Evolution: The Jibbers

Jibbers, Park Rats, Newschoolers, whatever you want to call them, these skiers and snowboarders are leveling the playing field between east coast and west coast. Their unmistakable style combined with the general atmosphere of the events that they participate in creates a buzz on the hill. Now spanning three generations, X, Y and Z these athletes command a big part of the in-store and online sales in our industry. They are tuned in and online and they have created a revolution - make that an evolution of snow sports. Anyone who has come out to a ski/board event geared toward this demographic knows that they are a target audience that we can't afford to pass up.

Generation X is the generation born after the baby boom ended, its members were born between 1961 and 1981, and people aged 29-49. Many of us have watched ski resorts go from throwing people out for building jumps to sinking millions of dollars into terrain parks with gigantic jumps. We invented snowboards, and one piece neon outerwear. Our children belong to Generations Y and Z.

Generation Y In the United States the actual "Echo Boom" was a thirteen year span between 1982 and 1995 (age 15-28) when for the first time since 1964, the number of live births reached over four million. Gen Yer's use instant methods of communications like texting and IM and they share information with the world using social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. This trend of communication is continuing into Generation Z.

Generation Z is one of the names used for the people born between the mid-1990’s and the late 2000’s (14 and younger). This is the "Net Generation". They are highly connected, many having had lifelong use of "pocket internet" through their mobile phone and media technologies such as the internet, mp3 players, laptop computers and cell phones.

These three generations are witness to the rise of action sports such as skateboarding, motocross extreme skiing and snowboarding. They are the target audience for action sport event marketing. Even the International Olympic Committee is taking notice by agreeing to consider including skier halfpipe in the 2014 games. It's no wonder, according to The Neilson Group, on the first night that Shaun White competed in the 2010 Olympics, 30.1 million people tuned in. This compared to 18.4 million who watched "American Idol". It was the first time any show has beaten "American Idol" since May 2004. This year, multiple live attendance and television ratings records were broken at Winter X Games 14. 84,100 people attended the four-day event and for the third straight year Winter X was ESPN's highest-rated and most viewed program with more than 43 million viewers, (more than the Olympics!). The Dew Tour also saw a spike in attendance with 33,000 fans the highest event attendance in the two-year history of the Winter Dew Tour.

As Gen Y and Zer's prepare to go off to colleges around the country, we hope that they take the jibshop with them. We hope to have developed a relationship with these athletes so that whether they go to school in Utah or Ohio they will be loyal to the shop that has brought great events to their mountain. Just as Facebook rumors can go viral overnight, we're betting that these kids can spread the word about their local shop around the country. Our Packed, Stacked and Jacked Facebook Fan Page is testament to the notion that we can reach a global audience simply by creating a captivating event and marketing it to our local skiers and riders via social networking websites. In addition to fans from just about every state in the USA, the page is being followed by fans from places like Djibouti, Norway and Austria. While these riders and skiers could never shop at Willi's, they can visit thejibshop.com from anywhere. We can use event marketing to spread our business globally.

The emergence of the terrain park has leveled the playing field between east and west and, while the earlier arrival of snow and the later departure out west still provides west coast athletes with more days to ride, the kids in the east often begin skiing in the parks at a much earlier age, giving them an upper hand to the kids out west who don't get bored with their mountains until they reach their teens. We are producing some big names right here in the mid-Atlantic. Athletes like Tom Wallisch, Kristi Leskinen and Louie Vito grew up shredding Seven Springs. They are the heroes of the action sports world.

Seven Springs Terrain Park Crew, lead by Joel Rerko, is receiving top honors by highly respected industry insiders. Last year the readers of Transworld Snowboarding voted them #1 halfpipe in the Eastern U.S. and #3 parks overall http://snowboarding.transworld.net/1000112908/featuresobf/transworlds-top-five-east-coast-parks-resorts-and-pipes/3/. This year, Seven Springs hosted the second annual Kristi Leskinen Homecoming and while the fans missed the boarders (Olympics), the skiers were competing for world ranking! Brands looking for parks to film promos in are starting to sit up and take notice of their talented builders too. Forum and Flow both spent several days in our park last season. The Forum trailer is up and has some great shots of our parks http://vimeo.com/12806934. By the way, that flaming telephone pole…Joel’s creation!

According to 2003 report from American Sports Data, Inc., action sports account for 1/3 of all sporting goods sold in the United States, more than 14 billion dollars. Event Marketing is a crucial way to reach potential customers in this demographic. While the Dew Tour and X Games cater to the highest levels of the sports, even the less able participants like compete in rail jams now and then. Several grass-roots competitions are cropping up around the country but breaking through to the upper levels of freestyle skiing and snowboarding is akin to being discovered by a Hollywood agent. There are talented kids playing around on every ski hill in the country and they just want a chance to win some great prizes and show off their skills. Last season, over 119 competitors came out and competed in Packed, Stacked and Jacked. Our inaugural season sparked world-wide interest because of its grass-roots vibe.

Sponsoring athletes is a great way to get recognized and you don't have to limit your sponsorship to high-level pros. Your brand's sponsorship helps you to plant the seed of brand recognition and loyalty in the minds of the next group of riders coming up. Studies have shown that positive feelings toward the brand are dependent on creating a link in memory between that brand and a positive stimulus. Our local scene is a microcosm of the larger national and international action sports scene. Just as X-Games viewers are influenced by the athletes that they see on television, local kids are looking to the group a little older and more experienced than they are and are trying to emulate them. When they see that your brand is supporting someone that they admire, it impresses upon them that you are supporting their sport.

Taking part in this evolution is not an option, it's a necessity for brands that want to continue to be relevant. We're excited to be involved with these talented skiers, riders and park designers and we hope that our involvement grows in the years to come. Seven Springs is working hard to provide parks that progress the new era of action sports and we are thrilled to partner with them. Since my position was created in 2008, we've been working hard create events that reach out the this powerful group of consumers and we're enjoying every minute of it! Come out and see what the buzz is all about.