At least we can now say that action sports is getting some action these days -at least as far as trade shows are concerned. First came the announcement December 4th that Agenda was teaming up with The Berrics to create a skate-specific area at their trade show in Huntington Beach, CA, January 8-9, 2010. And then today, December 7th, came an announcement that ASR was teaming up with Crossroads for their show February 3-4 in San Diego.
Stepping back a bit, there’s been ongoing talk within actions sports about how to keep the skateboarding retailers and exhibitors happy. What with Crossroads taking place up the road hosted by Black Box Distribution over the last few years which attracted a lot of skate buyers and brands before the ASR show even hit, it was a growing “problem” for what was once THE industry trade show. For the last ASR show, SIMA (Surf Industry Manufacturers Association) teamed up with ASR to try and figure out various new plans to attract the top 100 retailers to the show, as well as added several new features including a trade show conference to press and industry before the show started, better lounges for networking, and other aspects. ASR even partnered with Class, which is a very cool street/contemporary show featuring brands that are only slightly associated with action sports and often considered a crossover to designer wear. In our opinion, this was a very good plan -more so than getting SIMA more involved in a show that already struggles with having surf so heavily influencing it to begin with.
In addition, ASR announced last week that they were changing their name to ASR Access, which included ASR and Class@ASR. And they’ve beefed up their educational series through Board Retailers Association with an entire “Survivor Series” intended to help specialty retailers in this space be successful.
While these are all great initiatives, it bears repeating that ASR is not the first show of the season when it comes to the ever-decreasing industry of action sports. Agenda is, which makes it quite favorable for many brands and retailers. Not to mention that the costs for being at Agenda were more favorable for many than having a booth at the San Diego Convention Center. However the way around that now, is to get a booth in the parking lot across the street from ASR at the PETCO center which is where the Crossroads portion of ASR, hosted by Black Box, will now be located.
As for Agenda, which has over the past several years attracted many former ASR retailers and brands, they continue their progressive streak with adding The Berrics Agenda division which is a new section dedicated to core skateboarding brands. “We can’t imagine a better partner in this expansion. Our intention has always been to make the skateboard industry top priority at Agenda and this opportunity furthers that intention. The Berrics exemplify what we strive for.” said Agenda President Aaron Levant.
The thing about getting The Berrics involved is that it comes with 61 Berrics Unified retailers as travel and accommodations are provided to come to the Agenda Tradeshow. Obviously this makes it quite enticing for core shops with limited budgets. The Berrics Unified also caters to indie core skate shops in general on their website with a variety of brand and advertising programs. So basically by adding The Berrics, you get a crop of core brands and stores.
Now that there are several strong components for each show, it comes down to which will gain more cred, which timeframe and location will work best, and how costs and various other programs effect the final outcome for each show. In the end however, it’s a small, niche industry with 2 shows vying for an ever-decreasing piece of the pie. Those who opt for looking beyond the borders of traditional aspects of what is action sports could very likely be the winners in the long run, but then again, this is an industry that caters to niche, where “core” means “cool” whether you’re actually seen or not.
