409 final project

Project B A B B:B-Active-B-Burton

IMC 409: Final Project

Due December 8th, 2010

Meri-Elizabeth Schulze #900219897

1111 N. Dearborn Chicago, Illinois 60610 T 262-366-0880 [email protected] www.dadco.org

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.dadco.org

http://www.dadco.org

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary.....................................................................................................

Mountain Base............................................................................................................

Brand Analysis

Industry Analysis

Equipment Set Up........................................................................................................

Secondary/ Key Research Findings

Competitive Analysis

SWOT Analysis

The B-Team...................................................................................................................

Consumer Segment Profiles

Lift to the Peak..............................................................................................................

Strategic Marketing Communication Idea• Goals and Objectives• Introduction of Project BABB

Marketing Communication Creatives• Advertising• Sales Promotion• Public Relations• Exhibitions/Events• Sponsorships

Powder Run to the Base...............................................................................................

Campaign Evaluation• Budget• Timeline• Measurement

Appendix..........................................................................................................................

References......................................................................................................................

DreamAwake Design Co.


Mountain Base

Brand Analysis

Burton Corporation, which was founded by Jake Burton in 1977, is the leading manufacturer of snowboarding

gear across the world offering snowboard equipment, clothing and other hard and soft goods for men, women and

youth. Major success of the brand took off as the popularity of the sport of snowboarding soared among the youth of

America in the ’80’s and ’90’s. Due to the success of the business, which was not just a business but the development

of a new winter sport, the opportunity for this new sport and supporting manufacturer oversees was instantaneously

available. Uncommon but non the less successful, the business after less than a decade began an international division

in Europe and concurrently expanded to Japan and other major ski sport countries where snowboarding would capitalize

on the existing ski markets.

Burton, as a company, works off of a philosophy “So we get to blur the lines between lifestyle and work

environment”. The brand’s internal business model is much the same as it’s external; Burton takes a laid back approach

to sales and marketing of it’s products, believing that they aren’t selling anything but providing a place for people with the

same lifestyle as they have to get what they need to keep living strong. (Marquardt)

Burton Corporation of North America suffers from a decline in sales and competition from new entries to the market in

the last decade, despite the gradual increase of participants. Jake Burton, although happy with the successes of the

companies overseas markets, wants to reignite the brand and spread it’s lifestyle deeper in to North America riders.

Industry Analysis

Through the years since the emergence of snowboarding in the mid 70’s early ‘80s the number of participants

for the snowboard industry has grown significantly. According to a report done by Action Sports Marketing Group, there

are now 6 million participants in the U.S. as of 2010, 2.5 million snowboard more than 10 days per year. The average age

range for this participant group is 17 to 24. Although the amount of participants have grown by significant amounts, the

snow sport industry in the United States has recently seen a decline in sales due to a down fall in the economy,

unattractive snow conditions as a result of higher temperatures across the nation and youth inactivity and disinterest in

sports. (The Active Network, Inc.)



Equipment Set Up

Secondary Research Key Findings

• Burton is still the favorite brand in boards, bindings and boots

• Lib Tech is the preferred brand for men that snowboard frequently

• Snow/Surf Shops continue to be the highest ranked purchase locations

• Overall sales from 2008-2009 are down but a slight increase in 2009-2010 keeps the industry hopeful

• 57% of participants are between the ages of 18-31 with an average age of 21

• Participants are willing to forgo riding if it becomes more expensive

• Destination attributes, such as natural snow conditions, ranks highest on priority list for participants

when determining willingness to spend more and travel further to snowboard

Competitive Analysis

K2 Snowboards Never Summer Rome Boards Ride

Snowboards

Forum

Snowboards

Gnu Snowboards

Strong Brand Lesser known

brand

Well known Brand Well known Brand Gaining Popularity Gaining Popularity

Quality Varies Super High

Quality

High Quality High Quality Mid Quality Mid Quality

Unfavorable

Designs

Ok Designs Great Designs Good Designs Good Designs Great Designs

Widely Available Hard to find Widely Available Widely Available Widely Available Widely Available

Performance:

Great

Performance:

Great

Performance:

Poor

Performance: OK Performance:

Poor

Performance: Poor

Avg. Price: Mi-

Range to High

Avg. Price: High Avg. Price: Mid-

Range

Avg. Price: Mid-

Range

Avg. Price: Mid-

Range to High

Avg. Price: Mid-

Range



Equipment Set Up Continued

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• Brand Awareness

• Retail Distribution/Widely Available

• MidRange Prices

• First to the Market

•Trendy Market, Consumers want what’s “In” not

what they have even if it works

Weaknesses:

• Lack of formal corporate structure and

consistency in marketing

• Young consumers/Target Market, Trend Based,

Fluctuating & Rapid Product Demand

• Skill-required sport that products are centralized

around

Opportunities:

• Increase market share by strengthening brand

image through Marketing & Sales efforts

• Turn snowboarding into an experience industry

requiring Burton product for the experience

• Advancing Health Conscience society, focus on

snowboarding as a way to stay fit and healthy

Threats:

• Competitors Brand Awareness is stealing market

share

• Global Warming/ Rising temperatures are

deteriorating the industry

• Snowboarding is a luxury and fairly expensive

sport to get into, economic hardships weaken

sales

The B-Team


Bandannas:

• Snowboarders that range from 15-20 in age, typically male

dominated

• Frequency of snowboarding 5-10 times a month

• Advanced skills, frequent park riding,

• Typically season pass holders

• Spend the most on snowboarding goods

• Trend-setters for the art and culture of snowboarding



The B-Team Continued


Whites & Bettys:

• Snowboarders that range from ages 18-25

• Frequency of snowboarding 5-10 times a year

• Basic to Mature Skills

• See snowboarding as a Socializing tool

• Spend the most on snowboarding apparel

• Trend-followers of the art and culture of snowboarding

Newbies:

• Snowboarders that range from 12-25 in age


• No skills to Basic Skills

• Typically are snowboarding on a “Trial Basis”

• Usually Rent or Barrow Snowboard equipment

• Impressionable-followers of the trends of snowboarding



The B-Team Continued


Free-Stylers:


• Frequency of snowboarding 1-5 times

a year


• Typically will only visit a local hill 1-2 times a

year but rely on a significant trip once a year

to more naturally robust location to quench

their snowboarding thirst

• Usually spend significant amounts on quality

equipment, accessories, apparel and travel

• Follow more traditional/basic customs of the

art and culture of snowboarding because they

honor the legacy of the sport

Grays on Trays:




• Usually spend significant amounts on quality

equipment, accessories, apparel and travel

• These are typically phased out by age Free-

Stylers



Lift to the Peak

Strategic Marketing Communications

Burton’s 2011/12 Marketing Communications Goals and Objectives

• Leverage Brand Awareness to promote better Brand Image

• Stimulate target market to snowboard to increase product sales by 10% for 2012

• Increase perceived value of snowboarding experience to move 30% of Newbies into longer-life

consumer segments

Platform to achieve MC Goals and Objectives: Introduction of Project BABB

Project B-Active-B-Burton (BABB) is a platform designed to engage ‘America’ and Burton’s Target Market

in snowboarding as a way to stay active. This platform supports the overall marketing communications goals

and objectives because it will utilize the brand’s already strong Top Of Mind- Brand Awareness, that it has

established by being the founder and leading brand known in the United States for Snowboard Equipment,

Apparel and Accessories, to create a strong Brand Image the target market will associate with the Brand

beyond the principal awareness, expanding that Burton cares. The platform will use various tactics to entice the

target market to start snowboarding and/or snowboard more frequently at their local hills and travel destinations

which will increase the needs and wants of new and additional snowboarding products. The BABB platform will

use consistent and cohesive design, copy and attributes to instill a greater experience value with the idea of

snowboarding which will increase the target markets perceived value of the activity allowing Burton and the

Industry to regain profit margins by keeping prices steady or at a slight increase. The value added experience

message and reinforcement through tactics will also evolve consumer segments, shifting Newbies into Free-

Stylers and Free-Stylers into a more frequent-visitor segment, overall strengthening the life of the industry and

opportunities for increased sales for the Brand.

Project BABB, although Burton’s product target market is 12-25 for most product marketing, will expand

its marketing communication efforts beyond just the product target market and establish focus on ‘America’.

Knowingly, it is unrealistic to create a campaign on a Nation as it would not be selective enough to produce

successful, measurable results and cost far too much. Burton is using the term ‘America’ to define able and

willing youth, adults and elders that already have a vested interest in being more active and specifically an

interest in snowboarding. Hence, Project BABB is a marketing communications platform that seeks to Reignite



‘America’ to be more Active through Snowboarding. Specifically focusing tactics to reach Youth (12-18) through

education/sport knowledge, Adults (18-35) through active endeavors, and Elders (Phased-Out Adults) through

tourism.

Creative Execution Outline for Marketing Communications

Project BABB will carry out creative executions with concentric and cohesive message clarity, “B-Active-B-

Burton”. Burton’s logo is recognizable to ‘America’ and offerers a great backing in visual portrayals of any

Burton MC execution. Expanding on the logo, using the same type face, color schemes, font proportions and

copy layouts Project BABB will utilize the B in Burton to connect with ‘America’ as a trendy, abbreviated way of

communicating the platform message. Not creating a special platform logo and or distorting fonts or styles for

this platform is vitally important to both the Brand and the objectives of the integrated Marketing

Communications plan, to promote better Brand Image. Burton does not want to create a better brand image by

creating a new image, they want to leverage what they have and make it better.

