THE VOLKAN EMPIRE: How Volkl built the best woman's team in freeskiing
After her break up with long-time ski sponsor Salomon, Sarah Burke meticulously sampled ski after ski, creating one of the biggest signing buzzes of the season. When the hype settled, it was Volkl, one of the few companies NOT involved in the rumor mill, that ended up nabbing the princess of park. Volkl now has arguably the best women’s freeskiing team. Thanks to Sarah and big mountain maven Ingrid Backstrom, Volkl women took all the top female honors at the 2005 Powder Video Awards and Reader Poll.
Add Skogen Sprang to an already deep men’s roster that includes some of the sport’s best all-around skiers such as Marc-Andre Belliveau and the Collins Brothers, and Volkl/Technica is suddenly stacked with talent.
M.C. Malboeuf, Director of Promotions for Technica/Volkl filled us in.
So you signed Sarah Burke and Skogen Sprang in January. How has that been working so far?
MC: Great. Sarah did well at the U.S. Open and the X Games and what she did over in Finland was incredible [winning the first-ever FIS Half-Pipe World Championships in Ruka]. It’s pretty amazing how she just jumped in and start killing it. Skogen and Sarah have both been filming with Matchstick. Sarah’s headed up to WSI soon. They’ve both been very helpful; they’ve done everything we’ve asked.
How has the season been so far for the Volkl team in general?
MC: Everybody seems to be having a great season. Jen Berg has been filming with TGR, Ingrid’s been with MSP and Warren Miller, which is great exposure for us. We signed Kit DesLauriers in December and she’s been doing great at all the comps. We signed a couple young big mountain skiers, Kelly Holland and Laura Ogden. We’ll see how that works out. We’ve pretty much got it all covered between racing, big mountain and freeride. We’ve got everything you could ask for.
Sarah was one of the most sought after talents in skiing last year. She took a long time sampling different companies. Why did she end up with Volkl?
MC: I think a lot of it was her. She wanted to go some place where she wouldn’t be one of many. She’s our only park and pipe girl –we really don’t need anybody else. It’s pretty much Sarah’s show and that might have been enticing. We didn’t push, we let her work it out. She was so busy, we started talking three months before we got anything in writing. It was a long process.
Volkl seems to be a big mountain focused company. You don't really have a lot of park-specific guys. The all-around skier: Marc-Andre Belliveau, the Collins bros, now Skogen. That's your style. Why a girl who's known only to be a park skier? Is volkl going to help her become a more well-rounded skier, push her to do more stuff out of the park?
MC: We’re happy with what she’s doing. She’s the best of both worlds. She’s the best female doing what she does and guys and girls both know her [and identify with her]. We’re going to let her develop her skiing any way she wants. If she wants to go big mountain, we’ll support her. But she’s pretty concentrated on half pipe right now. She was really fun to watch at the Gravity Games. She stacked hard a couple times… she charges so hard, it’s a whole different sport to watch.
Volkl has had some shameful female promotional ideas: The Carver Girls, Team Gamma... Now that you have two of the most legit girls in their respective disciplines (Ingrid and Sarah), will your marketing strategy change?
MC: We’re going to be using them a lot more in development for their categories. The women will be part of an active women’s line, the Attiva Team [named after Volkl’s ’05-‘06 line of women’s skis]. They won’t be so much on snow skiing with dealers as they will be on snow helping with product feedback. We want the athletes actively involved with product development. Sarah has been a big help with park and pipe.
Have they managed to pair up Sarah and Ingrid on any trips or shoots? It seems those two could learn the most from each other.
MC: Ingrid and Sarah are heading up to Mike Wiegele's to shoot a Warren Miller segment with Jeremy Bloom.
What will their roles be in Volkl's marketing plan? Will they be marketed together, or working separately?
MC: We’ll go two directions, going into next season. We’re going to stick to separate ads for each athlete. We hope to get a storyline going with the Attiva idea. In racing, park, pipe, freestyle—our women’s team has really got it covered. That’s really the part of the industry that’s growing the most, in an industry that’s not really growing. We’re going to be aggressive [in regards to covering the women’s market]. We’re excited for what’s happening next year.