http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/07/01/lets-talk-about-burton-snowboards/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:35:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/07/01/lets-talk-about-burton-snowboards/comment-page-1/#comment-107 Anonymous Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:16:00 +0000 http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/07/01/lets-talk-about-burton-snowboards/#comment-107 Xtreme sports. I mean what is cooler than surfing and snowboarding? The whole point of being a small company and a pioneer and an innovator and quirky and so on is that you are free to focus on your market. You are not a sell-out and don't have to make acquisitions to drive your bottom line. So let's look at this--from a business perspective, does it make sense for Burton to expand into new businesses? Yep. But does this expansion help their core business of making snowboards? Not a chance. It is a crossover demographic that diverts their attention away from snowboarding. Now, Burton has gone from the Nike and whore of snowboarding to Shaquille O'Neal. He is not just a basketball playa, but also a rap star and actor as well as a volunteer sheriff. Maybe Jake Burton can do a song with Gwenn from No Doubt rapping about keeping it real and their "street cred". SELLOUTS! I am all about the mighty buck, but Burton sold himself as a rebel and a free thinker. He is nothing more than a suit that likes to hang out at a ski resort in his spare time and be around cool kids. Xtreme sports. I mean what is cooler than surfing and snowboarding?
The whole point of being a small company and a pioneer and an innovator and quirky and so on is that you are free to focus on your market. You are not a sell-out and don’t have to make acquisitions to drive your bottom line.
So let’s look at this–from a business perspective, does it make sense for Burton to expand into new businesses? Yep. But does this expansion help their core business of making snowboards? Not a chance. It is a crossover demographic that diverts their attention away from snowboarding. Now, Burton has gone from the Nike and whore of snowboarding to Shaquille O’Neal. He is not just a basketball playa, but also a rap star and actor as well as a volunteer sheriff.
Maybe Jake Burton can do a song with Gwenn from No Doubt rapping about keeping it real and their “street cred”. SELLOUTS! I am all about the mighty buck, but Burton sold himself as a rebel and a free thinker. He is nothing more than a suit that likes to hang out at a ski resort in his spare time and be around cool kids.

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