Is Accessibility really where Snowboarding Went Wrong?
The Angry Snowboarder and I are new best friends (yeah, we’ve exchanged two emails) so I’ve been keeping up to date with his posts more frequently. Last week he tried to tackle where snowboarding went wrong. He writes that accessibility is the biggest issue in snowboarding. While accessibility has always been a challenge in snowboarding; I blame greed, egos, and unrealistic expectations as the culprit in the decline of participants.
1. GREED. Companies didn’t forget who they were trying to entice, they thought snowboarding was the next get-rich-quick scheme and have been trying to capitalize on “snowboarding” every since this sport started turning a profit.
Ed Hardy has just launched their own snowboard line complete with tiger striped decks and bedazzled outerwear. Even Gene Simmons thinks he can turn a quick buck with an “action sports” t-shirt company. Did you see him at SIA promoting his new brand Money Bags? (at least he’s not trying to deny his financial expectations).
This industry is being dominated by suits now. While there are a few companies who are trying to make it with their integrity in tact, there is absolutely no way they can compete with Burton, K2, and Quiksilver. Even those companies you think are against the man are trying their hardest to be the man. Core means poor. Bottom line.
Fortunately this economy might be our chance to ditch all the high-power execs who are ruling the industry. Let’s face it, snowboarding isn’t going to make you enough money to buy a yacht and cruise around the world when you retire. My hope is that the next couple of seasons will shake out everyone who isn’t doing this for the right reasons. Then we can start restructuring and growing the snow industry in a healthy manner.
2. EGOS. 100 Day-a-year-Riders rule. Who doesn’t want to snowboard 100 days a year? Even though 30-year-old desk jockey Johnny can’t ride 100 days a year, he sure wishes he could be that guy. The 100 Day-a-year-rider drives the lifestyle of this sport. And at the end of the day people want to buy into the lifestyle.
Of course we need these riders as the mascots of snowboarding. But we don’t need them hating on people who are only riding 5 days a year. Chances are those recreational riders are funding their pay checks and allowing them to ride that much. Resort locals need to be a little more grateful and stop hating on people who can’t ride 100 days and be stoked that they’re having fun on the mountain.
And all you shop bros out there, check your ego at the door. Your cool factor is not helping you sell snowboards and it’s certainly not helping grow this industry. People are coming to you for help to allow them to have maximum fun. Stop vibing your customers because they are a day laborer, secretary, parent, or dentist. Learn about the product and help them find a solution to escape their 9-5 lifestyle.
3. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS. Snowboarding is never going to be baseball or basketball. And honestly, do we even want it to be? While I would love to see participation in snowboarding increase, I just don’t think it’s possible to get everyone and their mom consistently out there on the mountain. It’s always going to be expensive and it’s always going to take a certain type of personality to embrace it.
Product Demos are great and people who take advantage of them understand how valuable they are. Realistically though, consumers like the idea of a demo but rarely participate. I have been helping out at consumer demos for the last 6 years and can honestly say that I’ve had more people ask for free stickers than ask to try out a new board.
The failure of consumer demos can be attributed to a number of reasons. I think Burton is the only company who is organized enough to actually promote consumer demos and advertise when and where they will be happening. If more companies could follow their lead with the National Demo Tour, we might see more success from consumer demos.
But for the most part, people are lazy and impulsive. And when it comes time to buying a new snowboard, they want someone to show them a snowboard and tell them why it’s going to be the perfect ride for them. It’s mainly lifestyle riders who are really the only ones taking the time to invest in a product demo.
Learn To Ride and similar programs are awesome! Having an all-inclusive learning platform to entice new riders is a great way to help grow the participants in this industry. We need to see more of these programs from a broader range of companies. Any time we can make it easier for someone to fall in love with snowboarding should be considered a huge success. There’s nothing I like more than talking to people who have just discovered their stoke on snowboarding. It’s like being a little kid on Christmas morning.
Yes, we’d all love to see more people snowboarding and more clinics and demos might help. But snowboarding will always take time, money, and a little bit of athletic ability and courage to do. Until it’s as easy as watching NASCAR, it’s just not going to be that popular.
