Scandals

There were quite a few scandals that arose during the 2010 Winter Games, one involving U.S. snowboarder Scotty Lago. After winning the half-pipe Olympic bronze medal Lago voluntarily left the ceremony on Friday after racy photos of him were released online Thursday. The photo showed a woman kissing his bronze medal near his waist and the second photo shows Lago sticking the medal in the woman’s mouth. Lago replied, ‘Just keeping my medal in a safe spot for now, ha ha’.

Both images surfaced online and appeared on TMZ Friday afternoon. Lago was forced to leave the Olympics by United States Ski and Snowboard Association and was forced to defend himself and apologize on U.S. television.

A scandal such as this does not look good for the team or the organization. Although Lago is a great athlete through his stunt he was not showing responsibility of proper conduct and was not demonstrating acceptable behavior. This is not what the Ski and Snowboarding association stands for and a scandal like this does damage to their image.

http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news10661.html - pics of scandal

http://www.popcrunch.com/scotty-lago-picture-scandal-cuts-olympic-dreams-short/

Injuries affecting dynamic of U.S Snowboarding Team

It has been a rough season for the men’s U.S. Olympic halfpipe riders and the snowboarding community as a whole due to some of the best riders Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis suffering from injuries just weeks before the Winter Games in Vancouver. Kevin Pearce was injured on December 31^st in Park City while training on a 22-foot-high halfpipe. Hitting his head, Pearce was placed in critical condition suffering from traumatic brain injuries. One week later Danny Davis was involved in an ATV accident in Utah causing damage to his back and surgery on his L3 vertebrae.

With the US halfpipe riders doing so well in previous years winning in 2002 and receiving gold and silver in 2006 it awful news to hear that two very talented riders on the team have been injured. Riders Shaun White, Kevin Pearce and Danny Davis represent an American dream team for the halfpipe. With two of the riders injured the dream is slipping away.

When accidents such as these occur the U.S. team must work off of their plan B and it is hard to keep morale high for the team when issues such as these happen. Neither will be able to compete; however Pearce’s injuries, far more serious, require him to have to learn to walk again. According to NBC Nightly News his family states that he has suffered memory loss and impaired vision, however within time a full recovery will be seen.

Although Pearce’s injury is considered a fluke, snowboarding is a dangerous sport. However some are saying that the sport may be evolving more quickly than its athletes are. The new halfpipe version of 22 ft high is definitely more dangerous than the previous 18 foot high version. The pressure is on for these athletes who are attempting to do very dangerous stunts and tricks that are causing serious injuries.

Head of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), Bill Marolt, states that safety is always a primary concern when it comes to their athletes, but he does not anticipate any immediate changes in protocol due to the Pearce accident. As the higher halfpipe is used in competitions, those in charge will be monitoring closely whether or not there is an increase in accidents and injuries.

Major life threatening accidents and career ending injuries affects the other riders on the team, aspiring athletes, the chances of winning in the competition and the industry as a whole. With snowboarding classified, as an extreme sport it will always be seen as more difficult and more dangerous by the public, lessening the number of players of it. Injuries negatively affect the snowboarding sport, and those in charge by the quickly evolving sport.

Link for blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZsYPBacfRs - pearce vid

http://newsfall.com/2010/08/23/kevin-pearce/ - pic of pearce

http://www.snowboard-mag.com/content/totinos-signs-danny-davis-36422 - dd

http://saltlakecity.injuryboard.com/miscellaneous/us-snowboarders-suffer-injury-setbacks-in-advance-of-olympics.aspx?googleid=277078

http://www.grindtv.com/profile/adryan%20roane%20ritter/blog/12645/injuries%20changing%20the%20dynamic%20for%20mens%20us%20olympic%20halfpipe%20team/

Fan Loyalty

Loyal fans of the US snowboarding team endure all of the teams success and hardships. Some fans are loyal to the team, no matter what the outcome of the events are and whether there was success of not. Individual athletes on the team are also competing against each other in certain events and fans continue to prefer an athlete to another if they are loyal enough. Many players such as Shaun White and Gretchen Blieler are particularly preferred by fans and the popularity and buzz that such celebrity fans cause brings many provided benefits to the team over time.

Fan loyalty to the Snowboarding team comes about through the entertainment value of the sport. Snowboarding is fast paced and exciting. Whether Olympic events or not the sport is an action sport and thought of as a way of pushing the limits. The brand image of the sport is retro and cool and the atmosphere of events increases fan motivation.

