Whistler Blackcomb’s video reveals the mountain’s unique alpine experience as a place where ancient meets innovation: the dramatic volcanic landscape paired with the engineering feat of the Peak 2 Peak Gondola. Whistler Blackcomb: The Wonder Of An Alpine Summer is part of a larger integrated campaign for the summer featuring the headline: “It took prehistoric volcanoes, an ice age and some over achieving engineers to get it right”.

The #WhistlerUnfiltered campaign utilizes word-of-mouth marketing, building ambassadors who help raise Whistler’s profile by sharing their own Whistler stories, through Instagram images hashtagged #WhistlerUnfiltered.

 Our client, Tourism Whistler’s Vice President of Marketing Strategy, Louise Walker had this to say in a recent release: “We saw great success with our #WhistlerUnfiltered winter campaign. The use of consumer-generated images allows visitors to picture themselves in the moment. It made sense to continue to leverage the power of the people with our summer campaign.”  It was the stats she chose to release that are most compelling though, “Participation in the winter campaign in terms of the amount of user-generated content has completely exceeded our expectations. We had more than:

• 196,000 visits to the campaign microsite, exceeding our goal of 160,000; we had almost
• 25,000 unique contest entries, and were aiming for 19,800; more than
• 17,750 Instagram images were hashtagged, which far surpassed our goal of 10,000. In addition, more than
• 1,750 social shares of the campaign content generated almost 20,000 visits to the microsite

… all of this clearly demonstrates the power of social media.”

We’ll admit to the campaign needing a tweak or two for summer. In living and learning, we acknowledged our client’s need to still find a way to showcase the amazing professional photos and video (plus our friends at Switchback Entertainment, made us an awesome summer video that we were dying to get out to the customer).

So, for the summer campaign, we evolved the photo collection themes, capturing – and sharing – all that Whistler has to offer  in the themes of: mountains, the Village, lakes, valley, adventure, relaxation and events and but we enhanced it with professional curated material. As in the winter campaign, the consumer-driven content is used on the campaign microsite and in additional marketing materials. The top three images will be featured prominently on the microsite each week.

In support of the winter campaign, Tourism Whistler launched the ultimate winter contest. The winner of the grand prize, including flights and ground transfers, seven nights’ accommodation, new gear, a number of winter activities, lift tickets and gift cards is Brian Richards, of Massachusetts, who plans to visit Whistler in January 2014 with three family members to enjoy the prize package, valued at more than $19,000 CAD. In support of the summer campaign, the ultimate summer contest has launched with awesome summer adventure prizing. Go check it out, we’d love to see you here this summer.

On a final note on this campaign, we wanted to give a huge shout out to the Tourism Whistler Marketing Department for always being willing to try new things, take risks and push the boundaries. We’d especially like to thank their dedicated social media team of Feet Banks, Ainsley Barlow, Phillipa Campbell, Tania Music and Chantal Limoges (promotions)  for all their hard work executing this campaign all season long…and being willing to keep the conversation with their customers going. You guys rocked this.

National Geographic’s reality TV show—Mountain Movers—focuses on the terrain park building crew at Snow Park Technologies (SPT). SPT is responsible for some of the most innovative terrain parks in the world, including Winter X Games, the Burton U.S. Open and the Winter Dew Tour.

Curious about how Mountain Movers make terrain park building look so damned exciting, we caught up with Chris Gunnarson and grilled him for some answers.

Mountain Movers is National Geographic Channels’s newest addition to its reality tv lineup. You can catch the trailer at https://www.facebook.com/SnowParkTech?fref=ts

O: You must be really excited to be in Mountain Movers, what inspired you to have a show on National Geographic?

Chris: After looking at the reality shows currently on TV, it seemed that a season on the road with the SPT crew had a lot of aspects that would make it worth watching, even to viewers who don’t get on snow. After running the idea by our agents, we brought the show concept to a few TV networks, and found a solid partnership with the National Geographic Channel.

Having the opportunity to showcase what Snow Park Technologies does to a national audience has been an exciting process; Mountain Movers brings viewers behind the scenes of some of the largest, most innovative projects in winter action sports, this is an area that most people normally don’t get to see.

