Interview with Josh Spear

You’re an avid snowboarder. Do you think digital/social media will affect action sports in ways that are different from mainstream media?

JS: No, not particularly. Action sports brands need to act like any other brand in a consumer’s life and embrace digital as a new form of communication that is here to stay. If anything, I think action sports brands should leverage the crossover between online and offline and start innovating in mobile/gps and location based services– they could easily lead the pack and inform the world of what is possible.

Snowsports are notoriously slow at picking up media trends. Why do you think this is?

JS: Pass the bong? No, only kidding. It could be the laissez-faire attitude, but it’s also that purchasing a snow sport product is just general “cost of entry” to taking part in the activity. You can still be a 18-year-old kid and not drink soda, but you can’t be an 18-year-old kid who snowboards without buying one– regardless of where and how they advertise their products, you’ve simply got to buy one. So, it ends up retail and old media run the industry.

The first brand to go to the pocket (mobile phone) and screen (laptop) of an 18-year-old snowboarder will win over and over again– that is, of course, if the products are good as well.

Do you believe print will hang on longer in action sports compared to other industries due to the “eye-candy”, pin-it-to-the-wall quality of ski, snowboard and surf magazine photography?

JS: Absolutely not. Pornography makes up for most of the traffic on the web, and that used to be a print world. Does is get anymore “eye-candy” pin-it-to-the-wall than that?

What’s the single most important piece of advice you could give to marketers?

JS: Keep evolving. Try 100 small things instead of one big thing. See what works, and do more of that.

Josh Spears was a keynote speaker at PowWow 2009 in Whistler.