a cool feeling to think that we helped name something at Mammoth.

On a completely different subject, I've recently been deployed with the Navy Reserves. I'm planning on going back to school in the fall to earn a masters degree in business. So while I'm putting in 12 to 18-hour days this summer, while also taking a graduate course online, studying for the GMAT, running my Reserve Unit, and loving my wife from halfway (almost exactly) around the world, its not very realistic to put much effort into Freeride Inc.

While I hope to one day return to the ski industry in some capacity, its entirely possible that skiing will once again become just a passion.

Now at the other end of my ski career, I thought it might be appropriate to sign off, for now anyways, with a couple of Southpark episodes. The first one is unfortunately, pretty representative of many individuals in the business, and the industry as a whole. Enjoy...

Sausage Races on Skis

2008-03-28T15:06:00.000-04:00

If you're a baseball fan, no real explanation needed...

Photo

YouTube #1

YouTube #2

LoftCity Interview

2008-03-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

This morning had a chance to interview Sagi Ruben, creator and CEO of LoftCity. This is a follow up to my previous post about this online film and TV studio.

During the interview Sagi gave me a login. Afterwards I took the tour. Here's some highlights from the video and from my interview:

The goal is to "facilitate production of original creative films by professional filmmakers designed primarily for web and mobile use." It can be used alone or to collaborate, but I think its the community features that will set this apart if they can attract a large percentage of independent filmmakers.

Each user gets a "unique virtual studio" called a Loft, where they can showcase their work in a variety of disciplines, most importantly video. Within your Loft, you will have the ability to communicate (messages), design (your Loft), manage materials (upload raw video), and display favorites (from others in LoftCity).

There will be a set of film production management tools, everything from writing a treatment to distribution. These features don't appear to be built yet or available in the beta site.

Your Loft will appear in The City, which is just the public area where others can find you. Users can search by Type (creator, advertiser, festival), and further refine the search by Professional (Producer, Director, etc.) and Location.

Other major areas to surf include the Bulletin Board, Call For Production, and Screening Room, where you can search for films already created.

Back to the interview, Sagi had this to say: They are a global company, based out of Israel, and opening a U.S. office in either New York or LA. They started a year ago, and include a group of people with a background in film production, web and mobile content including producers, tech people, and a marketing expert.

With regards to internet video, he referenced the estimates of a six to ten billion dollar market by 2010 or 2011.

He called the technology "global collaboration-based filmmaking." As I noted in my last post, I think this is perfect for someone going on location.

I specifically brought up action sports and adventure sports, and he said there's no reason they couldn't use LoftCity just like other creative filmmakers.

I also asked why the larger studios weren't already involved. He said "Down the road, the big studios will get involved, but will have to reorganize -- create own departments for video and web." Of course this leads into another whole discussion about web versus traditional media (see Mark Cuban's bloggers are bloggers post, for example).

Overall, though, I think this definitely fills a niche for independent filmmakers. Right between YouTube and traditional studios. Eventually smaller studios could rally around a service like LoftCity, if it can scale upwards and meet their demands.

I see this evolving like e-Bay, which was originally for individuals to sell their stuff, but has really become a turn-key solution for professional stores, too small to compete with large online retailers like Target or Best Buy.

For snowsports, TGR and Matchstick and the like could use LoftCity to network and find overseas film crews rather than paying to bring their own. And vice-versa.

Or as Sagi put it, "democratizing production."

Basecamp: Don't Do Spin

2008-03-26T11:56:00.000-04:00

Fast becoming one of my favorite snowsports blogs, Base Camp Communications has good perspective on "spin" in a post today:

Play ‘Which Headline was Written by the PR Firm?’

Outdoor Retailer recently released the attendance numbers from Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2008 that showed a slight dip in attendance this year. Match the headline to the report of the news:

1) SNEWS

2) SportsOneSource

3) Outdoor Retailer’s press release

—————————-

A) “As Exhibitors Expanded, Buyer Attendance Slipped at OR Winter Market”

B) “Outdoor Retailer Winter Market audited numbers confirm buyer attendance down for 2008″

C) “OUTDOOR RETAILER WINTER MARKET CONTINUES STEADY GROWTH”

Answer Key: 1(B) 2(A) 3(C)

The press release framed the attendance numbers to represent attendance increase over the last 3 years–from 2005-2008–which is accurate and explained in the sub-head. But it is also spin. Spin gives PR a bad name. Don’t do spin.

Instead, perhaps..include quotes from exhibitors noting that while, yes, there was a dip in buyers that they saw more of the people who made the buying decisions and less shop rats cruising for bro deals (which was the sentiment we heard from our clients and friends).

The Snews piece does a good job discussing some of the dynamics and current events that may have impacted attendance. Why not include those in the official release and a discussion about how OR intends to address those challenges in the future.

Via Base Camp Communications

Which Online Video Format Will Prevail?

2008-03-25T10:12:00.000-04:00

A nice follow up from yesterday's post about ad networks and ad inventory, today's post from Digital Media Wire offers insight into ad formats.

"Everything on the Internet should be free" is the motto of many consumers, but invasive advertising is a turn-off. Where's the balance? I pulled this quote from later in the DMW post:

“It should feel LIKE free then people will accept it”, said Marc DeBevoise, SVP, Business Development & Strategy, Starz Media Group and pointed to Apple’s iTunes store as a good example of how to sell TV programming.

Via Digital Media Wire

Techcrunch also has a post today about Google's latest attempts to marry targeted advertising with contextual search. Techcrunch says the 850 pound gorilla needs to fix its "MySpace problem." The problem is that social sites are highly demographic and don't play by traditional search rules that Google has grown itself on. So last Friday, Google had this announcement on Inside Adwords: "Today we're announcing that demographic bidding is now available for all AdWords advertisers." Techcrunch analysis:

As of last Friday, advertisers could target their ads by age or gender on 31 participating sites in Google’s ad network that provide such information. The most noteworthy ones are MySpace, Friendster, and YouTube. The rest, with a few exceptions, aren’t exactly the type of sites that big advertisers clamor for, so this isn’t going to have a big immediate impact. (Here is a list of the participating sites). AdWords already lets advertisers target demographically by site, taking generalized demographic data for entire sites from comScore. But this is different because it allows targeting by individual user.

This would be the oft-sought after "Holy Grail" and if anyone can do it, it's GOOG.

Via Inside AdWords
Via Techcrunch

ESPN Turns Off Ad Networks

2008-03-24T12:23:00.000-04:00

For snowsports filmmakers and video distributors that are ad-supported, one of the challenges to address is excess ad inventory or "availability" -- the commercials spots they can't sell to their own, endemic advertisers. Many turn to advertising networks to fill this space with cheap advertising, often to the detriment of the overall experience. The other option, one we employed at nossaTV, is public service announcements -- ads for non-profits, sponsors, trade, etc. -- from within our own space, action sports.

Assuming a publisher goes with the ad networks, the real challenge comes with placing their ads. What content gets the targeted, endemic ads? What content gets the scraps? (Or conversely, what content IS the scraps, that in turn winds up with the cheapo ads?).

Via Techmeme
Via MediaWeek

Top Web publishers are planning a revolt. Even as more prominent sites experiment with selling remnant inventory through online ad networks, and in some cases ad exchanges, ESPN.com is saying thanks, but no thanks.

The site recently cut ties with Specific Media and several other unnamed ad networks, and is taking the bold stand that ad selling that relies heavily on arbitrage and algorithms is not for them.