O: We think of terrain park building as quiet, technical work done away from the eyes of resort visitors; what effects do you think this behind-the-scenes footage will have?

Chris: As you mention, terrain park building is more or less done behind the scenes. At resorts and events, skiers and riders show up and the features are fully built and freshly groomed. Mountain Movers gives viewers the opportunity to see the planning, work and dedication that goes into building these venues. And, while Mountain Movers is primarily focused on the building side of the sport; we hope that our passion for snow sports, living and working in the mountains is clear to viewers.

At SPT we all got into this business because—plain and simple—snowboarding is FUN, we hope this message is present in each episode. With Mountain Movers, viewers will see how much effort goes into creating the venues, as well as the amazing athleticism from top-level snowboarders these days.

O: The show gets pretty intense at times, do you think this could affect the way viewers see snowsports in general?

Chris: In our job there are dramatic circumstances, but on the whole these moments are about meeting deadlines, as well as dealing with the stress of mechanical failures and rapidly changing weather.

Knowing that we play a part in progressing snowboarding is important to us from a lifestyle, career and personal standpoint. Everyone in our company shares that passion, and the payoff is amazing when you can watch a friend win a gold medal on a course you built. It’s the same as watching a kid learn to ski or ride and become a life-long participant.

It can be hard working with big personalities and ever-changing weather conditions, but at the end of the day we truly have amazing and unique jobs. We hope Mountain Movers allows the people at home to experience this.

O: Do you think the show will affect the number of new snowsports participants?

Chris: Growing snowboard participation is one of the pillars Snow Park Technologies was founded on. So yes, this was absolutely an underlying factor in starting the show.

Most people are only ever exposed to snowboarding through major televised events such as the X Games. We hope that bringing a snow-focused show to a major network will inspire more people to go up to their local mountain to try snowboarding, especially the teaching terrain efforts we are working on with our resort partners.

O: What made you think your business could be good reality TV material?

Chris: The world that SPT works in is unique: we work with some of the largest resorts in North America, building courses for the biggest events in winter action sports, and we interact with skiing and snowboarding’s most elite athletes. Throw in working in some of the most scenic, remote and beautiful locations in the world, and we feel we have a recipe for an exciting narrative viewers will truly enjoy.

Mountain Movers airs at 8pm E.T. on May 16th and May 23rd, in the next episode SPT visits our friends at Sun Valley, Idaho.

To see the episode teaser, as well as to get more information about Mountain Movers, visit: https://www.facebook.com/SnowParkTech?fref=ts

Mountain Movers on location at Sun Valley, Idaho.

Thank you to everyone who attended, and we hope to see you next year!

When you examine the National Ski Areas Association stats, interest in snowboarding is going downhill. 15 years ago snowboarders were described as “a more hard-core, badass, dedicated bunch than skiers”, a segment that hit the slopes an average of 7.6 days a year. These days the number is only 6.1 days. The percentage of visits to resorts by snowboarders has declined over the last two winters, to 30.2 percent in the winter of 2012 / 2013. Interest in lessons is fizzling too, as well as the number of new participants. What happened to “the fastest growing sport” of the 90s?

Most people are pointing fingers at the economic downturn, sub-mediocre snow quality (especially on the East Coast), and rising costs of the already outrageously priced essentials. Seriously, how is anyone expected to spend $1,000 on a board set-up, $500 on outerwear, $200 on additional accessories like goggles, tuning supplies and a lock? You’re looking at close to $2,000 and you’ve barely left the store! Then you still have to worry about travel costs to the mountain, and lets not forget the icing on the cake; that wonderfully hefty fee waiting for you at the ticket window. And I’m a college student! Even though these are valid, I feel there is a greater reason for the decline in interest. I think the industry has lost sight of it’s most important asset: snowboarding is all about having fun.

Most kids have a favorite television show, and mine was Rocket Power. Rocket Power was a cartoon about four friends doing extreme sports and getting into crazy situations. My favorite episode of all time was when the gang took a trip to their local mountain to rip up the halfpipe and freestyle park. Can you guess what they were “ripping” on? Every member of the group was on a snowboard. Even though it was just a cartoon, I knew they were all having the time of their lives, what freedom and innovation!