Most fans of the team are snowboarders themselves or fans interested in extreme sports. Fans can relate and identify with the team, especially the athletes more seen in the media. For example Shaun White, 19 year old with a quirky personality and creative moves is an idol that fans love.

“He’s the one action sport athlete that we can point to in our coverage where ratings go up when he’s competing.” Says ESPN X Games creator and founder Ron Semiao. The success and power of one athlete can in turn affect the popularity of the how snowboarding team and the sport itself. White is a global phenomenon who appeals to all types of fans. White has relationships with HP, target and others and it is said that he has marketing instincts on what will sell. People love his charismatic attitude and to earth personality, which keeps, fans rooting for him and his team.

The value of the sport in the snowboarding community is very high. Such events such as the Sprint Big Air in Denver was a huge success in increasing fan loyalty in the winter sports community of Denver.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blog.imgacademies.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/shaun_white.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blog.imgacademies.com/2010/02/03/shaun-white-most-endorsed-winter-olympic-athlete/&usg=__gcYipKhgmD2Sv7BKJ33hM1RqqEk=&h=400&w=300&sz=77&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=Dt832l7X-CSe9M:&tbnh=171&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshaun%2Bwhite%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1065%26bih%3D513%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=310&vpy=99&dur=745&hovh=310&hovw=232&tx=112&ty=159&ei=wRn0TLjmEcKC8gbhwYShDA&oei=uhn0TOjeGZ62nAfq1NWJCg&esq=3&page=1&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0 - shaun white

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://news.about-knowledge.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/shaun-white-olympics-2010-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.about-knowledge.com/shaun-white-olympics-2010-video/&usg=__pl5OAEBaNAX_VW_RacH6m50AKk4=&h=418&w=450&sz=46&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=jxds-x5BPanBBM:&tbnh=175&tbnw=188&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshaun%2Bwhite%2Bolympics%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1065%26bih%3D513%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=270&vpy=123&dur=251&hovh=259&hovw=279&tx=140&ty=123&ei=5Rn0TJ_7DsWTnQf1l72fCg&oei=5Rn0TJ_7DsWTnQf1l72fCg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=9&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0 shaun white

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/vancouver/snowboarding/2010-01-26-white-mogul_N.htm

8th post – internet and website

The U.S. Snowboarding team’s website is very dynamic and straightforward. One of the website’s major strengths is how it is easy to navigate around the site and the layout is very user friendly. It is a very attractive website with many videos and other highlights that is a way of interacting and engaging the audience. The list of upcoming events and highlights are very informative for the user and keep viewers updated. Being a Graphic Design major I find the website particularly aesthetically pleasing and a very well done website that appeals to the target audience of young people.

I particularly like the Athletes section on the website. All of their pictures are featured and makes the viewer become more aware of the athletes themselves and makes them more easily identifiable.

The U.S. snowboarding team also has a twitter and facebook page. These forms of media are necessary in promoting and generating awareness. The twitter updates its audience on events and the athlete’s personal lives, creating interest in a quirky way to engage the audience. With 1,650 followers, the twitter site is growing in popularity!

The facebook page portrays many albums, mobile uploads and videos of the team and their travels. There are many promotions taking place trying to gain more traffic to the sight and more interest in the team. One promotion currently taking place is a signed snowboardcross poster up for grabs to be one as long as the facebook site breaks 5,000 fans by November 20^th.

Another status is, ‘The secrets of Olympic Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis/Beauty on the go’. An article from fitness magazine on facebook creating buzz and attracting a female audience on the beauty secrets of a successful athlete. This is exciting and advertises for women athletes, getting them involved in the sport just as much as men.

https://twitter.com/ussnowboarding

http://www.facebook.com/ussnowboarding

6th post An Event talk about sponsors

--6^th post Visa Sponsored Snowboardcross Cup 2010 Telluride, Colorado

Another example of a sponsored snowboarding event is the U.S. Snowboardcross World Cup at Telluride, Sponsored by Visa taking place December 16^th-18^th. Olympic snowboarders that will be appearing at the event include Seth Wescott and five-time X Games gold medalist Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) and Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacob Ellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) that will attract attention of fans and will give the athletes an early season edge over other competitors from the US and other countries.