Jason Calacanis chimes in:

I've never liked the ad network business. They're a very short term solution and they are very damaging to high-end publishers because they create massive channel conflicts (i.e. many people selling your inventory confusing advertisers), they run horrible ads that people hate (think punch the monkey), and the space is filled with dishonest players (i.e. they promise to not run certain types of ads... but they do).

Via: The Jason Calacanis Weblog

Come on Down to South Park

2008-03-24T11:39:00.000-04:00

On the surface, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the snowsports industry. But dig deeper and it's an example of the "give it away now" ideology, popular 50/50 revenue share model, and vertical site. It's this last part I'd like to comment on.

For a while, it seemed like all the rage was distributing your content via a consolidated site and hoping for a share of any revenues. But Trey Parker has taken the moral high road. Rather than let their content become aggregated (or flat out stolen and made available) elsewhere, South Park uses readily available technology to allow embedded video. This encourages use elsewhere AND drives traffic back to their own site, the only place you can watch the full clips.

If you are the sensitive type, cover your eyes and plug your ears, it is South Park after all!

Edit: The "WATCH THIS FULL EPISODE" link after the clip doesn't seem to work on the embedded player, but it does on the site itself. That's one thing they will want to fix.

Via NewTeeVee.

The web just got a whole lot funnier as the guys behind South Park have made every episode of their hit show available for free online. That’s right — every. episode. (Take that Hulu, and your five weeks’ worth of shows window). South Park Digital Studios will house everything South Park including all the episodes (not embeddable — boo!), 3,000 video clips (embeddable — yay!) and spearhead other digital initiatives.

The studio is part of a joint venture between creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and Comedy Central, with the two splitting ad revenue 50/50. The site continues with MTV Networks’ strategy of launching many vertical sites around individual brands. (Disclosure: I used to work for Viacom).

In addition to housing South Park content, the Digital Studios will also serve as a launchpad for other animated projects Stone and Parker come up with.

See our previous South Park-goes-online coverage here and here.

Additional insight from Techcrunch

LoftCity Debuts Online Community for Pro Filmmakers

2008-03-21T11:00:00.000-04:00

"Submit your films and get revenue for distribution." We've all heard that before. What makes these guys different? For one thing, its a community site first. Not that you couldn't do this in Facebook or any other community site. But with film as the focus here, this will be much better for networking. Let's face it, if you're already friends with someone what's the point of a community site where to have to "friend" or "invite" them into your inner circle?

I did notice the current members seem to have a pretty international flavor. Perhaps that's to be expected out of New York. Or perhaps its because they are still in the early stages. Either way, might be good for action sports filmers on location overseas.

At least they are putting up some real money. They have five "call for production" offers with actual cash amounts listed, ranging from $1500 to $3000, including such formats as "New Frontier Video" and "LoftCity Viral Ad." I'm thinking an action sports spot could take either of these.

Here's the very brief press release...

New York - LoftCity, a site that offers an online community, production tools and digital distribution services for professional filmmakers, on Thursday announced its launch after a six-week beta trial that attracted 3,100 filmmakers from 60 countries. The site offers filmmakers a "private and secure virtual 'loft' where they can showcase and manage the entire production process from start to finish," the company said.

Via: Digital Media Wire
Site: LoftCity

Tele Pow Wow and Telemark Reggae Party

2008-03-19T00:30:00.001-04:00

I guess I would be extremely remiss if I didn't post this on my own blog...

Flipside: The Making of Absinthe's Optimistic

2008-03-14T12:23:00.000-04:00

Flipside is the "show" covering the making of Optimistic. Included as an extra with the DVD, its will also show on FuelTV. Don't have the dish? Go buy the DVD! Here's a short glimpse on YouTube (note lack of YouTube watermark, though, curious).

"Flipside is a documentary style show that takes the audience behind the scenes of the filming." - FuelTV.

Apparently its served its purpose as an exclusive video you only got with purchase of a DVD. Now its on to its second life as additional marketing material. I think this is a good model for ski and snowboard filmmakers to follow. Sort of like declassifying military secrets after ten years. On that note, I'm off on my monthly cross-country trip for the Reserves. "Peace Out" as they love to say in Cali.

Via FuelTV

Branding in Action Sports

2008-03-13T16:58:00.000-04:00

Keeping Brands Relevant In Rapidly Changing Environments

If I still lived in SoCal, this is the kind of thing I'd be making plans for. In fact, I'd be searching out Group Y and other action sports "collectives" to network and socialize. Its the modern equivalent of the "professional organization." Without sounding so professional.

Via Malakye.com

How can brands remain relevant in a changing market when the avenues to communicate with consumers have never been more varied? Are there truly marketing "best practices" that companies ignore at their peril? Once a brand starts down that steep slide toward irrelevance, can anything be done to save it?

The next group Y panel discussion will cover these topics and more on the evening of Wednesday, March 19th at Oakley's world headquarters in Foothill Ranch, California. Our expert panel will examine marketing and brand strategies that have endured the often fickle and volatile action-sports industry.

The group Y board is excited to be hosting a knowledgeable and experienced group of panelists, including:

* Pat McIlvain, global sports marketing director at Oakley
* Jim Anfuso, director of marketing at Fox Racing
* Danielle Beck, director of entertainment and sports marketing at Roxy
* Carl Harris, director of global marketing at C1RCA

The discussion will be moderated by Sean O'Brien, marketing content manager at Surf Expo. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the panel will begin at 7:30 p.m. sharp. Admission is $20 and includes appetizers and an open bar. This is an RSVP-only event.

For more information and to RSVP, please visit our website at www.groupYnetwork.com.

About group Y:

group Y is a collective of youth marketing & communications professionals with a focus on action sports and entertainment industries who meet once a month to network & socialize. Founded in 2006, the group is vehicle to bring people together and assist new relationships between others within our sphere of Action Sports and Entertainment. group Y meets once a month in Southern California, rotating venues between Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles. For more information, please visit us at www.groupYnetwork.com.

Best of the West Film Competition

2008-03-13T16:31:00.000-04:00

From the Best of the West Film Competition site:

The Shea Family Foundation, along with REELcomp, our Double Black Diamond sponsor, is pleased to announce the First Annual Best of the West Snow Sports Film Competition. Designed to spotlight up and coming snowboard, ski and snow mobile athletes, the competition will be held on April 12, 2008, in Park City, Utah.

Jimmy Shea, on the hot seat with Ori at Park City TV:

Best of the West Snow Sports Film Competition

Full disclosure: I held a film festival in Park City just like this a few years back called The White Room, Wasatch Winter Film Festival. Clearly focused on skiing and snowboarding, we would have accepted snowmobile films if any submitted. It was pretty suprising the turnout and industry support for a grass roots film festival. We were actually TOO successful with the sponsorships. We asked for swag instead of cash, and the industry was more than happy to oblige. In hindside, I think this became sort of a "relief valve" for all the advertising trades that I turned down with FreeRide Magazine. As in, "Only want to trade? Sponsor this film festival instead!" We wound up with $10,000 worth of gear to give away, and six pairs of skis or boards alone. The smart ones in the crowd bought extra raffle tix.

A little older and a little wiser, I like how Jimmy and the Shea Foundation are handling the sponsorships. Limit the sponsorships, ask for money but accept "in kind donation of goods or services." Pretty easy to make the connection here, though. REELComp is hosting the video in exchange for the marque Double Black Diamond sponsorship. But coming from nossaTV, that's probably worth $12,000. A lot of work goes into coordinating such an online festival, more than you'd expect.

Unfortunately Jimmy says there's "nothing here in Park City" for kids to learn about filming. Maybe he doesn't know about the high school program that has like 50 kids every semester. One of those kids won the Shorts category at the White Room and went on to have it open the X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival that year. On Main Street in Park City. During Sundance. Oh well, another film festival won't hurt, Park City seems to be a good place for that.

