At the same time, as members of the ski and snowboard industry, we should keep in mind that what is good for the Team is not automatically good for the industry. While our goals obviously converge in wanting a huge success for the Salt Lake City Olympics and for our team, it is also true that our industry’s priorities must reflect what is good for skiers and riders and for the growth of the sport.
In a Ski Team News Bureau press release, Todd Burnette, VP for marketing and sales for USST, said, “Building the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team’s brand helps us support our athletes’ dreams through increasing the Team’s value to our sponsor relationships.” No argument there; that’s the reality of today’s sports marketing. But, Burnette went on that in pursuit of building the brand, they want to “capture the excitement and danger of the sports,” and ads that do just that have been created and run.
Thus USST wants to build audience for the sponsors by marketing the excitement and danger factor that hooks audiences for such shows as the Winter X Games. In the world of marketing, this is understandable. But remind yourself that this has nothing to do with participation in these sports; it’s about image and viewership. There’s no doubt about it, the jaded American television audience can be engaged by highlighting and hyping danger. But we are trying to build participation and many of us are trying to reassure people that danger need not be a factor. There’s a difference between marketing “thrill” and marketing “danger.”
We understand. We just hope USST understands they do the industry no favors when they build audience for their sponsors by hyping the alleged danger of our sports.