Advertising- Traditional

Utilizing celebrity riders under the Burton team, such as Sean White and Gretchen Blieber, Project BABB will

launch a series of four to six commercials/full page print ads that will be filmed/designed documentary style, to

fit the brand image, showing how each rider uses snowboarding as a way to stay active and healthy while doing

what they enjoy most. This first series of commercials/print will at the beginning of the campaign from

September to December of 2011. The second series of commercials/print will overlap from October to January

and will deliver the overall message platform message with new team celebrities while also plugging the sales

promotions that are going on.

• National Television

• Stations: TBS’s primetime during show’s like “Family Guy” and the “Office” as well as sports

channels like ESPN. Stations are based off of Consumer Segment Profile information.

• College Network Television

• MTV-U

• Narrowcast College Networks



• Magazine’s

• Transworld Snowboarding (Youth/Adult)

• Snowboarder (Youth)

• SNOWBOARD (Youth/Adult)

• Men’s & Women’s Health Magazine (Adult/Elder)

• People Magazine (Elder)

Advertising- Non-Traditional

Project BABB will use non traditional forms of advertising to reach ‘America’ relaying the B-Active-B-Burton

message in execution.

• Online Advertising

• Similar to the commercial/ print advertisements, advertisements will be posted on Tourism websites

(Elder), Social Media websites (Adult/Youth) and Sports websites to reach ‘America’

• Board Benches

• Prototypes of Snowboards will be placed where typical benches are that display the current board

designs and say “Why are you sitting here? Go RIDE!”.

• These benches will be dispersed where ‘America’ has the highest traffic ratings for using benches

such as rural areas in parks and shopping centers and sporting good retailers and in urban areas at

bus stops and specific high trafficked city streets.

Sales Promotion

Burton will allocate a portion of it’s Project BABB campaign budget to giving discounts and goods to ‘America’.

Burton as a company is not known for offering discounts or give aways through sales promotions because they

have always had good brand awareness that it was not need to promote the brand. Since part of Project BABB

is to let ‘America’ know that Burton cares about the health, wellness and happiness of ‘America’ through

staying active, allocating a specific portion of the budget to giving away inexpensive branded items that



‘America’ finds to be clever, useful and gracious by the brand Burton will help to promote a better brand image

in the eyes of ‘America’

• Give Aways

• Bandannas, Bags (Tool Bags, Google Bags, Gear Bags), Badge Holders

• Cities that are highly populated with ‘America’ as well as snowboard travel hot spots (Resorts),

flagship stores, schools that have winter activity clubs, central region snow hills, and some

winter special events will be the hosts that will pass out the free products given away by the

brand. The give-aways will be handed out by Burton employees and celebrity team members.

• Direct Mail

• Board Stickers will be sent to Burton mailing lists with instruction that if they have the sticker on their

board, when they go to their local ski hill or resort, they will receive 10% off their lift pass for the

months of October and November. This tactic pushes frequency of visit which will in turn stimulate

the need or want for new/additional product.

• Coupon

• Lift Tickets that were purchased starting in October can be collected and redeemed, after a

collection of 10 tickets, for 10% off at any Burton store before November 30th 2011. This tactic

pushes frequency of visit which will in turn stimulate the need or want for new/additional product.

Public Relations

To promote B-Active-B-Burton, Burton will need to reach out into the community to really engage ‘America’ to

start being active again despite the economy and rising temperatures/worse snow conditions. Project BABB will

focus on showing the value of the experience of getting to the slopes alone, with family or with friends.

• Community Outreach

• BABB Ride Program (Adult/Elder)

• Although out the U.S. there are sporting good retail stores that carry Burton products as well as

community organizations and clubs that organize ski/snowboard trips for their communities.

Project BABB will promote specific trips by offering monetary contribution and discounts on

Burton products to encourage ‘America’ to snowboard.



• BABB Youth Task Force (Youth)

• Project BABB will send small teams of Burton employees to schools to promote Burton

organized trips offering to contribute monetarily to lower costs for students and offer discounts

on Burton product. In addition to organizing the trips the task force teams will be encouraged

to attend the trips to connect with the ‘America’ Youth to evolve consumer segments by

educating them on how to snowboard or to advance their snowboarding skills.

• Charity/Donations

For Burton’s brand image to strengthen as a caring brand about the activity of ‘America’ it is important

that the brand be seen as helpful in non-profitable ways.

• BABB Refurb Program (All)

• Project BABB will initiate a donation center at local schools, retail stores and local ski hills

throughout the nation to have ‘America’ donate their old, un-wanted, un-used snowboards to

be refurbished and given to underprivileged Youth in the nation. In exchange for their donation

the donatee will receive a 15% off coupon to use in Burton stores, good for up to one year.