Sweetgrass Productions: Hand Cut

2008-03-11T03:07:00.000-04:00

These guys put out a short ski video called "Hand Cut - Las Lenas" last fall. It was even the viewers choice at The Beating Film Festival in Silverton.

They must like the name, because here's a trailer for what looks like a feature length film due out next fall.

Via: Dave's Backcountry Blog
More: Sweetgrass Productions

Rules for Startups

2008-03-09T15:23:00.001-04:00

Wow, another beauty from Mr. Cuban. It's good to see him back blogging vicariously and not just re-posting some of his earlier posts. I've got to print this one in its entirety. I know its scrapping, but in the off-chance I get a take-down notice I will comply. This sort of wisdom needs to percolate, up down or sideways, into the grapes of all the start-up founders out there. I can only hope my former bosses read this before they try again. Especially rules 1, 2, 4, 10, and 12. And especially rule #4, perhaps with an additional caveat: Know your runway.

Here it is:

My buddy Jason had a GREAT post about rules for startups. Read it, love it learn it.

Of course, anyone who has started a company has their own rules and guidelines, so I thought i would add to the meme with my own. My "rules" below aren't just for those founding the companies, but for those who are considering going to work for them as well.

1. Don't start a company unless its an obsession and something you love.

2. If you have an exit strategy, its not an obsession.

3. Hire people who you think will love working there.

4. Sales Cures All. Know how your company will make money and how you will actually make sales.

5. Know your core competencies and focus on being great at them. Pay up for people in your core competencies. Get the best. Outside the core competencies, hire people that fit your culture but are cheap

6. An expresso machine ? Are you kidding me ? Shoot yourself before you spend money on an expresso machine. Coffee is for closers. Sodas are free. Lunch is a chance to get out of the office and talk. There are 24 hours in a day, and if people like their jobs, they will find ways to use as much of it as possible to do their jobs.

7. No offices. Open offices keeps everyone in tune with what is going on and keeps the energy up. If an employee is about privacy, show them how to use the lock on the john. There is nothing private in a start up. This is also a good way to keep from hiring execs who can not operate successfully in a startup. My biggest fear was always hiring someone who wanted to build an empire. If the person demands to fly first class or to bring over their secretary, run away. If an exec wont go on salescalls, run away. They are empire builders and will pollute your company.

8. As far as technology, go with what you know. That is always the cheapest way. If you know Apple, use it. If you know Vista... ask yourself why, then use it. Its a startup, there are just a few employees. Let people use what they know.

9. Keep the organization flat. If you have managers reporting to managers in a startup, you will fail. Once you get beyond startup, if you have managers reporting to managers, you will create politics.

10. NEVER EVER EVER buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, its ok to buy for your own folks, but if you really think someone is going to wear your Yobaby.com polo you sent them in public, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money

11. NEVER EVER EVER hire a PR firm. A PR firm will call or email people in the publications, shows and websites you already watch, listen to and read. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the email of the person publishing it and send them an email introducing yourself and the company. Their job is to find new stuff. They will welcome hearing from the founder instead of some PR flack. Once you establish communications with that person, make yourself available to answer their questions about the industry and be a source for them. If you are smart, they will use you.

12. Make the job fun for employees. Keep a pulse on the stress levels and accomplishments of your people and reward them. My first company, MicroSolutions, when we had a record sales month, or someone did something special, I would walk around handing out 100 dollar bills to salespeople. At Broadcast.com and MicroSolutions, we had a company shot. Kamikaze. We would take people to a bar every now and then and buy one or 10 for everyone. At MicroSolutions, more often than not we had vendors cover the tab. Vendors always love a good party :0

These are all off the top of my head. But they have worked for me so far.

Via Blog Maverick

Blog Maverick on Education

2008-03-09T15:02:00.001-04:00

I have a couple close relatives, one in particular, who disdains college with much cynicism. The anti-education rhetoric is occasionally so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Why go to college? Mark Cuban recently posted a great blog, extolling the virtues of college and education in general. Here's a paragraph that hits the mark:

Going to college should be about experiencing as much academically as you possibly can, but more importantly, it should be about learning how to learn and recognizing that learning is a lifelong endeavor. School isn't the end of the learning process, its purely a training ground and beginning.

Immediately following this paragraph was another gem, which gives me some defense for my recent entrepreneurial ways (and current unemployed situation):

IMHO, once you have learned how to learn, then you can try as many different things as you can, recognizing that you don't have to find your destiny at any given age, you just have to be prepared to run with it when you experience it.

Props to Mr. Cuban. I've been reading his blog for a while now, and I dig his posts about being an entrepreneur and what he's learned on the way. On the sports marketing side, being in roughly the same "space" makes it relevant. As owner of HDNet, I tune into his opinions on all things video and marketing. And as an NBA fan, the owner insight into running one of the most exciting teams in the NBA is just icing on the cake.

Blog Maverick

NATO Telemark Festival

2008-03-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

Guess where I'm skiing tomorrow? Mad River Glen. For only the second time ever, and coincidently second time this season, I'll be at the single chair spinnin', greasy breakfast servin', snowboard resistin', Vermont legend made famous by the ultimate in grassroots marketing, the cool bumper sticker.

But I digress.

The NATO Telemark Festival enters its 33rd year, and I'll be there coaching for the first time. I managed to make it up to the Mad River Valley a few weeks ago for the first half of a NATO Adventure Tour with Dickie Hall, NATO founder and telemark legend. I bent his ear enough about the next generation of telemark skiers and he offered to let me coach the kids' groups this weekend.

So I'll be there trying to round up some more kids for the East Coast version of the Tele Tribe. Even registered the Tele Tribe URL this week in anticipation of launching this thing over the summer. Right now its pointed at the PC Telemark site, home of the original Tele Tribe.

Wish me luck!

More: Where Will You Ski Today?
Info: North American Telemark Organization (NATO)

Theory 3 Media - "Journal"

2008-03-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

I guess it's already trailer time for the 2008-09 season. Unfortunately I haven't seen any work from Theory 3 Media, but from what I've heard they are coming up as a ski video company. So I'll echo Derek's sentiments from 5ones: "Known more as a ‘B’ list movie producer in the ski industry, Theory 3 is quickly on track to make the ‘A’ list."

Here's why:

5ones.com
Theory 3 Media

We Ski on Wii

2008-03-05T14:27:00.000-05:00

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES BRINGS THE SLOPES HOME WITH WE SKI™
Edge through the Alpine with Your Friends as Four Player Skiing Comes to Wii

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (March 3, 2008) – Step onto your Wii Balance Board™ or grab your Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ and hit the fresh powder as NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., today announced We Ski™, an exciting skiing game for Wii™. Now up to four skiers can experience the sweetest mountain runs in the comfort of their homes as We Ski’s highly responsive and intuitive controls take them down the slopes like never before. We Ski will slalom into stores in Spring 2008.

“We are thrilled to be the first publisher to offer a realistic and enjoyable skiing experience that can also support the new Wii Balance Board,” said Todd Thorson, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. “NAMCO BANDAI is working to entertain both casual gamers and hardcore enthusiasts with a recreation of a beloved sport and pastime.”

In We Ski, up to four skiers can test their skills on more than a dozen runs from the bunny slopes to the most challenging Black Diamonds. Not only can players carve through the trails using the motion-based controls but they can also mix in the Wii Balance Board for a whole new level of realism. Players can ski using their own Mii™ or create a new character with a host of customizable options including changeable face and body types. Boosting the customization feature, additional skis, poles, goggles, and costumes can be unlocked.