I needed to have that much fun. I rented a board for a few hours and gave it my all on some puny hill. I guess Dad figured it was a fleeting impulse, so he didn’t arrange any instruction. The first time on a snowboard is almost always the same for every rider. It’s incredibly discouraging and like most seven year olds, my patience ran out. Defeated, I returned to two planks for the rest of the season.

But I just couldn’t shake the feeling I was missing out on something amazing. Just before my third winter of skiing, I changed my mind and set my sights on learning to ride. This time around nothing was going to stop me. An instructor got me past the early discouragement and kept me focused on my goal. When I finally made my first toeside turn across the trail: I fell in love with snowboarding. It was the same emotion I’d imagined when I watched the cartoon characters ride. From this moment on, snowboarding was my absolute passion.

Everything I do in life revolves around the snowboard industry. Almost every single job I’ve held has been within the industry. Whether it was working at a ski/board shop for five years or for Burton Snowboards, I have seen many of the sport’s peaks and valleys. Currently the industry is in a valley; it has forgotten what fueled the fire in the first place, it’s only running on fumes of the fun fuel that got us here. If the snowboard industry worried less about their wallets and more about the fun factor, we would see a much-needed increase in participants. More fun = more interest.

Some companies have began to introduce fun back to the snowboard community. Burton has designed an incredibly fun way to introduce children aged three to six to the sport of snowboarding with Riglet Parks. These themed parks allow kids to snowboard at a really young age, rather than starting on skis – this appeals to snowboarder parents who want to ride as a family. The Riglet Parks engage kids in a fun way with animation and using gear that makes snowboarding easier for kids. The parks even have themes such as the Toy Story themed park at Jay Peak or the Star Wars themed park at Sierra-at-Tahoe.

Neff Headwear is another company doing things right. This season Neff created “Neffland” – a terrain park devoted to having fun. This project has the slogan “The funnest place on Earth”. Neffland doesn’t conform, it isn’t another monster terrain park only a fraction of resort guests can use. Instead, Neff designed a park for all skill levels; this allows rookies to progress and veterans to showcase their talent. The unique features scream fun – I mean come on, who doesn’t want to jump over a giant ice cream cone or slide an elongated candy-cane? What better way to do this than encompass the spirit of snowboarding?

Having fun is the core of snowboarding, it’s the way to make the sport more appealing and it’s certainly the reason I ride.

Links: Neffland is Open movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQB6DX5Jtiw
Neffland Episode 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdW25xQ91CE
Neffland Episode 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi6i04md3-E

Sentiers Boréals will also manage the 5-years project to convert Owl’s Head resort into a year-round destination for outdoor lovers. We recently had the opportunity to ask Pelland some questions regarding the growing popularity of mountain biking, particularly in urban areas.

What do you think is fuelling this growth in mountain biking?

JP: The fact that mountain biking is now recognized as a solid tourism driver and a great opportunity to turn ski resorts into 4-season operations helps a lot. Having accessible trails and bike parks encourages kids to have fun playing outside. Bikes have also become much more enjoyable to ride, more affordable and are a better fit for a wider range of users; from little kids on runbikes to lycra-clad racers to weekend warriors looking for a challenge. Mountain biking is becoming the new golf in that it’s becoming more and more accessible to everyone.

What are you seeing as the key challenges in urban mountain biking?

JP: By definition, mountain biking sounds like it has to involve mountains, which doesn’t necessarily have to be the case—fun trails can be created on virtually flat ground. But that’s not the biggest challenge. The type of person that participates in the sport is often thought of as the mud-covered racer, or the crazy stunt guy, which is not the reality 99.9% of the time. 30-year-old regulations banning biking in municipal parks is a result of this image. This is where organizations like Vélo-Québec (www.velo.qc.ca/montagne), IMBA (www.imbacanada.com) and the PTBA (www.trailbuilders.org) help by giving decision makers a better understanding of what mountain biking is really about.

What can you tell us about the current Montreal Mountain Bike Park projects and the plans? Are things happening bike-wise?

