Every year, Snowboarder Mag puts on a contest pitting the biggest known snowboarding brands against each other. The brands participating in the 2013 BOTB are: Burton, Bataleon, CAPiTA, Never Summer, DC, Nitro, Giro, DAKINE, Mervin Manufacturing, Arbor, ThirtyTwo, Quiksilver, Ride, Volcom, and Airblaster. These fifteen brands will fight to the finish in a three day, bracket-style elimination rounds until a winner prevails at the end of the summer. Viewers will be able to vote for the video they like the best, however, voters will only be able to cast one ballot in each round, so they must choose wisely.
Now fast forward to today and we are in the final round. It's Never Summer vs. Arbor! Both of these brands are real legit, solid brands. Never Summer has always prided themselves on making extreme quality boards right here in the good ol US of A, head quartered out of Denver and not focusing on excessive promotion and hype. They have a very solid fan base and dub themselves as the NS Army.
Arbor prides themselves on using Eco-consious materials and being more Eco-friendly when making their boards. They always have killer graphics and super dope wood veneer top sheets. Their boards are great quality and have been known to be poppy and very playful. They also have a solid apparel line! Arbor makes their boards in Dubai but are head quartered out of Cali.
Since the start of this final competition between these two, NS has been all about how they manufacture their products right here in the homeland with very little or no focus on the video or the riders involved (Seems like they are sticking to their guns on not focusing on excessive promotion & hype for the riders). Their marketing campaign is strictly USA production and they also are really quick to share that Arbor is not manufactured in the USA, but in Dubai. See image below from NS and their recent FB post:
Arbor on the other hand has been focusing on what the main point of the competition is, by voting for the best video! Here's an example of what they have been posting on their FB page:
Now, this is a contest regarding who has the better video, not who is made in the USA. NS has made this a political movement of sorts based on roots and has strayed away on focusing on the core of the competition, which is the video. All of a sudden, Never Summer's faithful is starting to get.... upset. See their comments below:
1) This is a contest called Battle of the Brands. What this means is that regardless of the video content people are going to vote for the brand they love most, right? If you ask yourself, why do people like NS/Arbor? The answer could be because they make great quality boards, or they are from Rado, or they are eco-friendly, wood veneer boards, whatever.. The brand that wins will take it due to their faithful and the product they stand behind, generally speaking.
but...
2) Being that this is a video contest, maybe it should be called Battle of the BEST Edit and not Battle of the Brands.. This way companies like NS can really start this project with the end result in mind, this being a solid video edit.
This will be interesting to see who wins. They both are neck-in-neck and looks like Never Summer has just regained the lead. However when Arbor tied it up, they started feeling pretty confident in themselves.. (Notice they are even calling it "Best Video"):
Here at Shift'D Union we are fans of both brands, and yes, we do ride both brands boards, but I do have to say that Never Summer may want to rethink their marketing campaign as it's very obvious they are killing off some of their fan base. A lot of people don't care if they manufacture in Colorado, they just care about the quality of their boards. If Never Summer loses, this could have a play in it. However, if NS wins then they are smarter than everyone else by really engaging the brand core & values into their campaign, which no other brand did.. In a sense, NS is being different and doing something nobody else is doing...
An alternative marketing strategy for NS is really think about what the main point of the competition is, that being a solid, creative video edit, and yes, using excessive hype and promotion for their riders and not just where they are from. The "A vote for NS is a vote for America" slogan and slamming Arbor because they are manufacturing in Dubai is something people aren't thinking to highly of.
On the other hand, Arbor is saying "Vote for the Best Video" which is the premise of the competition, and they are marketing as such. But again, it's called Battle of the Brands.
Regardless of the best video, you are voting with your heart and who you love more based on the brands products.
So what do you say, are you voting for best video edit or best brand? Is Never Summer smarter than everyone else here?? We will find out Sunday night at midnight...
Watch both videos below and then VOTE HERE if you haven't. I would say watch both video's to decide, but you will probably vote for the brand you like the most regardless of the video edit. And if not, good for you for sticking to what the competition is about. After all that is what this is about, or is it??
*Voting ends Sunday night at 11:59 AM.
Battle Of The Brands 2013: Arbor from Snowboarder Magazine on Vimeo.
Battle Of The Brands 2013: Never Summer from Snowboarder Magazine on Vimeo.
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