We Ski features an entire mountain to explore, complete with a ski school, freestyle skiing, moguls and slaloms, photography, and a variety of other events. Players can even try their hand at night skiing while enjoying the spectrum of fireworks that color the sky. With We Ski no more long drives to the snow will be necessary to enjoy a day of shredding the mountains.

For more information on We Ski, please visit: http://www.namcobandaigames.com/

###

I swore off video games after graduating from high school. We had a Coleco, Intelivision, and Nintendo by the time I headed off to college. So we don't have a Wii yet, but that may soon change.

Someone in the ski industry should try to work some product placement into this. Imagine if you got to "accessorize" your gear from a selection of the latest skis, googles, or jackets? An online retailer could broker all this, and make a sweet penny from web sales.

Just a thought.

Firebrand to Shut Down

2008-03-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

Advertising as entertainment, that describes Firebrand. According to the New York Times, "Firebrand, a television and online service that since October has been presenting commercials as content, is being shut down as its major investors decided to stop providing more money."

Firebrand had a show on Ion Television at 11 p.m. and of course the website.

Too bad. It's kinda cool. I just watched four spots from American Airlines. They were entertaining. I guess if you believe in your commercials enough to post them as stand alone videos, then they better be entertaining. At least a little bit.

Holy smokes, I just found all the ESPN commercials, even a few I'd never seen. They CAN'T shut down this site!

Edit: After watching for a few more minutes, this might actually be one of the most entertaining sites on the Internet. Even though brands pay Firebrand to run their spots, Firebrand maintains a pretty high standard. These are basically the best commercials you can see, anywhere. Just go to spots, then most viewed, and see for yourself. In order, I just watched:

Fruits - a French commercial with copious amounts of nudity and, you guessed it, fruit
Gorilla - as in: playing the drums to a Phil Collins song, ad for Cadbury chocolate
Metric System - "Jackin Moon" putting in a plug for Old Spice, with some fuzzy math
Magnetic Attraction - Pepsi commercial currently playing on network TV
Swear Jar - an ABSOLUTELY INSANELY FUNNY commercial from Bud Light, why this wasn't a Super Bowl ad I don't know ... I haven't laughed this hard in a long time!

Finally figured out how to embed the video, rather than download and re-upload to Blogger. Use the "Post This" button.

So there you have it. Wish there was a way to "Save Firebrand."

Via NewTeeVee.

To Download, or Not To Download?

2008-03-04T12:42:00.000-05:00

That is the question.

I've toyed around with using the tagline "Techcrunch for the Snowsports Industry" for Freeride Inc, and this blog post on Techcrunch is a good example why.

At nossaTV we constantly heard from critical filmmakers regarding the wisdom of offering free downloads of their latest content. The same content they are trying to earn a living off through DVD sales. We developed a comprehensive strategy that works right now. But what about tomorrow?

This blog post on Techcrunch addresses an online survey that Amazon is conducting. Amazon offers a movie download service called Unbox. Apparently they recognize its not quite there yet. They face stiff competition from Netflix. But they are smart enough to ask their customers what they can do to improve.

"Free streaming with ads is the most radical concept." - Techcrunch

Techcrunch adds their own survey in their blog post. They are cool on paid subscriptions, and relatively cool on ad-supported models as you can see from the quote above. Here's their list and the definitions:

Free Video Streaming with ads – The ability to watch movies and TV shows online within an Internet browser. Watching videos would not cost anything but would include advertisements.

Burn to DVD - The ability to burn purchased movies and TV show downloads to a DVD for playback on a DVD player. To burn videos to a DVD you would need to have access to a special DVD burner on your PC, and use a special type of DVD.

DVD & Instant Stream - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and receive a streamed video of the same title you could instantly playback while you wait for your DVD to arrive. This would be included in the DVD price.

High-Definition Videos - The ability to purchase and watch High-Definition (HD) movies and TV shows.

DVD & Digital Copy - The ability to purchase a DVD from Amazon.com and, for a small additional fee, get a permanent digital copy in Your Media Library.

Hit Movie Subscription Service – The ability to watch a defined number of videos per month for a flat monthly fee, including top Hollywood titles. Not all movies would be available for viewing; however, the selection would be comparable to most pay movie channels (i.e. HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).

Video Extras - The ability to select and watch video “extras” (i.e. DVD extras) when purchasing or renting a movie.

Paid Video Streaming without ads - The ability to immediately watch your purchased Unbox movies and TV shows on your PC within an Internet browser without commercials, instead of having to download them to your PC or TiVo.

Independent Film Subscription Service – The ability to watch a defined number of independent films per month for a flat monthly fee.

Browse your Unbox media library on your TiVo – The ability to access all of your purchased Unbox videos on the TiVo user interface.

I need to investigate the Unbox service a little more myself, but this discussion is extremely relevant for ski and snowboard filmmakers. They need to figure out how to monetize videos in the coming years, as DVD sales transition to downloads or streaming. If the market supports ad-supported video, where do the ads come from? The key for snowsports filmmakers will be to keep up, or stay ahead of the latest "adoptation" and develop a strategy to balance exposure with revenue. The key for snowsports marketers will be to understand how core snowsports video is being distributed, and how to stay, or get, involved.

Via Techcrunch.

Ski Resort Marketing

2008-03-04T12:22:00.000-05:00

An indication where I'd like to take this blog, I present a well-written post from Twelve Horses. I remember contacting Twelve Horses a while back regarding e-mail services. We wound up going with Constant Contact for simplicity and low cost, but I subscribed to the Twelve Horses blog and haven't been disappointed.

Having worked at ski resorts for many years, followed by snowsport media the last four, I've always been curious how resorts develop their marketing strategy. This post begins to fill in the blanks. Its fairly short, so I will include it in its entirety.

In order to truly understand a brand it helps to experience it firsthand.

When we at Twelve Horses are not busy geeking out on the web, many of us here are charging hard somewhere in the outdoors. Whether it is around Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada range that rise above our Reno office, or the Wasatch Mountains that tower above our Salt Lake City location, a common means of experiencing these environs is on a pair of skis or a snowboard. Come visit us and you’ll find that the last powder day is a common conversation around the water cooler. Even as I type this blog post apres ski session, I am looking out across big, beautiful, snow-laced Lake Tahoe and looking forward to the next time.

This company culture is undoubtedly a major contributing factor as to why we service so many destination and sports marketing clients. Passion for these pursuits permeate our client work and online marketing endeavors such as brand building, web design and development, email and multi-channel marketing, social marketing, and search engine optimization. It works well because we are marketers and technologists that are a part of the target snow sport audience.

When I came across this blog post titled, Seasonal SEO and Online Marketing for Ski Resorts, I couldn’t resist beating our own drum. Not only is it an informative and well-written post on online marketing for ski resorts, but it also touches upon one of our clients that we have serviced for more than 12 years - Heavenly Mountain Resort. It is a great compliment, but it also gives you a window into what we have been doing for them. Here is an excerpt.

Heavenly Resort in Lake Tahoe is perhaps the best example of a ski resort with an effective online marketing strategy. They are relatively well optimised for search and have good visibility in the search results. They have developed a MySpace profile and their website offers a range of initiatives including videos, daily podcasts and RSS feeds for their interactive blog, mountain condition updates and their own TV show.

Our work for Heavenly has also garnered several awards including a Web Award, ADDY, and California Travel & Tourism Award, and this success stems from a well-designed website that relies on the right online tools to reach and resonate with a global customer base. But I also believes that it comes from a deep and personal understanding of their brand.

