SnowSports Industries America (SIA), the snow sports industry’s member-owned trade association, brought a glimpse of winter to New York City last week with their media-only showroom. The picture perfect summer day lured dozens of journalists out of their offices to the airy Pillars 38 event space for a preview of the latest in snow sports gear, styles and accessories at the annual SIA Summer Snowdown.
Check out additional images from SIA’s 2015 Summer Snowdown.
Each July, SIA hosts the Summer Snowdown in midtown Manhattan, where New York City-based journalists from television, magazines, newspapers and online mix, mingle and meet with SIA Members to preview the upcoming Fall/Winter season’s products and trends for all things SNOW.
Danica Carey, marketing manager for Seirus Innovation, and John Brice, Seirus Innovation PR consultant at Snow Sports PR, said the day was a big success for them. “What a great day! This is our fourth year here and we always feel like we get a lot of good coverage from it. SIA does a tremendous job of bringing in a great mix of consumer media you otherwise aren’t going to have in one room.
Gabrielle Porcaro, fashion market editor at Women’s Health, said she found the event to be very helpful in planning her winter sports stories. “I’m a fashion editor but I cover athletic and outdoor as well. I find this event very valuable because you’ve put everything in one room for me. I’m covering fashion ten months out of the year, and then when I need winter sports, I have a curated view to help me come up with stories and products I need.”
This year’s Summer Snowdown attracted 67 media in-attendance, representing 83 media outlets including The New York Times, Esquire, GQ, InStyle and MTV, onsite to find trends and editorial content for upcoming articles.
Eighteen SIA member brands were showcased at this year’s Snowdown as well as three snow sports non-profit organizations including Abom, Apex Ski Boots, Armada, Bring A Friend Challenge, Dakine, Faction Skis, Giro, Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month, MyPakage, Never Summer Industries, Obermeyer, Quiksilver, RAMP Sports, Roxy, Seirus, Transpack, Turtle Fur, VANS, VOORMI, Watson’s and Winter Trails.
Andy Miller, marketing and communications manager at Armada said their debut at the Snowdown was well worth the time. “This is our first year here, and we’re really excited about the reception we’ve gotten from the media side. We’d like to raise our profile in front of the types of outlets that are here – the active magazines, the more mainstream, non-endemic publications, so this was a perfect opportunity. It’s been great- the RSVP list is super, we’ve had lots of traffic, great attendance, and a great location.”
John Quain, freelance journalist, said he found some great leads for his tech columns. “I cover tech and sporting goods throughout the year, so it’s a perfect way for me to see multiple products coming out this season, to start planning ahead for the stories I’m going to write about – everything from safety in sports to highly technical garments and skis. I write for the NY Times and I also have a weekly column for Fox News, and I’ve found some good stories here. To me it’s like a mini trade show –it’s a good use of my time to see this many companies and products all at once, it’s a perfect size and mix.”
Each year, the Summer Snowdown is timed when non-endemic media are looking for trends, articles and ideas to shape their winter coverage and editorials. It’s been a creative event to get authentic winter brands into the consumer marketplace. The 2016 SIA Summer Snowdown is planned for July 13.
“The Summer Snowdown is an excellent vehicle for SIA Members to reach top consumer media in a short amount of time. We realize many companies are working on tight budgets and limited staff, so we strive to make it a turnkey experience where they can focus on pitching their products to media,” commented Mary Cecile Neville, Marketing & Communications Director for SIA.
Find additional information about the Summer Snowdown at Snowsports.org, and read more about the 2015 Snowdown at SIA’s blog spot, Snow Source.