The video below, posted on the homepage of the U.S Snowboarding website shows highlights of the event. The video shows extensively the sponsor Visa, making sure that the Visa name is seen in every shot. Throughout the entire video the Visa brand name is seen staked out through the whole run. Lining the edges of the racecourse and other signs through out the course with the Visa name makes it almost impossible for spectators to not see the name. The riders are decked out with Visa on the front of their uniforms.

I also thought the logo for the event was very clever. The Visa colors blue, white and yellow are used in the snowboarding logo, which unifies to sponsorship and relationship between Visa and Snowboarding.

http://www.ussnowboarding.com/events/event?eventId=1089

video – on main website – telluride vid

5th post An Event - talk about sponsors

5^th post an event – talk about sponsors

U.S Snowboarding team and Sprint

2011 U.S Snowboarding Grand Prix, sponsored by Sprint will be taking place at the newly renovated Canyons, Park City, UT. Taking place February 11^th and 12^th snowboarding champions and two time Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) (Where I ski all the time in Maine!) and silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis are among some of the athletes competing. Many of the US snowboarding snowboardcross members have already celebrated with fans and signed autographs to mark the first major international event at the Canyons.

Todd Burnette, Vice President, Marketing stated that, “We’re looking forward to hosting the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix to help us showcase the re-creation of the resort”. The event will help expose the resort to the media and the public. With the building of the course comes building of the overall level of hospitality in hopes that The Canyons will become a well-known sport for riders and become one of the favorite stops on snowboarding world tours. Construction over the summer consisted of new trails, a chairlift and repositioning of the gondola in order to host an elite event.

Angie Lovett, Sprint’s Director of Corporate Sponsorship Marketing explains how, “Events like the Spring U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix and partnerships with resorts like the Canyons helps our brand stay connected with action sports and a young audience through sports heroes like gold medalist Seth Wescott”. This is the perfect event for sprint to sponsor so appeal to their younger audience and give off a “cool” image of their brand. This event is a way for Sprint to promote their expansion of the 4G Sprint network to a targeted demographic. The Sprint 4G was launched this summer in Salt Lake City and the relationship between Sprint and U.S. snowboarding is very important to Sprint as they launch the 4G and they promote their product in more markets in the Rocky Mountain area and other locations in the U.S.

The event being hosted at The Canyons is the perfect location that attracts a young audience, exciting them by the change to meet some of their favorite Olympic snowboarders. The Canyons is a very metropolitan area and is, “the perfect location for a partner like Sprint and for our fans, and brings a major event to our hometown community,” says Andrew Judelson, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer of the Park City-based U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

http://www.ussnowboarding.com/news?storyId=2991

Post 4 - Media

4th post – media

Today Snowboarding and the U.S. Snowboarding riders are seen throughout all types of media and news of the team is communicated in many different forms. Snowboarding has been a quickly growing sport including a growing sport in the Olympics and the team and its members are constantly under the spotlight. However the question some are asking is when did snowboarding become cool? And how did it become cool and increase in popularity? The answer to these questions is found in the part that the media has played in the Snowboarding subculture.

For the most part snowboarding went unnoticed back in the 80’s when snowboarding was about duct-tape boards and neon sweat pants. The media however saw this a new business venture and media types such as Time magazine and local news channels were beginning to expose the sport. Suzuki ads were placed on the sides of a few half-pipes and the word snowboarding was appearing in magazines next to words such as “extreme” “action” and “lifestyle sport”. Snowboarding became attached to the media hype including other extreme sports such as surfing, skiing and skateboarding. Over all of those sports, Snowboarding was the sport that gained the most acceptance from the media.

Snowboarding was soon seen in magazines ads, TV commercials for products anywhere from soda to cold medicine. Snowboarding in the media was portrayed as a young sport, new and refreshing. Snowboarding became cool. The sport was on a rise and exploded around 1997; one year before Snowboarding became an Olympic Sport. The media helped create snowboarding as its own identity and differentiated itself from other extreme sports such as skateboarding. After the Olympics snowboarding competitions were seen on major channels such as NBC and major sponsors began to really spend money on the sport, sponsoring major competitions.

The mainstream media was soon seen as an effective marketing tool, especially for women snowboarders. Women snowboarders were portrayed more in fashion magazines in the start, “One shot in Seventeen Magazine could sell more snowboards than a six-page feature in a snowboarding magazine. Eventually woman snowboarders were taken more seriously and seen as professionals and were recognized in major snowboarding magazines.