JP: The City of Montreal is working with some partners on upcoming bike park near the Plateau. This park is especially important since Montreal is the last major city in North America without any mountain-bike specific infrastructure. Hopefully, this will serve as a pilot project and will help the city accept the fact that the many mountain bikers in Montreal need a place to enjoy their sport. Some discussions were started over nine years ago to provide a training facility on Mount Royal, but to this day not a lot has happened in regards to this facility.

Which cities have you found to be most progressive when it comes to making mountain biking accessible? Can you give us some examples?

JP: From downtown Park City, UT you can find signs with directions and distances to all majors trails around the city. With over 400 miles of trails, bike parks, incredible scenery and an enthusiastic outdoor attitude, Park City has gone above and beyond. They’ve even instituted a local restaurant tax to fund trails. Talk about commitment! While B.C. in general is very pro-bike, Whistler deserves a special note for having the highest bike club members to resident ratio anywhere in the world. Moab (UT) was probably the first town to shift its economy to tourism by building world-class trails, but other places worth mentioning are Bend (OR) and Boulder (CO). And keep your eyes on the east coast as it’s been steadily raising the bar.

What do you see as trends in urban cycling in general?

JP: For heavily populated areas where green space is limited, having a variety of bike parks is key to getting people to ride. It will never replace a good trail, but playing on dirt instead of going to spinning class is priceless. Indoor bike parks are being constructed everywhere right now. Ray’s Mtb Park was the first in the States, Joyride 150 the first in Canada, and we are now seeing projects pop-up in many areas, including smaller towns such as Burke (with a brand new 90,000sq.ft building housing their bike park). Some cities are lucky enough to have a land manager that understands a paved bike path is not a trail. The feeling of riding your bike under a green canopy cannot be compared to riding on concrete. We need to see more trails in urban areas, and this is a long term commitment of IMBA.

With the huge popularity of BIXI Bikes and the city’s investment in cycling lanes,  have you noticed if this has impacted an interest in mountain biking culture in Montreal over the last few years? 

JP: While road biking and commuting are strong in Montreal, mountain biking is still banned on all public spaces and parks. Nearly 10 years ago, the city agreed to find a place to build trails. After a decade of not much happening, Velo-Quebec might be able to get a pilot project in place within 5 years, the fear is that it might be too little, too late. In the meantime, countless other towns are building high quality mountain bike infrastructures and we’re proud to be part of this.

This Post was written by Penny Buswell, Administrative Assistant Extraordinaire at Origin + Design Communications.

Something new is happening in snowboarding; an increasing number of its most experienced riders are slicing their boards down the middle and touring into the backcountry on two planks.

Curious about the movement, I decided to do market research on splitboarding. After completing an avalanche course, I borrowed / rented / pilfered a touring set up and persuaded friends to take me with them. The results were breathtaking – one busy tracked-out Saturday weeks after a storm, we dropped over the back of Whistler’s Flute bowl and found the snow was still perfect.

The shift towards splitboarding is everywhere – it’s evident in the growth of backcountry clinics and avalanche courses, on instagram, the wider splitboards skin tracks seen heading out of bounds, and proposals for projects like the Spearhead Traverse huts in Whistler’s backcountry.

Jeremy Jones is splitboarding’s ringleader, his trilogy of documentaries – Deeper, Further and yet to be completed Higher had him recognized as one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year. The buzz around his 2010 release of Deeper in Whistler was palpable – first the disbelief and then the curiosity. Almost every long-term snowboarder who saw the movie started wondering what they could access just by hiking (neatly dodging much of the eco-guilt of a snowmobile or heli). The entry cost to splitboarding is cheap – a few hundred to split your old board or the price of a season pass to buy a new setup. Then you just need backcountry knowledge, avalanche safety gear and a buddy you trust.

In 2000 Prior Snowboards became one of the first companies to make splitboards and currently offers the largest collection of any company: “When we went to the SIA trade show three years ago there were only four other splitboard manufacturers,” said Sales and Marketing Manager Gus Cormack, “this year there was twenty.” Prior now sells more splitboards than regular snowboards. “We have seen an increase in the number of riders going into the backcountry, this had lead to a diversification of splitboard styles – we’ve added two new splitboard styles in the last two years.”