See you on the hill!

Via Twelve Horses blog.

Swift, Silent, Deep trailer

2008-03-03T11:54:00.000-05:00

Another much-awaited ski documentary. "The story of the Jackson Hole Air Force and skiing's rebel spirit."

A once elusive bunch, much has been written about the guys who opened the Jackson Hole backcountry gates at JHMR.

On a personal note, I met and skied with Benny Wilson at a PSIA event. That's right, he's actually a certified instructor now-a-days. Or at least he was a couple years ago. Imagine the stories he shares with his clients!

I'm looking forward to hearing the ski patrol perspective on the whole history of the JHAF. The trailer alludes to it. One guy says "we wanted to go with them" but couldn't. Except to chase them, of course.

I never knew the impact the Jackson Hole Air Force had outside of Jackson. Hearing that JHAF athletes took the top five places at the first ever World Extreme Skiing Championships (WESC) in Valdez was an eye-opener. Talk about lineage and pedigree.

What have you done lately to push the sport of skiing? And where, or what, is the next JHAF?

Click here to watch

MySpace Adds HD Video

2008-02-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

Well, here's the code that I got from another site that had the preview embedded.

(didn't work, missing an end tag)

Here's the code directly from MySpace.

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

To see the whole trailer, you have to go to the MySpace Trailer Park. There's nothing to indicate the streaming video is HD, though it is very clear. But clicking on any of the squares to the right of "WATCH THIS TRAILER IN DIFFERENT SIZES" yields otherwise. I suggest starting with the 480p version. It will open Quicktime and play a file "ironman_480p.mov"

To get completely blown away, click on the 1080p version. Takes a while to download. But pretty much the best viewing experience I've seen yet. I had to move the Quicktime player over to my 23-inch display just to see the controls. And it was corner-to-corner goodness.

Wow!

Customer Service

2008-02-29T10:40:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to rant about this topic for a little while now, and now I have the perfect case study. And a pretty comprehensive reference to boot.

Wife and I just got back from our weekly ski trip. She works weekends, which works in our favor when it comes to finding good skiing deals here in New England. This week we headed up to Lake Placid to ski Whiteface, a mountain I grew up racing on, to take advantage of a "Gore-Whiteface Gift Certificate" my father and mother-in-law gave us for Christmas.

Flashback: The intent was to use this at Gore Mountain, much closer to home growing up and where we used to go after exhausting the Pepsi Program weekends at local hill West Mountain. In December we made the drive from the Nutmeg State for a couple days chillin' with the family and a day on the slopes at Gore.

Unfortunately we arrived at Gore without the printed receipt from the online purchase. Turns out we could have just used my name to redeem the certificate, but we didn't know that.

Fast forward to this week, the last week of February. Having already skied Gore Mtn, and most of the major spots in Vermont, we were willing to go the extra 100 miles or so to Whiteface. The northern tier of New England was supposed to get a good little storm, so the extra drive time seemed worth it. Plus we'd get to stay in Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Olympics. Ironically we staying right across the street from the Olympic Center building, site of one of the two Sportcenter Greatest Highlights ever (vote now on ESPN).

Imagine my frustration when the ticket sales agent at Whiteface informed me I had to physically pick up the "Gore-Whiteface Gift Certificate" at Gore Mountain, "because that's the website it was purchased from." Thoughts of driving over to ski Stowe or Smuggler's Notch, then home to write a very angry blog post bounced around in my head.

Having worked for years in ski school, I kept my composure and offered suggestions like "You can't override the system?" The response was something you might expect the first week of the season, "I need the gift certificate to scan it right here" showing me the infrared scanner attached to her computer terminal.

I implored the ticket sales person with something to the effect of "You mean to tell me that, in this age of technology, you can't just call down to Gore?" Long story short, she relented, and things worked out. It took a few minutes, but as she pointed out we were "lucky it wasn't the weekend." The extra time inside didn't bother my wife, as it was all of 2 degrees outside at the time.

So in the end, good job to Whiteface for finally making it right. Hopefully they make the system a little more user-friendly by next season. It will be hard to attract people from outside the Adirondacks otherwise.

And just in case you're interested, you can purchase from Gore Mountain. Oddly enough, the site didn't show up in the top ten when I searched for "Gore-Whiteface Gift Certificate." And I couldn't find anything on the Whiteface site.

If you have a few minutes, a guest blogger writes a interesting and deep graduate level example of a customer service from the tech side of things. At the very least, every ski school and ticket sales office needs to have a full slate of scenarios thought out before the start of the season. And when that fails, flexible and adaptive employees who aren't afraid to think outside the box and go the extra mile.

Via Web Strategy by Jeremiah.

Nimbus Independent - Hunting Yetis, Episode 1 (Part 1)

2008-02-15T18:13:00.000-05:00

Here's what all the hype is about. Great footage, great production, lots of hype. The steaming is OK, but at least the interface is really sweet. And you can embed it, which is critical. RipTV hosts and all the sponsors get to embed. I'd say everyone wins.

HD version wasn't up yet as of this post.

Part 2 starts playing right after part 1. Probably broke it up for people with slower connections. That's the only thing I would criticize. Just make it one episode, one part each month.

Can anyone guess how they got the heli sounds? Highway rumble strips?

"Watch" Quiksilver Natural Selection Highlights

2008-02-15T17:06:00.001-05:00

Despite posting about the Quiksilver Natural Selection a few days back, I had pretty much scrolled past all the results on other blogs until powderroom.net caught my attention by simply telling me to "watch" the highlights. Subliminal? Perhaps. But it worked.

Sure enough, this is one of the best ski or snowboard event coverage pieces I've ever seen. The footage of the run through Dick's Ditch, aided by a cable cam, is extremely well produced. They might not show everyone, but they show enough to make you feel like you're watching it live. The announcing by Todd Richards is great, maybe I can finally learn the names of all those snowboard tricks. And the rider introductions are pretty entertaining and creative, to say the least.

As the announcers point out, with athlete appearance fees of $9000 EACH "you could tomahawk all the way to the bottom and still win." Clearly there was A LOT of money behind this.

Here's the video, hosted by Freecaster, another great service:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-02-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

Saw the poster at the movie theater. Techcrunch was nice enough to post a link to the trailer. For some reason Michael Arrington says you can't embed the trailer, maybe they just added the embed feature.

How many years has it been since Temple of Doom? Too many ...

Perfect

2008-02-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

Adrants described this as "Flanked by '72 Dolphins, Reebok Politely Seeks Super Bowl Buzz."

As a Giants fan, I just call it ... perfect.

Patriots, "You got STOMPED!"

As Seen in VT.tv

2008-02-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

New concept out of VT:

Jackson Hole - Events Marketing

2008-02-06T14:08:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure this is the best title, but after reading two blog posts back-to-back about Jackson Hole, commenting on the effectiveness of event marketing seemed appropriate.

Mind you, I generally read the news, then some marketing and internet video blogs, then get into snowsports. Kind of like reading the paper: Front page, maybe business, save the sports for last. Sports for dessert. I screwed up today and forgot to read the news. Who won Super Tuesday? I'll find out later. For dessert maybe.

Anyways, the two posts were "Local Boys Take Quicksilver Title" in the Jackson Hole Blog followed by "Powder to the Peaceful" in the JH Underground Blog. Pretty clear I go in alphabetical order, too, huh?

The Quicksilver Natural Selection All Mountain Invitational was a new event organized by Jackson local Travis Rice, who naturally won the inaugural event. In these days of multiple competing tours and events, it's pretty obvious that getting financial backing from either an endemic or non-endemic brand is pretty important. In the case of the Natural Selection, Rice hooked up one of his major sponsors with title sponsorship of a cool new event, held on his home turf, that he subsequently won. Pretty smart. Of course the weather cooperated, too. Which leads us to the second event.