God, writing this post makes me feel like a crotchety old man. But this topic has been the source of a lot of heated conversation lately. Snowboarding is fun. But it gets taken way too seriously. The big-business mindset combined with the hipster attitude are ultimately leading to the downfall of snowboarding. While ease of accessibility will certainly help get more people riding, the industry needs a core value make-over. Stop trying to get rich and remember why we’re all doing this – we love snowboarding.
This is a really great article. I don’t think you sounded like a crotchety old man! haha. I agree with pretty well the whole thing – and the demo part is something I’ve thought of often.
I definitely agree about demos not being properly advertised – and there are hardly any on the east coast.. at least in Ontario where I am. I’d love to try a mtx board, but I’ve never seen a mervin demo day advertised for any of the hills I go to – you’d think they’d be all over the ice coast when they have a technology that “turns ice into powder”.
Atomic does one every year, and people typically will go to that because they know it’s going to happen. However there was supposed to be a demo one day when a bunch of us went out, (I can’t remember what brand it was anymore.. maybe ride?) and we couldn’t find it anywhere on the hill. So advertising, and actually showing up would be a good start!
“Core means poor. Bottom line.” – so very very very true.
Awesome, I completely agree with you…this entire industry needs a make over but even with the recession, I have my doubts that it’s going to happen anytime soon.
On the note of product demos, there hasn’t been one in my area in four years. Which seems pretty unreal, but the main problem seems to lie in the fact that no one knows how to put one on or how to promote one…it’s really just too bad.
But good writing, it’s nice to see more ladies’s shred blogs! :)
Thanks for the comments Ashley and Alison!
Demos are so tough. Most demos are controlled by your regional sales rep who has to decide whether or not the demo is really going to be beneficial. They have to fund the event out of their own pocket, travel to the location, set up a tent in whatever weather conditions apply and hope that someone comes by to test out gear. It’s really hard to judge whether or not the process is going to be worthwhile, especially when so few people end up taking advantage of the demos.
I think the best solution to demo new gear is to talk to your local shop. Ask them to try and set up a demo day at your mountain. Reps are usually willing to put on a demo if they know that a shop is organizing it and promoting it. Especially if multiple brands will be present. If your shop doesn’t have the ability to organize an event, ask them if they have the specific board you want to demo in their shop demo fleet. If they don’t, ask them if they could get one from the rep. You might have to pay a fee to demo it from the shop, but they will most likely deduct that fee from the price of the new board if you decide to buy it.
Until companies can hire someone to specifically run a demo program (like Burton), they will continue to flitter in and out of the snow scene like the illusive Snype.
hmmm I have mixed feelings about this writting…
Yes the industry is rather expenssive at times, Burton is the biggest player and any new comer to the sport is already trained to go straight to that brand thinking they’ll get good product (which is it, but not at its cost).
I also feel however that these companies over shadow the underdogs who are selling bang for buck – take CAPiTA as an example, they make GREAT boards at a fair price. I think maybe less articles about the ‘bad’ parts of snowboarding and a forcus on promoting the smaller companies who have their game face on, from riders – for riders, would be a nice change. I’ve read so many things lately about these big bad wolves ‘Burton and friends’. If you really dont like them, make a concious effort to not buy their product and promote other brands to people who are looking.
As for the attitude, its not dependant on snowboarding… the attitude is the people. It’s a social thing that is not exclusive to a sport. Unforntunatly we find this baggage on the slops. In my area it doesnt seem to be a big problem, but I can still sympathise with it.The more people who take up snowboarding, the more cultured it becomes. there’s a ton of personalities out on the hill – and theyre not always ones you want to be around, or shred with. but its like anything else in life, those people are going to be there, so just ignore them. Those people are at your work, theyre on the bus, they live down the street from you… snowboarding didnt make them that way, it just brought them to the hill.
DEMOS! Would be so much better if there was someone other than Burton doing them! I wish more companies would make their products more accecible to test. I’m skeptical about dropping 500$ on a board not knowing if its ‘the one’ for me. Reading reviews will only get me so far, but actually testing the product would make the sale so much easier. Burtion has done a number of demos here this year, but I personally dont get super stoked over them. I would LOVE to see some other brands do demo days [ especially with women specific gear ;-) ]
I personally dont think snowboarding ‘went wrong’. I love it, I live it, I sherd.