14205250:snowfinder said:Moment is a ski factory brand they make and test all their skis, $ is focused on the product. Black Crows are a marketing brand $ is focused on marketing and that involves getting good skiers on their skis.
14205245:Bended_Toenail said:Wow! I wonder why?
14205271:Lazylightning said:Was he ever officially with moment or did they just hook him up with skis?
14205311:pinkcamo1000 said:I haven't heard of this dude but it's probably similar reason to why karl left on3p for k2. He wanted to take his career to the next level and star in some big name movie projects, and small companies don't have the $$$ to pay for stuff like that. Big companies just have more money to throw around
14205320:DesertStix said:He pretty much said this. And if you haven’t checked him out, do yourself a favor. His back flip at J Hole went viral earlier this year and his clip straight sending it off high dive back in January (?) with a French dude in the beginning were absolutely pyscho
14205311:pinkcamo1000 said:I haven't heard of this dude but it's probably similar reason to why karl left on3p for k2. He wanted to take his career to the next level and star in some big name movie projects, and small companies don't have the $$$ to pay for stuff like that. Big companies just have more money to throw around
topic:DesertStix said:I love Moment but how do you let him go?!
14205328:hot.pocket said:Pretty much this.
Josh was super upfront with us regarding Black Crows reaching out to him, no hard feelings on either side. In the end, Black Crows offered him much more than we could swing.
We're all stoked to see what he gets into this season.
14205334:hot.pocket said:Sad truth but we don't have the money / marketing budget of larger brands and can't swing large travel / film budgets. We're also not going to force athletes to stay on our skis if there is a better opportunity for them elsewhere.
14205344:DesertStix said:but gah damn his style of riding was perfect for Moment.
14205383:cydwhit said:Maybe this is too meta, but if we all have already associated this style of riding with Moment, then that's just proof that their marketing has worked, and they don't need to spend more money building a brand around this style of skiing, right?
Like from a marketing perspective, the point of sponsoring skiers is to help the public make assumptions about the brand they represent. If we already make those assumptions with no prompting, then that job has been done.
I totally agree, Josh's style is exactly what I'd associate with Moment as a brand, partially because it's similar to what guys like Tyler, Carson, and others have been doing on those skis for years. Whereas, I don't have any of those same associations with Black Crows. I think of a bunch of mountain guides and people on the tram with brakeless bindings, so them picking up a skier like Josh is a good investment to help them reach a new market (people like us who love watching freeride huckers).
Or maybe I'm just procastinating from being productive too hard, and overthinking this.
14205387:DesertStix said:Fair point. And just for the record, I think this was extra savvy on BC’s part. I’m sure they saw him going viral and tapped into a market they just didn’t have any presence in before.
14205462:animator said:I mean they definitely have some presence in freeride, just not necessarily to US people or the younger generation. Mike Heni, Callum Pettit, and Mark Abma all ride for them and I 100% associate them with skiers hucking their meat because I grew up watching them. Kids who are 12, 13, 14 years old associate freeride with Gold and people like that because that’s who’s popular on social media, and that’s their medium of watching skiing. Flo Bastien, Nikolai Schirmer, Julien Regnier are also all fucking badass skiers, but they’re known way more in Europe than they are in the US. I would definitely say it’s a smart marketing move on their part, and if Gold is being supported for his skiing then power to him. The guys at Black Crows are really cool (I’ve skied with them a bunch and know a few personally) and they fucking rip. The guys at Moment are also rad as fuck, as we all know. Badass people making badass skis right in the US will always be awesome. Like [tag=144811]@hot.pocket[/tag] said, it just wasn’t in their budget and they don’t want to limit skiers just to keep them riding Moments. That’s a super respectable way to go about sponsoring athletes, and their marketing is already fantastic, given that just about every thread concerning skis has the name Moment pop up, per NS members recommendations.
14205489:DesertStix said:For sure. And that’s the “market” I was referring to earlier. Younger generation consuming Instagram content etc. I could totally be wrong, and correct me if I am, but they don’t necessarily have any young guns with a huge internet presence on BC.