I was intrigued by a recent news release from Burton Snowboards about the Burton Mountain Festival, and all of the activities the company is offering on its 10-stop tour.
I followed up with Senior Vice President of Marketing Sam Paschel to find out more about the thinking behind the comprehensive series of events.
The Burton Mountain Festival includes Burton 2012 product demos, live music, sponsor giveaways, mini parks for kids and amateur snowboard contests at some of the stops.
The Burton Mountain Festival is presented by MINI, which Burton has been partnering with quite a bit lately. I asked Sam about that as well.
How did the Burton Mountain Festival come about?
Burton has a long history of putting together high quality, on-snow product demos where consumers can test products before they buy.
This season, we wanted to completely re-invent our longstanding demo programs by combining our on-snow events into a full-on winter festival that sets up shop for three days at 10 resorts around the U.S.
How did you decide on the key components?
The whole goal with the Burton Mountain Festival is to offer something for everyone – from the youngest kids to the most seasoned riders who want to test our latest gear.
A family could literally come to the Burton Mountain Festival for the entire weekend and find something for everyone to do. The preschool set can learn to ride in the Riglet Park. Amateur snowboarders can test their skills in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions at the Pro-Test events. Everyone can demo product. And the après crowd can enjoy live music and concerts.
Can you tell us about the product testing component and the thinking behind it?
The thinking here is pretty simple – the easiest way to get someone to connect with Burton is to get them onto our product. We want people to have a chance to try our different 2012 products before they buy.
So for example, a rider can try different boot models to see which ones feel best before they invest in a new pair. They can try the Nug, the Lipstick… all of our different boards in different conditions to see what they think. Product is one of the areas where the brand is just so strong. So offering people the opportunity to try our gear for free is one of the most powerful marketing tools we have.
See Page 2 for more, including how Burton is introducing groms to the sport
What about the young kid snowboarding component?
This has been a huge focus for us for a while, and we’re ramping it up even more this season. The entry age to snowboarding is getting younger, as the gear and the learning experience both get better and better.
At Burton, over the past few years we’ve created an entire line of hardgoods for kids as young as three years old. The gear is comfortable, super easy to get on and off, and the grom boards are unbelievably user-friendly. We also created the Riglet Reel that attaches to the nose of kids’ boards so instructors or parents can tow them around, which really helps the learning process.
In addition to all the equipment advances we’ve made on this front, we’re also very focused on teaching methods. To help the smallest kids have a positive experience learning to ride at a super young age, we’re creating more and more ‘Riglet Parks’, which will be set up at the Burton Mountain Festival stops.
Riglet Parks use terrain-like mini halfpipes and little rollers to help kids get the feel for snowboarding. With this method, the terrain does much of the work so they can put their board down the fall line without worrying about going too fast, and kids have a blast. It’s such a positive and fun introduction to the sport, which is our whole goal.
How did you decide on the sponsorship partners? It seems like Burton and MINI are working together on several events?
All of our partners are very dedicated to this program and are bringing their own brand flavor to each stop of the Burton Mountain Festival. And yes, we’re honored to expand our partnership with MINI this season to several events in addition to the Burton Global Open Series. They are a natural partner for us because our brands share similar values, including a focus on creativity and functional and fun designs.
Would you describe this as one of Burton’s biggest marketing efforts for the year?
The Burton Mountain Festival is definitely one of our most important efforts of the season. It’s where all the elements of our sport come together, including gear, riding, contests, groms, music and overall fun.
It is also where we have the chance to interact so closely with our customers (new and existing) to hear exactly what they think of our products, while getting a close-up look at the snowboard scene in all regions. It’s an awesome test ground for us, and an overall great experience for the riders, and we can’t wait to bring it to a mountain near you!
Here is a list of the locations where the the Burton Mountain Festival has stopped or plans to stop:
Dec 30–Jan 1 Copper Mountain, CO*
Jan 6–8 Mammoth Mountain, CA*
Jan 14–16 Mt. Hood Meadows, OR*
Jan 20–22 Park City Mountain Resort, UT
Feb 3–5 Northstar, CA*
Feb 10–12 Keystone, CO
Feb 18–20 Boyne Highlands, MI
Feb 24–26 Waterville Valley, NH*
Mar 2–4 Killington, VT*
Mar 16–18 Mountain Creek, NJ
*Features a Burton Pro-Test amateur snowboard competition.