Snowboarding magazines help promoting the sport; photo incentives are included into many professional riders’ sponsorship contracts that gives the riders publicity as well as a financial incentive to have their photo in a magazine. Examples of popular Magazines include Transworld Snowboarding, Snowboard Magazine USA and Method. Snowboard magazines have recently pushed their efforts into the online market with online only publications. It has become necessary for the team to use social media networks such as facebook and twitter to reach their audience.

In 1994 Mike Hatchett’s Totally Board came out which glamorized snowboarding and changed the way the public thought about snowboarding. Snowboarding films have played a major part in the progression in the sport. Films are released each season produced by snowboard specific video production companies as well as other companies that use these films as a form of advertising. Videos show professional riders sponsored by companies. An example of snowboarding for commercial use is, The White Album, a film with Shaun White, snowboarding hero that is sponsored by PlayStation, Mountain Dew and Burton Snowboards. Not only are these films used as a form of advertisement by as a way of showing the snowboarding style and new trends of the sport.

Large amounts of money were spent on promotion of the sport and sponsorship deals. Sponsorships of the team include Burton, Visa, Sprint and Putnam Investments, which have created all types of buzz for the team. Olympic Medalists Shaun White and Gretchen Bleiler are constantly in the news for their snowboarding accomplishments and are becoming very popular sports celebrities.

The US snowboarding team has been in the spotlight more than ever as they are doing increasingly better in the Winter Olympics and other international competitions. Many sponsors including Putnam Investments are choosing to join with the team because of the driven athletes and excellence that they stand for and that is what is portrayed to the public through the media.

http://www.yobeat.com/features/snowboardcool.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=c4irUBV_FU0C&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=snowboarding+media+in+90's&source=bl&ots=X0EBcK3tax&sig=9fl9D7SOg_8cXYxWtbzR-shnSeo&hl=en&ei=Go_yTKnNK8OqlAeK5MTfDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/action/2010-02-17-bnqt-olympic-snowboarding_N.htm?csp=obnetwork

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/putnam-investments-to-sponsor-the-us-ski-team-and-us-snowboarding-104439929.html

http://sevenyearswinter.com/rants/future-snowboarding-media

Links for Blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1j63gt_uGE - the white album

http://venicesurfergirl.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/gretchen_bleiler.jpg

http://www.electricvisual.com/2009/10/20/pat-moore-on-the-cover-of-transworld-snowboarding-november-issue-2009/ - magazine

http://alexlod.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/img_2516_2.jpg - snowboarder 90;s

Burton Sponsorship

Vintage style rugged jeans

Patriotic plaid jacket

Skater-looking patches of logo, team and eagle

Male and female Olympic uniforms

Burton Sponsorship

When you first think of an Olympic event uniform, what do you think of? What color schemes, designs and patterns first come to mind? Probably something sleek looking, shiny and bright colors. However for Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 the U.S snowboarding team decided to go against the norm by releasing a plaid jacket and ripped dirty jeans looking pants.

The Olympic uniforms were created by Burton Boards; the leading company in snowboarding techonology and fashion. Burton is a sponsor of the U.S snowboarding team and showed their support by creating the plaid jacket and denim looking snow pants that represent a style of individuality and heritage of the Burton brand as well as the culture of the snowboarding sport. The uniforms represent a fresh look at the classic Americana fashion style with vintage looking demin and a plaid, preppy jacket with patches. Burton created these uniforms using only the best technology and fabrics to ensure the riders maximum comfort and support. The riders themselves were also involved in the development of the uniforms to ensure the overall design would maximize performance. The Burton brand stresses how the Olympic uniforms must represent the best and the worthiness of bearing the Burton name.

The creation of the Olympic uniforms by Burton was a way of marketing themselves and advertising their brand name by putting their brand on the uniforms of pro snowboarders on the Olympic team. The worthiness and value of the brand is demonstrated, and by designing a uniform that was out of the ordinary again shows the uniquness of the elite brand.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2009/12/burton-unveils-its-olympic-us-snowboard-team-uniform-for-2010.html

Sponsorships

Sponsorships

The United States Ski and Snowboard Association USSA is an Olympic sports Organization that aims to support the best skiing and snowboarding teams in the world. The organization has gained many sponsors that are involved in a partnership with the U.S snowboarding team. The team’s sponsors are as follows: Audi, Bud Light, Burton, Charles Schwab, Delta, DJO, Paul Mitchell, Nature Valley, Prudential, Sprint, Spyder, TD Bank, Under Armour and Visa. As you can see there are a good amount of sponsors for the team, however there is no sponsorship clutter, which many companies do have, when there are too many sponsors, which causes issues when the sponsors begin to stand out less.