Pro snowboarder Marie-France Roy was inspired by her ecology degree as well as her love of the backcountry to produce The Little Things; a splitboard-heavy movie which would raise environmental awareness. “I like that splitboarding is man powered: it’s really quiet, you’re closer to the elements and you get a sense of what you’re riding when you’re going up. It’s actually surprising how much you can do when you start getting in better and better shape, you can access some really cool terrain,” said Roy. The movie stars Jeremy Jones, Nicolas Muller, Gretchen Bleiler, Jonovan Moore, Tamo Campos and Meghann O’Brien. Oakley and Whistler Blackcomb are two of the movie’s main sponsors and profits will go to the charities Protect Our Winters and the David Suzuki Foundation. On the willingness of her sponsors, Roy said, “I think it’s good for companies to support projects like this that focus on sustainable changes and attitudes. If you changes a little thing in your life, it has an effect, but if a big company makes a little change it has a huge effect – and it’s best if we all work together.”

Functional space
Showrooms are first and foremost spaces to work in. They need to allow the rep(s) the chance to showcase product, tell color stories and work with their buyers. As such, it’s important to allow for space when designing the showroom. Allow areas for moving around and ample room for putting products together. When it comes to furniture, chairs should be comfortable over pretty. Folks might be sitting there for hours, don’t cheap out on the seats.

Let images tell the story
So many showrooms are filled with grid wall and racks. There is no room to inspire or tell stories. Allow for space in your showroom that will tell the brand story (via athletes, via awards, via lifestyle). Images should be either timeless or printed on a material that will allow for easy seasonal updates. Beware the desire for images to be product-focused. That’s what the product’s for.

Think tech first
It’s easy to plan an entire showroom design and then think of where the screen will go and how the laptops will get plugged in. Think about this first. Ensure the tables are set up to accommodate multiple laptops, that there is a space for a screen and projector. That lights are set up to work with the presentations.

Brand DNA
Showrooms should be a reflection of the brand. In the materials, the colors, the furniture – every aspect of the design should ideally support the brand. Keep this in mind throughout the decision making process.

Make it easy to update
We have all seen those showrooms that feel so 1990. Though building a showroom is an expensive investment, there are many ways to ensure they will survive the test of time:
- Changing visuals; set up the visuals so that these are easy to update and change seasonally
- Modular racking; ensure the racking system is easy to modify as the product offering might change
- Mannequins; can’t have enough of those
- Simple branding; logos change, brands get bought and sold. Having simple branding helps to ensure that your investments in updates go towards more than fancy logo updates.

Here are a selection of showrooms that we like. Note: we did not work on any of these designs.

If you have seen inspirational showrooms and have images or you want to talk about your ideas, please drop me a line. mj@origindesign.ca

This month, though, we wanted MORE intell, so we fired off a list of questions we wanted to dig in on. Happily, we were indulged.

The first part of the interview ran in our February newsletter.

Here, in this second part, we focus in on how resorts are managing the big disruptions to our industry, and what the future holds.

Social is the new snowboarding.

Origin: The last big disruptive force/revolution in the ski industry was snowboarding. How much has social been the next game-changer, opening up career options for younger people in the ski industry, and shifting the power stranglehold (and mentality of ‘let’s just do what we did last year’) from the old white guys in the Csuite?

Gregg: This is a tricky one because those guys in the Csuite have some tough expectations of social media.  On the one hand, they see it as a necessity.  On the other, they don’t believe in it enough to pay someone who really knows how to speak for the brand to be in charge of this extremely public voice for the resort. My worry is that sticking fresh college grads into these positions before they understand the nuances of what the resort really is about, its story, voice, and how to speak for it, could backfire and lead to a lot of quality talent bouncing off of skiing before ever really catch the vision.

To measure or not to measure.

We were just briefed by a client who was able to give us a bunch of metrics on how the last campaign performed, but no on-the-ground direct consumer research yet, because that is simply too time-consuming and has such a long lead time. How much has web analytics changed/benefited resort marketing?