With snow like this, why are we fighting?

A simple "happy hour Friday" at Cloudveil Store in Jackson. With all the great snow this year, and the rapid growth of backcountry skiing and riding, there has been a lot of tension on Teton Pass. So Couldveil has called something of a "time out" to try and address concerns over beers. The man in the middle might well be Teton Pass Ambassador Jay Pistono, who will at least be in attendance. My hope would be that he moderates some discussions.

So how are these two events related?

Both are in Jackson Hole and have local ties (Travis Rice, Cloudveil)
Both leverage a popular brand name to lend credibility, if not financial backing or something as simple as a venue
Both brands gain exposure "sponsoring" something cool
Both brands help promote the sports in all the right ways: funding a progressive new event or helping resolve disputes

My two cents. Well done to both Quicksilver and Cloudveil for good event marketing.

This just in: Spyder is buying Cloudveil. So maybe that's what the party is for. Cloudveil also seemed to be in a pretty festive mood at OR as evidenced by this video I first saw on The Snaz (also out of Jackson). Maybe I should read ALL my blogs first, write second.

Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks

2008-01-28T09:42:00.000-05:00

It’s easy to get the tools mixed up, but it’s important to know the differences. Quite often (usually by executives) I’m asked the difference between Forums, Blogs, and Social Networks, here’s usually how I explain it (focusing first on usage and benefits rather than technical details):

Forums are like social mixers, where everyone is at equal level, milling about and discussing with others. These many to many communication tools allow anyone to start a topic and anyone to respond to one. Members are often at equal level, and content is usually segmented by topic. (rather than by people).

Blogs are like a keynote speech where the speaker (blogger) is in control of the discussion, but allows questions and comments from the audience.
Blogs are journals often authored by one individual, and sometimes teams. In the context of business communication, these are often used to talk with the marketplace and to join the conversation that existing external bloggers may be having.

Social Networks are like topic tables at a conference luncheon. Ever been to a conference where different lunch tables had big white signs inviting people to sit and join others of like interest? It’s like that. Social networks allow members to organize around a person’s relationships or interests, rather that just focused on topic. People that know each other (or want to meet each other) will connect by a variety of common interests. These are great tools to get people of like interest to connect to each other and share information.

It’s important to know the many different tools in your tool chest as every type of accessory fulfills a different need. Before you jump to tools, you should first understand who your community is, where they are, how they use social technologies, and most importantly, what they’re talking about. To learn more about the many forms of web marketing, see this updated list (now in Italian, Indonesian and French).

Via Web Strategy by Jeremiah

Mike Douglas Helmet Cam

2008-01-14T15:30:00.000-05:00

Here's a cool video that's playing on the RipTV front page right now, yet another embeddable, streaming player.

X Games

2008-01-14T14:19:00.000-05:00

With Winter X just around the corner, I've been checking out the site. No new snowsports videos just yet, but here's the Skier X finals from last year. The "Nascar" of skiing, there's a couple good wrecks.

Technology Adaptation - Medieval Edit

2008-01-09T01:16:00.000-05:00

A historical perspective on the challenge of adopting new technology.

Via Publishing 2.0

Online Marketing Summary

2008-01-01T15:55:00.000-05:00

At my company, I've been meaning to put together a list of sales and marketing definitions for the other employees. Mainly because we're in the action sports industry (ASI) and I'm the closest thing to a "geek" in the sales and marketing side of things.

I set aside New Year's Day to knock this out, along with a couple other things. As luck would have it, a popular web strategy blog posted the exact thing I was trying to build.

So here are the steps I'm taking to make this available and relevant to my co-employees:

Grabbing the relevant definitions and placing them on our company wiki. The wiki has, up until this point, been used almost exclusively by our developers. It requires a little understanding of how to create a new page and mark it up. But as far as reading, all my fellow shred-heads need is their company log-in and password, which is the same as their e-mail. I parsed the article and only used the categories and definitions I thought were relevant, and generally only grabbed the first sentence or two.
Adding other definitions I feel are missing, and putting everything in layman's terms by modifying the above with my own words and other, more generic definitions I find elsewhere.
Including the most common examples (Google Ad Words, Ad Sense, Facebook, etc.) to bring it home.
Emailing the links to my fellow employees: the new page on the company wiki (they will still have to log in) and the original article (rather than sharing it via Google Reader)
Saving to a social bookmarking site for sharing this and other such articles in the future. Again, this is a departure from my previous habit of just sharing via e-mail on Reader, so it will be a good opportunity to learn something new.

Garmont G-Rex Review

2007-12-29T21:34:00.000-05:00

Besides ski movies and online video, my other skiing interest is telemark. Over my last two seasons in Park City I started the PC Telemark "Tele Tribe," a youth telemark program that met every Sunday afternoon.

Relocating to the East Coast, I'm now involved with New England Telemark and hope to set up a Tele Tribe in the Northeast. The fine folks at NET even started a Tele Kid's Forum on their forum, Telemark East. Rather than try to build a gear review with pictures in a forum, I'm going to do it here and just link to this post.

The biggest challenge in kids telemark is the gear, and in particular the boots. Until this season, the smallest boot you could get was a size four in the Garmont Teledactyl. That meant the youngest kids could learn telemark was around 5th or 6th grade. Most of our kids in the Tele Tribe were in 7th grade, and the ones that were in the orange Teledactyl had a huge gear advantage over the ones that were in small women's boots. See the photo below for a great example of what a soft, kids telemark boot can do for a kid's technique.

Last year at the trade show I found out Garmont was coming out with a new version called the G-Rex, and it would dip all the way down to a size one or two. I would hazard to guess this means kids as young as third or fourth grade can now learn to tele in modern, plastic telemark boots. My only gripe is went with basic black for the color, away from the distinctive orange. Oh well, can't have it all :)
Here's what the Garmont website says:

G-Rex: The next generation of our all-around kid’s tele and touring boot. It is the only plastic boot in the world specifically developed for younger free-hell skiers. The G-Rex is light, warm, and supportive, with all of the features of the big kid’s boots. The removable inner boot is warm, dries quickly, and can be fitted with alpine boot fitting aids-especially important for kids growing into their boots.

Use: Kids Telemark, Backcountry Touring
Color: Black
Shell: Double Injected Pebax
Liner: Garmont Superlight Traditional
Closure: 2 Buckles
Height:29 cm
Weight: 945 grams (2.08 pounds)
Sizes: 19-26.5
U.S. MSRP: $275.00

I can't give any examples of "alpine boot-fitting aids" even though I've spent time working at a Surefoot, but I get the general idea.

G-Rex sizes:
19 is a size kid's size 1
26.5 is a kid's size 8.5

In general, add the tens and singles digits of a Mondo size to get the U.S. size. See the Kids' General Footwear Sizing Chart, courtesy of Backcountry.com.

G-Rex binding requirements, thanks to Telemarkski.com
G-Rex boots size 19-22.5 require the Rottefella Jr. Softwire binding
G-Rex boot size 23+ require an adult tele binding

Buy 'em here:
Backcountry.com
Telemarkski.com

NY Times Article on Independent Ski Co's

2007-12-29T13:13:00.000-05:00

A little overboard on the use of the "Mr." title, but otherwise a good read on independent ski companies such as Wagner, Liberty, Bluehouse Skis, PM Gear, and Igneous.