Direct Marketing

In order to create stronger longer lasting consumers and instill the value of the experience of snowboarding

among ‘America’ Burton must be active it’s self. Directly communicating & education, person to person with

snowboarders and Burton consumers, on how to snow board, advancing your skills, and having fun while doing

so, will strengthen Burton’s brand image as well as push Newbies to be Free-Stylers and Free-Stylers to a

more mature consumer segment.

• Consumer Engagement (All)

• BABB Ride Tour

• Project BABB will organize a tour of which a team of Burton Celebrity Riders and Team

members will travel across the nation to predetermined resorts and ski hills. Tour dates will be

set in advance and promoted. The opportunity will be for locals in that area to learn, ride and

experience the fun of snowboarding with the people who have made a living out of it.



Sponsorships

Burton consumers and snowboarders alike have an interest in the sport because their interest was sparked by

seeing it, hearing about it and exploring it. Just as any hobby or craft, there are certain people who have found

a way to make a living of the sport. These people are the face of the sport. They craft the trends and keep the

interest alive by developing followers. It is vital to the growth of snowboarding that Burton sponsors the people

who have found their way or are finding their way to being the face of Snowboarding. Since Burton already

sponsors and has as Burton team members now turned celebrities, Burton will sponsor the future leaders to do

it’s part in caring, nurturing and supporting snowboarding and followers.

• Education.

• Athletic Clubs/Teams

• Burton will select High Schools throughout the nation that have Winter sports teams including

the sport of snowboarding and will sponsor the team providing uniforms and gear to the teams

for the 2011/12 season.

Powder Run to the Base

Campaign Evaluation

Budget

• $25,000,000 for September 2011 to August 2012

Timeline

• Campaign Start: September 2011, Ends August 2012

• Mainly focused from September 2011 to March 2012

• Burton Project BABB 2011/12 Campaign Flow Chart



Powder Run to the Base Continued

Campaign Evaluation

Measurement of Success

• Evaluation of Sales from beginning of campaign to the end will use Quantitative Research Methods,

Internal Revenue and Sales Reports

• Evaluation of Percentages of Target Market segments will use Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Methods, Comparison of consumer segments from 2010 to 2012.



Appendix

Figure 1.1- 1.8



References

HC Network Sports & Leisure. (2005, December 18). In The Products and Services related to

Skiing equipment market booming business opportunities . Retrieved November 17, 2010

Lewis, M. (2010, May 5). Snow Sports Industry Up 4% With Nearly $3 Billion in Sales. In

Transworld Business. Retrieved November 12, 2010

Marquardt, K. (2008, September 19). Burton Snowboards Is King of the Hill. US News and

World Report, 1-2. Retrieved November 4, 2010

Ponzi, A. (2010, March 23). New 2009 Studies Identify sales and shopping trends among snow-

boarders. In Free Press Release Distribution Services. Retrieved November 12, 2010

The Active Network, Inc. (2010, April). The Action Sports Market. In Active Marketing Group.

Retrieved November 12, 2010

Unbehaun, W. (2008). Trends in winter sports tourism. In Tourism Review. Retrieved November

14, 2010



Executive Summary

Since Jake Burton saw the possibilities of what we now know today as the snowboard the concept of

snowboarding has taken the world by masses. Flying off the shelf since the 1980’s Burton, brand of snowboard

equipment apparel and accessories, products have made Burton the leading brand of Snowboard goods throughout the

world. Increasing trends in the winter activity both as a leisure pass time and a competitive sport has evolved into an

industry that now has mainstream competition, increased product demand and potential for more growth and expansion.

Like any other industry, snowboarding, in the last decade has come face to face with effects of the economy,

increased competition and fluctuating societal trends. Though the economy is said to be bouncing back, more natural in

source conditions are playing a factor in the industries future in the United States. Global warming, rising average

temperatures are effecting natural snowfall, leaving mountain resorts and ski hills to manufacture more artificial snow on

their own; happy snowboarders, this does not make.

With volatile snow conditions, a weak economy and rising competition, Burton as a brand has seen a decrease

in sales and participation from it’s consumers in the activity of snowboarding which keeps the Burton brand afloat.

Prepared to do what it takes to keep ‘America’ (Burton’s term for able and willing youth, adults and elders that already

have a vested interest in snowboarding and being more active, across the United States) snowboarding, Burton will

launch a fiscal year marketing and communications plan to increase business and push the industry toward growth

rather that decline.

This research paper dives into propose an integrated marketing and communications idea that will help Burton

with their desire to launch a fresh marketing communications plan for fiscal year 2011/2012. By proposing Project B-

Active-B-Burton (BABB), tactics intertwined throughout the year will increase the activity of ‘America’ which will drive

product sales, create stronger longer lasting consumers in this young consumer industry and reaffirm the brand image of

Burton making it even better by showing ‘America’ that Burton cares.

