The Second Annual Action Sports Conference gets underway in Huntington Beach, CA.
Founded by Group Y, the original collective of action sports and youth culture marketing professionals, the 2nd annual Action Sports Conference, presented by Fuel TV on August 3, 2010 in Huntington Beach, CA, had its fair share of eye-opening discussions. From heavyweights such as CJ Olivares, General Manager of Fuel TV, talking about the state of action sports events and media, to the lack of diversity pointed out by X Games and ESPN Sports TV announcer Sal Masekela, to Bryan Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer at UFC talking about the differences in his industry vs. action sports, to Doug Palladini, VP of Marketing from Vans discussing authenticity, it was a packed agenda that delivered incredible insight into where things are heading in action sports and youth culture markets.
The ASC also unveiled a new iPhone app for events such as these, created by Label Networks’ Mobile Culture Lab division that provided live messaging to participants, questions for the Q&A, feedback about speakers, plus schedules and bios of the events and speakers.
For anyone interested in action sports and its associated lifestyle including fashion, events, music, video gaming, and technology, the ASC is fast becoming the conference to gather intel and ideas including what’s next. Key highlights illustrated how this industry has grown, specifically over the last 10 years, and yet how it still struggles to monetize various aspects of its growth.
CJ Oliveras, Bryan Johnston, and many others emphasized the importance of international growth. In some ways, action sports have been played out in America, and brands and media are looking internationally for expansion. While this has been successful for entities such as the UFC, when it comes to action sports, it’s so fragmented, especially media components in other countries, that it’s a challenge to reach new markets effectively.
Ashley Fiolek, two-time gold medalist in the X Games for women’s Moto X Suoer X during a one-on-one athletes discussion at the ASC. Grete Eliassen, professional freeskier is also featured, as well as Tina Dixon, TV announcer and fomer pro snowboarder as the moderator.
On the flip side, action sports in America needs to evolve also and as Sal Masekela pointed out, there needs to be greater ethnic diversity. It’s important to understand getting urban or inner-city kids involved can not only help the sports grow but connect brands with an affinity to the lifestyle of action sports. Other growth categories in the USA include the women’s marketplace which is still at the tip-of-the-iceberg of being tapped.
Some pro athletes such as Ashley Fiolek, the two-time gold medal winner from the X Games for women’s Moto X Super X, is an example of the growth of action sports among women. She also has a great story in that she is the only deaf person to ever win a medal at the X Games.
Many people brought up the importance of the “stories” of the athletes, the events, and lifestyle and how this truly is a unique aspect to action sports. Paid content is the future for making money, however so much is still given away for free, particularly with videos on YouTube. This has helped and hurt the industry.
Big brands such as Nike and Target are coming in. It was clearly obvious with the U.S. Open of Surfing going on across the street, sponsored by Nike 6.0,. Hurley, and Converse. News came out just recently that Paul Rodriguez, a high-profile pro skateboarder, had just signed a deal with Target (similar to Shaun White). In some ways, this is generating greater mainstream exposure for the industry, but for brands that have been involved from the beginning, it can be a painful transition.
Look at what happened with snowboarding and the Olympics. As painful as it was to get into the Olympics, the industry has learned a lot about the process. It has put snowboarding on an international scale, athletes like Shaun White into the spotlight, and brands like Burton in a different global category. Now, the talk is getting skateboarding into the Olympics on an international platform, but this will take time.
Other highlights included the lifestyle aspects of apparel and footwear associated with action sports. Agenda as a streetwear and action sports trade show tapped into the growing opportunity whereby streetwear is taking up more of the crossover space between action sports and fashion. Certain collaborations work because they are rooted in a solid foundation, but when brands try to collaborate, or even sponsor events without the proper knowledge of what’s going on in the marketplace, it can be a disaster and there are many horror stories. What Agenda has proven is that there are new opportunities and crossover taking place -you just have to be aware of them and act on such opportunities.
Overall, there was much accomplished at the ASC, with honest debates and interesting solutions. In many ways, it proved that we’re still dealing with growing pains as an industry, which brings on the need for more such conferences in the future.