The companies sponsoring the team are investing in a sports entity to support their overall organizational objectives and promotional strategies. A sponsorship increases awareness of their brand and it associates the brand with a winning entity. The partners in support of the US ski and snowboarding teams provide products, services, clothing, money and other goods to support the teams.

Some specific examples of Sponsors support are: Sprint, official communications provider of the U.S. Ski Team & U.S. Snowboarding; DJO Global: Official knee brace & support systems of the U.S. Ski Team & U.S. Snowboarding and Burton, the official outerwear supplier of U.S. Snowboarding.

United States Snowboarding Team

2010 us Olympic snowboard halfpipe team, left to right: Kelly clark, Gretchen bleiler, hana teter, Scotty lago, louie vito, shaun white

Shaun White Olympic Snowboarder

Gretchen Bleiler Half pipe

Intro

Since I was around 10 years old I have been a dedicated skiing. My family and I travel every year to a different ski slope in the New England area and I have even been on several ski trips with my high school to Austria and Italy. After spending so many years committed to the skiing sport I never thought I would have any interest in learning to snowboard. Last year for the first time my sister and I had a snowboarding lesson for the whole day and I loved it! It is a very different kind of experience than skiing and I loved the thrill and excitement of the sport. I chose to write this blog on the United States Snowboarding Team due to my newfound interest in the sport. I want to learn about the sport at the professional level and all of the sports marketing efforts behind it.

I want to start off with a little background information about the sport itself. Snowboarding was originally inspired by skateboarding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the United States in the 1960's and became an official Winter Olympic Sport in 1998. The ultimate goal of the US Snowboarding team is to get its riders on the Olympic podium. The US Snowboarding team is the most successful international snowboard program over the past ten years. Since the sport became an Olympic event in 1998 the US team has manages a total of 14 Olympic medals, including the historic men’s half pipe event in 2002 and a best in the world performance of seven medals in 2006.The United States Snowboarding Team is supported by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). The USSA helps develop and represent the best male and female athletes in the snowboarding sports in the country where they compete at a national, world and Olympic level.

There are four different snowboarding styles: Halfpipe, slope style, snowboard cross and alpine snowboarding. Half pipe is the most recognized of the styles that has a long track record of success in the U.S. Olympics. A giant pipe is constructed at the resorts that is carved out and used with man-made snow creating a 22-foot deep pipe. Snowboarders on the half pipes are judged based on the execution of their jumps and tricks as well as the difficulty of the stunt. Half pipe as an Olympic event was started at the beginning of snowboarding entering the Olympics in 1998.

Slope style is a freestyle ride down a slope that is filled with rails, hips, jumps and tabletops, which allow snowboarders to do their specific tricks which catching big air. The landing, difficulty, execution are judges. Slope style however is not yet an Olympic sport, however is very popular and some day may be an event.

Snowboard cross or SBX became an Olympic event in 2006 and was rated the most action packed event in snowboarding. A special snowboard cross is built where teams race in groups of four, riding obstacles full of jumps, rollers and turns.

Alpine snowboarding involves a few different snowboarding formats, which include parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom. Parallel giant slalom however is the only one that is an event in the Olympics. Alpine snowboarding was the only original snowboarding event in the Olympics in 1998. In parallel giant slalom the snowboarders race head to head side by side. Parallel slalom is the same however the snowboarders are competing on the slalom courses.

Throughout the rest of this blog I intend on tracking the development of the current United States Snowboarding team related to sports marketing, including media highlights, sponsorship deals and events. I plan on reviewing marketing aspects of sports goods for the team, endorsement deals and the team website. I will also follow news stories and monitor individual athletes including Gretchen Bleiler explaining their own individual success stories that are related to sports marketing and how their individual success benefits the snowboarding sport in general. I will study the sponsors of the US Snowboarding team, some of which include Sprint, Visa, Burton, Audi, Bud light, Delta and TD Bank and how these partnerships are supporting each other.

I want to study the growing popularity of the sport, fan loyalty and its growing support as a sport in Olympic events. I will research how the team markets themselves and efforts used to generate awareness and support for the up and growing sport and team.