Atomic recognized by SIA, USST for clever marketing

Atomic recognized by SIA, USST for clever marketingLAS VEGAS (Jan. 24) Atomic Ski USA was recognized Monday by SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and the U.S. Ski Team as the recipient of Doc DesRoches Award. The annual award recognizes an SIA member and U.S. Ski Team official supplier for its integration of Team athletes into its marketing campaign. It is named in honor of the late DesRoches, a pioneer in the formation of SIA and instrumental in the development of the Ski Team’s early national fundraising efforts.

Atomic was recognized for its entertaining and innovative ‘Age of Atomic’ cartoon marketing campaign based around its alpine ski racing superstars, including the U.S. Ski Team’s Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves. U.S. Ski Team President and CEO Bill Marolt and SIA President David Ingemie, made the presentation to Atomic USA President Jack Baltz at the SIA.05 SnowSports Show in Las Vegas. The show is the premier event in the snow sports industry playing host to over 16,000 attendees including winter sports suppliers, retailers, reps, resorts, athletes, media personalities and other industry luminaries.

‘Atomic has been a longtime supporter of the U.S. Ski Team’ said Marolt. ‘But this year’s marketing direction brought a fun and innovative look to consumers through a well-coordinated campaign which was especially effective in getting kids excited about our top athletes and the U.S. Ski Team brand.’

‘With the 2006 Olympics quickly approaching and all our U.S. Ski Team athletes having a banner year, it is timely that we continue to recognize SIA member companies for incorporating athletes into their marketing campaigns’, said David Ingemie, SIA President. ‘Doc played such a major role in the institution of the U.S. Ski Team and he would have been proud to acknowledge Atomic’s efforts’ he added.

In selecting the award winner, SIA and the U.S. Ski Team look at criteria including integration of U.S. Ski Team athletes and its brand into campaigns, as well as diversity of media offering opportunities to expose the Ski Team and its athletes to new markets.

The ‘Age of Atomic’ campaign was based on cartoon illustrations of its top World Cup ski racers, from Americans Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves, to Austrian superstar Hermann Maier. The campaign targeted traditional consumer ski publications including Ski, Skiing, Ski Racing Magazine and others. The campaign targeted kids through distribution of trading cards of Atomic superstars, t-shirts, stickers plus an innovative coloring contest.

“Over the past seven years, our internal team has consistently produced out-of-the-box ideas to promote our high-performance products’ said Atomic President Jack Baltz. ‘This approach has helped us to grow five-fold here in North America. The cartoon marketing campaign not only worked well for Atomic, but we believe it helped put a more youthful spin on skiing and added excitement to the entire sport.

‘When you have superstars like Bode and Daron on your team, it makes everyone’s job here at Atomic easier and more fun.”

The design concept came from Atomic U.S. Racing Director Ed Guzman, with Marketing Director Matt Miller managing the art development and illustration by Marc Estabrooks.

‘We created a multifaceted campaign based on serial cartoons to reach the youth market with pinpoint accuracy’ said Atomic’s Matt Miller. ‘We all talk about our ski racing ‘heroes’ so why not actually depict them as super heroes?’

Over 500 kids entered the Atomic coloring contest. And at the Visa Birds of Prey Downhill World Cup at Beaver Creek, lines stretched for over two hours while kids and parents waited to have Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves sign their Atomic cartoon t-shirts.

‘We’ve had excellent feedback on the campaign from kids and parents alike’ said Miller. ‘Even adults like the campaign- who can’t relate to cartoons?’

DesRoches, who died in 2003, served from 1963-1981 as executive vice president and CEO of the then-Ski Industries America. He played an integral role in shaping the association, as the industry knows it today. ‘Doc was responsible for developing the organizational foundation that saw SIA grow into its leadership role in the ski industry. He was a great inspiration to others and me in the industry. SIA would not be where it is today without Doc DesRoches,” said Ingemie.

DesRoches was also a past national chairman of the U.S. Ski Team Fund Committee and chairman of the Olympic Ski Games Committee. In 1967 he co-founded the New York Ski Ball, which now raises over $1-million annually for the Team. He later sat on the U.S. Ski Association board and served in TV and press officer capacities at several Olympics. He has been awarded USSA’s highest honor, the Julius Blegen Award, the Gold Quill Award of the U.S. Ski Writers Association (now North American Snowsport Journalists Association), and is an honored member of the National Ski Hall of Fame.