Gregg: The tools that exist now are incredible.  While the adoption rates could be higher by resorts (not for lack of “ga.js” references in their source code, but actually knowing and using the reports), we’re heading in a good direction. While I sometimes sneer at “free” startups hoping to cash out once they hit 500k users, I do love how many cool little tools pop up that help marketing people glean more insights from their existing data.  Resorts are hardly cash cows, so I think these startups and platforms are especially useful in skiing.

And on that note, in what ways are ski resort marketers missing the boat, when it comes to taking advantage of the metrics, analytics and customer engagement in social?

Gregg: Like you said in the previous question, “on the ground direct research” is tough, but I believe social media can be an incredible replacement even though I see few resorts using it in this way. Twitter is this massive conversation between hundreds of millions of people that anyone, including brands, can tap at any time for free.  One of my pet peeves is social media “gurus” that use the “people are already talking about you on social media” line in an effort to convince brands to create an account.  To me, that’s the best reason to not create a profile.  Let people talk about you freely as they use your product and monitor what they say. The second an avatar with your logo appears in the dialogue, it loses its authenticity.

Like I said [last year regarding] Pinterest, instead of spending time building a following, consider spending that time indirectly facilitating these discussions and putting tools in the hands of your guests to spread the word for you.

Social media, meet CRM.

I’m intrigued at the fact that Vail and Park City are using data and social profiles and correlating it with guest behaviour. It feels like this is the next level of social media… moving “conversation” towards being profoundly responsive.  Responsive, from a social media management point of view, is more than having a community manager say, “Hey, thanks for the shout out”, but actually incorporating engagement into actions on the ground. Do you have any insights or thoughts around this?

Gregg: I want to start my response like the hologram of the scientist on the movie iRobot, “that is the right question.”

My pet project at Ryan Solutions for the last year has been working to connect John Doe in the database to @johndoe and facebook.com/johndoe. Once you know that, huge possibilities open up.  Did some guy with 10,000 followers and a Klout score of 70 have an NPS of 2 after their $20,000 ski vacation?  Better do something about it.  Want to know what your guests are tweeting right now?  Create a dynamic Twitter list of in-resort guests or skiers whose passes were scanned this morning.  If Big Sky launches a new cycling event, they may have zero transactional data for bike products, but social media knows and can show you high RFM guests who are not only interested in cycling but influential on that topic.  It’s going to be a fun ride.

Given so much networking and relationship building can happen online now, through social channels etc, what are your thoughts on making time for face-to-face networking/relationship building?

Gregg: Huge. Massive. Ginormous. I love meeting people online, but offline is where real business and personal relationships happen.  I rarely tweet Brian Rodine at Vail, but know him better than dozens of web contacts simply because he called me up and took me to lunch when I first moved to Colorado.  I’m happy to see more conferences gain traction across the country that resort marketing folk can attend.

The resort website of the future.

Got a crystal ball? What would you say are the trends or influences to watch?

Gregg: I believe that in the next 5 years were going to see a resort website that looks nothing like what we know now but will generate nearly all of the revenues for a resort. Some smart marketing director is going to hire an ex-Amazon.com or ex-Backcountry.com online retail specialist that will turn resort web commerce on its head. They’ll use many more transactional emails to upsell/improve the experience, product recommendations based on basic algorithms, affiliate programs, simplified checkout processes (that actually match the site), all packaged into an uber-simple layout that uses guest data pulled from the resort’s database to customize the experience so conversions go through the roof and destination guests aren’t reading copy that is meant for everyone from newbies in Boston to freeskiers from Silverton.

We are the lucky ones.

And finally, what is it that excites you about your work/your life/this field that we’re playing in?

Gregg: The fact that in some small way I am helping more families spend more time in the mountains together.

I believe in a few core parts of a fulfilling life: family, exercise, unplugging, being in the mountains, and simplicity.  Taking part in a sport that brings all of those things together is awesome.

GoPro, which was originally marketed as the camera to capture action sports is being used in a variety of industries. GoPro cameras are now being used in Reality TV, deep water exploration, medical surgery, and the U.S. military, among others. Was it ever the plan of GoPro to branch out so successfully from the action sports world?

