The 50th Anniversary of the Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championship presented by Vans attracted nearly 200,000 during the course of the event, and it all went down this year without a major weather disruption.
There were several new elements introduced, and more are planned for next year. I followed up with Vans Vice President of Marketing Doug Palladini and Coastal Edge owner D. Nachnani to find out more about the ECSC, which has developed into an important industry event for the East Coast.
Questions for Doug Palladini:
How does Vans’ involvement in the ECSC help the company’s push to increase its presence/business on the East Coast?
Doug Palladini: D. and I have long shared a vision of Virginia Beach becoming the East Coast’s action sports hub, much like Huntington Beach is to the West Coast. We show our leadership to consumers by curating an action sports/youth culture event and inviting all the industry brands to come and take part, right there, on the beach in the hub.
Bringing our brand to life and inviting East Coasters to experience it with us builds our relationship in the right way. Our interactive platforms allow those not on-site to experience the ECSC as well.
One thing I noticed is that the ECSC invites many other industry brands to participate with the Vendor Village. As the main sponsor, why does Vans allow other brands to be involved? I even saw some Vans competitors there.
Many brands participated in Vendor Village at ECSCVans’ brand culture is that of inclusion: It’s the Van Doren spirit. We are confident in the industry leadership of our brand and therefore welcome our peers to be a part of the ECSC under that leadership umbrella: It would show quite a lack of confidence in our ability to lead if we excluded all other action sports brands from the ECSC.
If you look at other events we run such as the Pro-Tec Pool Party and the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, you’ll see that the same attitude is pervasive. The strength of the industry as a whole should be important to a market leader.
What were some of the new elements this year that you think really worked?
What worked best for Vans and Coastal Edge in 2012 was honoring the 50-year legacy of the ECSC while at the same time adding new value.
This year, that commitment took the form of a 6-Star Pro and Pro Junior, the biggest qualifying event ever on the East Coast, as well as launching a BMX invitational event for the best athletes in that sport.
The combination of respect for the event’s rich history while adding ever-greater value to event-goers has proved a winning combination we plan to accelerate over the years to come.
Tell me about the thinking behind introducing LXVI to the mix there.
The LXVI BMX courseSixty-six was created by Vans to reach a consumer that has an affinity for action sports culture, whether or not they actually participate, but may not have felt that Vans’ aesthetic was right for them until now.
By creating a line of athletically inspired, lightweight, flexible and comfortable shoes, we can now speak to that kid. Bike sports such as BMX and freestyle motocross have traditionally attracted that kid, so it makes sense for us the feature LXVI as a part of the Vans mix at ECSC.
How will you grow the event next year?
We have seen the event grow in awareness and attendance over the four years we have been involved, expanding the geographic footprint from which we can pull. Now families up and down the East Coast are planning a long weekend around the ECSC every summer.
We intend to push on that quite a bit in 2013. Also, I think you’ll see music, art and street, our three non-action-sports cultures, emerge much more.
See Page 2 for comments from Coastal Edge owner D. Nachnani and for the official wrap up press release
Questions for Coastal Edge owner D. Nachnani
Did this year’s event turn out like you had hoped?
D Nachnani: This year’s event exceeded my expectations by 1,000-fold. It was very gratifying to be a part of an event that created thousands of wonderful memories in the hearts and minds of so many action sports consumers.
How did T-shirt sales turn out?
T-shirt sales went well this year, with the tie-dye style especially popular.We had the best year in the history of the event. We actually used iPads at each merchandise tent and we were able to give real time inventory and sales information to our screen printer so that we could print on demand three times a day around the clock.
As a result, we were able to sell thousands of shirts over the course of the event with very little inventory left over in the end.
You are always thinking ahead – what do you want to do differently this year?
Over the course of the past four years, we have constantly challenged ourselves to grow the event in square footage on the beach, participants, etc.
This year, we would like to concentrate on enhancing the consumer experience by reviewing each part of the event and seeing how we can make it better one part at a time while being cognizant of the event’s strong surfing heritage.
I agree with Doug that this event gives us the opportunity to share so many rich stories that our industry has to offer to the East Coast and I look forward to exploring all of those opportunities.
Press Release:
50th Anniversary East Coast Surfing Championships (ECSC) Action Sport Festival Biggest to Date
6-Star ASP Designation, Debut of Freestyle BMX, Top Bands and Global Webcast Equal Huge Week for East Coast’s Largest Action Sports Event
Virginia Beach, VA (September 14, 2012) – The 50th edition of the Coastal Edge East Coast Surfing Championships (ECSC) presented by Vans proved to be the biggest yet with nearly 200,000 experiencing world-class surfing, the debut of the LXVI BMX Invitational, skateboard and freestyle moto demonstrations and top bands over the course of August 20-26 in Virginia Beach. The East Coast’s largest action sports event had its broadest global reach to date serving in excess of 75,000 streams to the more than 35,000 surf fans watching the webcast.
The winner Jean Da Silva“The ECSC is uniquely inclusive and celebrates the action sports lifestyle like no other event on the East Coast,” said D. Nachnani, Coastal Edge President. “In 2012, we had 40 different action sports companies all contributing to the amazing fan experience at the beach. You can’t find that cooperative effort anywhere else, let alone against the backdrop of the oldest surf contest in North America.”
“The ECSC is a tremendous showcase for elite surfing plus a broader spectrum of action sports and the rich surrounding culture,” said Doug Palladini, Vans’ Vice President, Marketing. “This is a long-term commitment for Vans and we’ll continue to partner with Coastal Edge and the action sports industry to build upon the ECSC’s stature as the premier action sports event on the East Coast.”
The second longest running surf contest in the world gained more prestige this year with its designation as a 6-Star event by the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). The $155,000 Vans Pro and $30,000 Vans Pro Junior brought many of the top surfers from North America and beyond to Virginia Beach as Brazilian Jean Da Silva claiming the Pro title and Hawaiian Keanu Asing winning the Juniors. The designation upgrade brought with it a slew of top competitors vying for valuable tour ratings points.
Fox put on a FMX demonstrationIn addition to the top-level surfing, the ECSC played host to the inaugural LXVI BMX Invitational that attracted many big name freestyle BMX competitors including 18-year old winner Daniel Sandoval of California as well as Cory Nastazio, Ryan Guettler and Ryan Nyquist.
Skateboarders including Omar Hassan, Jeff Grosso, Alex Perelson and Sergie Ventura skated many high-flying demos, while the Fox Freestyle Motocross team put on several shows for those on the beach.
Top bands capped off each day with performances by the Aggrolites, Iration, Torche and The Growlers.
More action sports fans participated in the ECSC on-line through the webcast and social media than ever before. In addition to the tens of thousands watching the webcast, vans.com/ecsc traffic was at an all-time high with visitors checking out the daily surf highlights and festival features hosted by comedian Gavin McInnes.
For the first time, Vans invested in offering free WiFi for festival goers, enabling those at the beach to share nearly 5,000 Instagram photos on the site.
Produced annually by the Virginia Beach Jaycees and managed by Resort Management, LLC, the Coastal Edge ECSC presented by Vans and hydrated by vitaminwater is now a world-class action sports festival with the support of many of the top companies in action sports. Portions of the proceeds raised at the CE-ECSC benefit the Jaycees many charitable projects.
For event information, visit vans.com/ecsc and www.surfecsc.com.