I like Liberty's style. They started the company from their gambling winnings at SIA, have signed up a bunch of influential athletes, got some awards, and advertise smartly. They even have commercials on nossaTV. Here's a video, or more of a photo montage:

Music Recording Industry Lawsuits

2007-12-29T12:35:00.000-05:00

Remember when you were a kid, and you wondered if it was OK to use your dual tape deck to make copies of your own tapes? Well, apparently it's not.

The RIAA is now saying this sort of thing is illegal, and are suing over it. Before they were content to sue people who ripped DVDs, then traded them online. I could see that. But that has been wildly ineffective. So now they are going to the source.

Just one more ridiculous attempts to stem the tide of people that don't want to pay the recording industry for music they can get online for free.

I like Scott Karp's "Change or Die" paragraph at the end. Musicians, and filmmakers, need to understand new media and the direction things are going. CDs, DVDs, and now even DRM is dead. Give it away, and make money off special editions, clothing, and live shows or screenings.

Via Publishing 2.0.

Wal-Mart Cancels Online Movie Downloads

2007-12-28T12:01:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog it was to relate the tech industry to the ski and snowboard industry. This is the kind of news I'm looking at.

The subject of interest to skiers is whether ski videos should be available online, how much should they cost to view online (if anything), and how will this affect DVD sales, the bread and butter of guys like TGR, Matchstick, Poor Boyz, Rage, and Level 1?

In the tech or Hollywood parlance, ski movies are considered "long-form video." While no one is giving them away just yet, several platforms have been selling them. I had used the Wal-Mart service to download and watch Nacho Libre. The playback was great, and I was quite used to watching videos on my computer by then.

But this was back when I was using a Windows XP machine. And the culprit behind Wal-Mart pulling the plug seems to be compatibility with Mac devices such at iPods and I'm assuming Macs themselves (which I'm on now).

What's next for Wal-Mart? Seems like they've backed completely out of the online video anything market. Back to just selling DVDs in the stores? This market is starting to yo-yo. Either Apple and Amazon squeezed them out through a mix of business acumen and technology, or this online video thing isn't quite suited to long-form video.

Via DigitalMediaWire

Little Rock, Arkansas – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has shuttered its online movie download service, the AP reports. The company launched the service in February with 3,000 titles, but customers could not watch them on an Apple Inc. device.

The company decided to abandon its online DVD rental service in 2005, a unit that comprised 40% of overall DVD sales.

Amy Collella, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, released a statement saying that the closure came after Hewlett-Packard Co., which ran the software for the service, “made a business decision to discontinue its video download-only merchant store service."

Wal-Mart’s decision removes a major player from the online movie download world, as Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon.com Inc.’s Unbox dominate the landscape. AOL cut its movie download service last month as well.

Dr. Strangeglove

2007-12-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

My wife got me the "Raiders of the Lost Archives" box set of Greg Stump ski films for Christmas. Actually, I saw it in the ski shop at Okemo and said "I want."

The "classic ski four disc-set" it features Dr. Strangeglove, Siberia, The Skiers Guide to the Galaxy, and Fistful of Moguls. I think these all came out during my college years, and despite being on the ski team I somehow missed seeing these. No time like the present to get caught up.

So I just finished watching Dr. Strangeglove for the first time. Wow! First of all the colors. Second of all the music. It really took me back. I don't know if Stumpy was driving ski fashion, or just showing things as they were.

But for sure the format is mind-blowing. Set around the ficticious Ski TV show produced by Greg Stump, which Dr. Strangeglove and his chain smoking "board of directors" rule over. it's definitely a different formula than today's ski porn. Both story line and locale kind of wander for the first half the film. Stump is chasing Glen Plake around the western U.S. and Canada before Dr. Strangleglove intervenes and arranges a shoot at Mono Lake (they pronounce it wrong in the movie, it rhymes with "Bono" of Sony Bono fame, not Bono of U2 fame -- in other words NOT like the kissing sickness). The monoski segment is both disturbing and entertaining at the same time (cover your eyes, kids).

The final segments at Mammoth were great. Having worked at Mammoth for two years, the Dave McCoy interview where he rants about the impact of insurance on the ski industry is very insightful. Remember Mammoth went on to pioneer park building. The riding gets a little more progressive and enjoyable to watch. You see possibly the first alley-oop caught on film. There's a line near the end that I'm positive is Junior's in the Top of the World chutes. And the footage from the "proposed San Joaquin Ridge expansion" is amazing. Too bad it never happened. They have a hard time getting June Mtn open nowadays.

It looked very good on our new 56-inch HDTV. Lack of an HD DVD player didn't matter since the disks aren't Blue Ray or HD-DVD. But VAS did a good job digitally remastering these movies.

Oh, gotta mention the Ice-T "Hit the Deck" track during the Mammoth scene. Have the CD, had absolutely no friggin' (how's that for an 80s/90s phrase?) idea Ice-T was in a Stump movie. No friggin' idea!

Most shoking of all, I can't find any footage online. Zip, zilch, nada. A friend of mine knows someone that knows Greg Stump. In the meantime, guess you'll just have to hop (turn) on down to your local ski shop and pony up.

For Love of Water

2007-12-26T18:10:00.000-05:00

Just got off the phone with Matt Richardson of Bear Pond Productions in Vermont. They shoot a bunch of ski and snowboard videos for the likes of Stowe, Smuggler's Notch, Sugarbush, and Burton. But he told me about a video he put on Brightcove, and I've been meaning to get more familiar with their embedable media player. The video is about savings China's rivers, but as Matt astutely points out "it's already too late." Let's hope he's wrong.

I'm a little disappointed by the quality of the Brightcove player, though I do like the preview photo that you can run.

East Coast Snow Conditions

2007-12-24T23:16:00.000-05:00

My first season back East after ten out West. Snow conditions out West basically consist of fluffy powder and not so fluffy powder. More likely it's "How much" new powder.

So time for a review of East Coast snow conditions:

Primary Surface Abbreviations
(from the Ski Vermont site)
PDR - Powder
PP - Packed powder
HP - Hard packed
LSGR - Loose Granular
FRGR - Frozen granular
WETPS - Wet packed snow
WETGR - Wet Granular
SC - Spring Conditions
VC - Variable Conditions
WETSN - Wet Snow

Now, you folks left of the Mississippi probably need some better descriptions. So here are some more descriptive, um, descriptions (hey I'm an engineer, lay off!)

Powder - more than one inch of fresh snow that isn't mixed with ice; pretty much a myth, unless you ski at Jay Peak, somewhere affected by "lake-effect," or after a bona-fide Nor'Easter
Packed Powder - when the resorts say its "Powder"
Loose Granular - death cookies
Frozen Granular - frozen death cookies
Wet Packed Snow - um, snow that has been rained on?
Wet Granular - death cookies in a rain storm

The Eskimos have like 65 native words to describe snow. So we added some of our own snow conditions:

Death Cookies - "loose granular," if you don't know then you don't want to know
Roar - fresh snow mixed with death cookies (from White Russian on the Rocks, or WROR)
Skied off - basically the Western version of "ice" of any kind, there is no ice out West
Sheet of Ice - literally like an ice rink stood on its side parading as a ski trail, usually referred to jovially since a decent skier can at least hold an edge if not make great turns, but anyone who ever uses this term out West has obviously never skied the East
Blue Sheet of Ice - sheet of ice with a blueish tint, no one is quite sure how it gets the blueish tint, but its slicker than pig snot on a hot day
Bulletproof - now you're speaking like a local, take it in context, but usually the most negative connotation possible
Dust on Ice - or "Dice," to distinguish from the Western Dust on Crust, which really doesn't hold a candle to the East Coast version
Frozen Ocean - when you have sleet and freezing rain overnight, leaving everything exactly like it was the end of the previous day, and pretty much bulletproof the whole next day or longer
Frozen Chicken Heads - when smaller terrain features freeze solid overnight, usually softening the next day, actually more of a Western phenominom
Water skiing - when it rains so much you're literally hydro-planing across flat sections of the trail
January thaw - no snow at all, you are skiing on rocks and mud, if you're lucky enough your local resort even stays open
Wintry mix - more of a traffic report phrase, usually sleet & freezing rain and sometimes snow (usually followed by their parental-sounding advice "stay at home unless you REALLY have to go somewhere")