I can’t say there was a specific plan in place, I feel it would be more realistic to say that we as a group are appreciative of all sorts of lifestyles. Board culture and action sports are merely athletic and artistic outlets, much like tennis, sailing, family, soccer, hockey and music. No one outlet is cooler or better than the other. Heck, I’d do them all if I had the time! I believe that once we saw people using the cameras in new and alternate ways, we supported it, and cheered them on. Each user decides what’s most valuable to that individual.

Those who consider themselves part of action sport culture are notoriously unforgiving when it comes to companies “selling out”. How do you stay true to the culture when the CEO is now a billionaire and the business continues to expand into the corporate world?

Wealth and success come in many different forms. Our CEO grew the company out of a VW van. Seriously, an old VW camper van! The culmination of the perfect storm purveyed his success. Facebook, YouTube and the Internet were flourishing at the same time the camera was evolving. Nick (GoPro’s CEO) , was in the right place, at the right time, with the right friends and people surrounding him. Long before Nick was ever a millionaire, he was a solid dude with integrity, trust and vision.  Nick is and always will be successful regardless of how much money he makes. So is Nick selling out? No way!  He does so much good for so many action sports families and over 600 employees. Nick pays 100% of each employee’s health insurance.. Its not wealth and success that makes you special, it’s what you do with that wealth and success.

GoPro CEO and company founder Nick Woodman said, “ We know that our cameras are arguably the most socially networked consumer devices of our time.” Obviously viral YouTube clips such as the antelope biker video, seagull video and adrenaline junkie videos play a large role in this. What else makes GoPro so well socially networked, or is it all about the footage, period?

I would say it is the simple industrial design of the camera, it is far more adjustable and mountable than any other camera in its vertical. The endless uses and the durability allows it to record life’s most exciting moments. This in combination with the Internet make it a success. When the product is actually good, selling it and marketing it becomes a lot easier.

You’ve been a film and video producer and athlete for well over a couple decades in the action sports scene. How did GoPro change your approach? How has it changed the bigger culture?

I’ve always been thinking about the main stream. I would say it’s safe to assume that people in the industry respect me as a “core” athlete, but I have never really operated inside the “core”. I have always been venturing outside into the mainstream spearheading television programming and content. When I discovered GoPro 4 years back, I was using the camera as a cutaway tool to capture little story telling moments. Now you can shoot entire sequences with the camera due to the quality. Where GoPro has really come into the fold, is its ability to hand over content into the hands of “the athlete”. The athlete can now control his or her own media destiny. Now we can eliminate mediocre film and video production from eating up bandwidth.

How has it changed opportunities for pro athletes since your days as a pro, and do think it’s easier or harder for the pros to stand out from the crowd, given that every rider can now “be his own hero”?

I believe we are at a critical tipping point in the way we classify “pro athlete,” particularly pro snow athletes. The retail consumer is becoming increasingly intelligent and savvy. They do not want to be patronized any longer by the status quo mentality of, “I’m rad, so you should buy the products I use.” Products like GoPro empowers athletes to deliver much more meaningful and usable content to sponsors, media and consumers alike. The successful snow pro of the future will need to be a journalist, a sales rep, a coach, a public speaker and true ambassador to make a living. The days of simply having a bag of tricks are coming to an end.

You’ve worked with big brands like the Olympics, Nike 6.0 – what’s it like riding the GoPro wave and how does a company of GoPro’s influence balance risk and innovation with its size and dominance?

I am very proud of all my projects. However, GoPro is the first “full time” employment I have ever had in the industry. Up until I started working at GoPro full time, I was a sub-contractor working as an athlete, a consultant and a project manager, always under contract. When GoPro came along, I believed so much in what it was going to do, that I jumped on full time about three years ago. Great People, great vision. As far as risk and innovation goes, all you really need to do is see Nick Woodman in action. He charges hard both in the surf and in the business field. He’s not afraid to chase a dream and surround him with people that share his mindset.

What happens once the market is saturated? How do you still maintain your dominance?

We are non-stop evolving. The majority of our employees are engineers these days. I’d say 75% of the company is in engineering. Saturation will never happen because we are consistently evolving the product. Remember, Our roots are in action sports, the most enthusiastic and creative communities in the world.

Shout-outs to the guys over at Switchback Entertainment for getting creative with their GoPros in the above clip.