November, 2005 | Jeff Harbaugh

The Impact of Consolidation; Wasn’t That Over Years Ago?

Yes. And no. The snowboard industry consolidation that started around 1995 or 96 could probably have better been called extermination. Literally hundreds of brands went away either because their founders got tired of losing money or because the Japanese stopped paying cash in advance for snowboards. Though there were exceptions, these brands didn’t get subsumed under the multi-brand umbrella […]

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Doing Marketing; What, How and Why?

Marketing

At the Skateboard Industry Conference earlier this year and in these hallowed pages, I’ve argued: 1. That advertising and promotional tactics like running ads and hiring teams pass for marketing in this industry but aren’t. 2. That marketing (maybe better called market research) is the process of finding out who your customer is and

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Conversations with a Skate Retailer; A (Pretty Much) True Story

Retail, Skateboarding

Some month ago, I got a call from an actual skate retailer. “It said at the end of the article that you work with companies in transition,” he asked almost as a question. “It’s true,” I told him. “Okay,” he said. “Help me with mine.” The story unfolded like this. He’d been in business for a bunch

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November 2005

The Impact of Consolidation; Wasn’t That Over Years Ago?

Doing Marketing; What, How and Why?

Conversations with a Skate Retailer; A (Pretty Much) True Story