And just for some balance, some of my favorite conditions from out West:

Early season obstacles - a Mammoth favorite, basically means there isn't 7 to 9 feet of snow blanketing the mountain yet, and by 7-9' I mean base; don't go anywhere that isn't tracked yet or you risk dry-docking
Dry docking - completely coming to a stop because you skied into an area where early season obstacles still exist and you just gave yourself numerous core shots
Low tide - when early season obstacles still exist and it's easy to dry dock in certain parts of the mountain that otherwise look perfectly skiable
Core shot - taking such a large chunk out of your ski base you can see the core, rocks back East can't do nearly the same amount of damage as volcanic rock, they call them the "Rockies" for a reason
Graupel - little styrofoam-looking bits of hail, never good for avalanche conditions if they get buried
Avalanche conditions - something to pay attention to out West, entire books have been written on the subject, I'm not going to even try to summarize here
Crust - impenetrable snow that occurs when snow warms, then refreezes
Corn - sun-warmed snow on top of a crust, can feel like feeling powder 10 times deeper
Powder - anything that comes out of the sky
Fresh - powder
Blower - light dry, fluffy powder
Pow Pow - affectionate name for powder, usually part of the phrase "sick pow pow"
Bottomless - so much light powder, or a comparatively lesser amount of heavier powder, that makes every turn feel like bouncing up and down on a bed or a trampoline
Face shots - when there is so much powder the force of making a turn blasts snow up from your ski tips and into your face
Powder rules - varies from ski town to ski town, but generally any time you get over a foot of fresh, businesses close and all the employees go skiing or riding only to come in the next day as if they were in some parallel universe and the store never missed a day (except everyone spends the whole day reminiscing)
Up-Side-Down cake - when heavy snow lands on light snow, not fun to ski and definitely not good for avi conditions
Right-side-up cake - the BEST conditions you can ask for, happens when a cold front comes through but not before squeezing a bunch more wet & heavy snow out of the sky, then leaving some nice light fluffy goodness on top that causes everyone in a ski town to call "powder rules" and call in sick and have the best day of their life skiing anywhere on the mountain with complete bottomless snow with some blower pow on top giving you face shots every turn...

Hulu

2007-12-20T18:30:00.000-05:00

In my never-ending attempts to find ideas to help distribute skiing and snowboarding videos I read a lot of tech blogs. One of the latest sites to come out is Hulu. It's basically NBC's answer to YouTube. Check out the Halloween episode of The Simpson.

A couple of things I really like about this player are the Closed Captioning and the fact they have cool content like the Simpsons. Now if we could just get NBC stoked on ski videos.

Deer Valley Resort to Host First World Cup Ski Cross Competition in North America

2007-12-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

Having worked two seasons as a ski instructor at Deer Valley, this seems like the perfect fit. DV is in tight with the U.S. Ski Team and the FIS. And I've raced down Solid Muldoon on many occasion. Almost lost my job once for buzzing the patrol director and Stein Erikson, on the same run!

World Cup Moguls on Champion, Solid Muldoon is two trails to the right. Photog: me

Well known for hosting world-class freestyle ski events, Deer Valley Resort will welcome the Visa Freestyle International, a stop on the FIS Freestyle World Cup tour to its slopes February 1 and 2, 2008. The event will feature aerials, dual moguls and for the first time ever in North America a World Cup ski cross competition. More than 200 athletes from approximately two-dozen countries are expected to participate in the event.

Via SNOWNATION.

AT Racer

2007-12-19T22:10:00.000-05:00

Weird title for my second ever post, but that's what popped into my head. But not in context of Rando Steve or any of those other lycra-wearing, uphill-downhill racing dudes. Read on...

My wife and I just got back from a day of early season skiing at Okemo in Vermont. The conditions were great for the week before Christmas. Having just started with New England Telemark, and as founder of Park City Telemark, we normally both drop a knee. Sometimes I snowboard in the morning first. I basically need a challenge most days, and those two ways down the mountain offer plenty.

But this trip I took a couple of alpine skis. My justification basically came down to the upcoming trip out West. I will be on the road for the whole month of January, hitting up: Colorado, Tahoe, Utah, and Montana in that order. With at least one mandatory telemark day in there, and unknown conditions all together, I'll be lugging my two pairs of tele skis. So that leaves one or two more chanced to alpine in New England.

So I brought a pair of alpine skis and a pair of alpine touring (or AT) skis. The alpine skis were my K2 Fugatives from last year. The AT skis were the K2 Shuksan (full disclaimer: I used to be the K2 Ambassador for Park City and The Canyons, both alpine and telemark/AT).

I took the Shuksan's out first and never went back to the car. I simply forget

How much fun it can be to lock down your heels and
What an incredible ski K2 has made in the Shuk.

I can't remember the specifics dimensions and I'm too lazy to go look them up in one of my old catalogs. They are about 78 or 80mm in the waist. And they have one, or more likely two sheets of Titanal inside. That's basically Titanium if I remember correctly. That means they hold an edge like a race ski. But they are still wicked light, especially with a pair of Freerides binders mounted up.

Speaking of race skis, I'm an ex-racer (or "Racer-X" as Edi Thys made popular in SKI Magazine). I like to "tip, grip, and rip" or "lay 'em over" or "get 'em up on edge." I've always liked a mid-fat for going fast and carving out West, most recently in Park City. Mid-fats are great because they give you enough width to basically prevent "boot out" unless it gets really mushy.

Problem is, most mid-fats now have TOO MUCH sidecut. K2 deepened the sidecut on the Recon and basically ruined the ski if you ask me (I'm no longer a K2 Ambassador, so I guess I can say that). I mean, I know some people can't angulate but still basically want to roller-blade down the hill. IMHO that's what slalom skis are for.

K2 left the sidecut on the Shuksan a few millimeters smaller (as they measure sidecut, rather than turn radius / meters as most other companies do). They did this to make the ski more forgiving in the backcountry and off-piste at the resort. That keeps it from hooking up in heavier snow and breakable crust. If you've ever experienced this phenominon (sp?) you know what I mean.

But the law of unintended consequences plays out in my favor. I can get a ski up on a high edge, and I don't want all that extra "cheater" sidecut as a result. Skiing the Shuksan on the groomers is like skiing a true GS race ski, maybe even a Super G ski. Mach speeds, huge arcs, laid over or otherwise very angulated. Today was the most fun I've had in a long time. Never mind I had to wait for several minutes at the bottom of every run for wife to make it down on her tele's. Maybe she'll take my suggestion next time about being on the same gear!

Though I'm clearly a backcountry type now-a-days, these skis take me back to my racing days. To bad these skis can't come out West with me!

Mt. Bachelor Video

2007-12-18T16:13:00.000-05:00

Tried to ski Mount Bachelor in the spring once, but we took a road that was closed, had to go around, and ran outta time. But this video from Pete Alport, with Poor Boyz Productions, makes we want to go back!

First Tracks

2007-12-18T00:57:00.000-05:00

First Post!