Glenn Brumage at this year's IASC Summit
Glenn Brumage grew up not knowing much about China other than that it was communist, a bit scary, and that we would never want to get into a land war with them. But after taking his first trip to Beijing three and a half years ago for a surf summit, Brumage learned something else about the country - that ?it was really, really cool.?
Brumage, who built an impressive r?sum? over the years with organization such as Innes, Tum Yeto, and IASC, instantly saw a huge array of possibilities to help create an action sports culture in the fastest growing country in the world. ?China?s booming economy has drawn comparisons between its current population and the US?s in the 1950s, with limitless opportunities as an emerging consumer class figures out what to do with their newly found wealth.
?Right now you can count the number of Chinese surfers on one hand and we probably have a hundred skateboarders in all of the big cities, which really isn?t saying a lot,? says Brumage. ? But, there are 1.6 billion people, there?s 240 million people in their middle class. That?s a new thing. Within three years it?ll be up to the entire US population. Their middle class is already starting to overshadow our entire population and it?ll be more than 500 million, half a billion, in five years.?
That realization triggered an ?aha? moment for Brumage who joined Wabsono International, a Chinese company that is working to license US action sports brands in the market, as its director of business development, and began a crash course in the Chinese market, ranging from retail psychology to political science, to better navigate the country?s channels.
One thing that became glaringly necessary through this process was creating an independent trade agency to serve as a liaison for brands and retailers, which will eventually include a trade show component, specifically focused on the massive Chinese market. From this, S3 (Surf, Skate, Snow) was born, following the success of the Surfing China organization in establishing events and competitions, as well as the China Action Sports Exhibition, CASE.
We caught up with Brumage to learn more about the new organization and the current state of the domestic Chinese market:
Why did you guys decide to launch S3?
Wabsono?s end game is licensing a certain number of key brands and helping develop the market as any brand would do. It took us about two years of market research and really getting to know the retailers and situation over there, and we discovered that we need SIMA, IASC, and SIA and we need them [together] and we need them immediately.
S3's Andrew Manly
We got together with Andrew Manly, who has run a number of larger trade organizations, not in our industry, but in China, and understands the government situation, the structure of business and how it works and we said, look, we?ll help you get this started, it needs to live on its own. It?s independent.
S3 is there to help a brand from the States get into the market on its own or with a partner, pick the right partner, get through the government red tape to open a business there.
So it?s really like a consulting service supported by brands looking to come over?
It will be supported in the long run because it will run a trade show. Even though Surf Expo is already taking a step in that direction, they?re doing it in Singapore, which is great for Australasia, but does nothing for Mainland China. They?re not going to go to Singapore - they say, ?if you?re going to sell me something, you better come to my country.?
Have you guys set a date for that yet?
We have a thing called the China Action Sports Expo, CASE, that we?ve done twice. They were tiny, almost to the point of failure that we funded at Wabsono. It was a very, very beginning stage. We?ll build on that, but we?ve turned it over. It needs to be entirely neutral. You can?t be involved with another brand. I wouldn?t go to a Billabong show with Quiksilver product. The other thing is in China, trade organizations are in a lot of cases government sponsored. They?re trying to develop trade and that?s another way that S3 will be funded. It?s entirely different than SIMA or SIA. There will be dues, but for the most part that?s not how will it live.
When are you planning the next CASE?
I?ve convinced them to move it from September, it?s the wrong time of year for China, to December or January and we?re trying to move it to Beijing, but we?re still very much in the early stages. Worst-case scenario, CASE will actually take a one year hiatus while S3 gets organized and more brands as members.
From the development side, what have you found really speaks to potential Chinese customers and action sports enthusiasts as far as messaging and marketing?
The thing that seems the most positive is the correlation between their youth and our youth in the 1950s. There are so many easy correlations. You extrapolate that and unless something crazy happens like the government says ?skateboarding is dangerous-you can?t do that, ?which they can do. It scares me about surfing and skating - all you have to have is somebody drown on a big day or break their neck skateboarding and we?re hosed. They?ll make it illegal, and if they say it?s illegal, it?s truly illegal.
So does the safety message get played up more there?
Right now there?s no message on safety. We?re trying to avoid it because even with protective gear you still get hurt. CASE is managing the government liaisons for safety. That?s a much more critical piece in China than here.? If they decide you have to wear a helmet, there?s no being Linglei and not doing it.
Going back to the possibilities, kids are kids everywhere. Even if they?re focusing on college, they?re likely to think outside the norm and do what their parents didn?t. They?re seeing a future and economy that?s entirely different from what their parents saw.
You must have seen something really promising as far as this market to throw your hat in. What made you determine that China was the next horizon and that it was worth moving your focus away from the States?
The first thing is just the amount of potential that?s there. It?s so fricking massive - everything from their ski areas becoming more sophisticated and exploring and finding more places to board, to an immense amount of uncharted surf spots along a coast that no one goes to.
The other part of it, is the guys that I work with and their interest in trying to do it right and be legit. There are a shitload of expat Americans and Australians over there just trying to make a quick buck. They don?t care how they present what we do, our sports. I grew up surfing in San Clemente, I was a ski and snowboard rep for too damn long, I?m really married to this culture and it aggravates me when guys do things that I perceive as being counterproductive in a super new market.
It sounds like you have some pretty cool contests in the works as well?
I?m pretty stoked about the skate series we?re doing. Our guys did it for all the right reasons and all the right ways. X Games is already here. They?ve actually held a Dew Tour, and for the most part, all those things have left the Chinese skater out of the loop. There aren?t a whole lot of vert skaters, they?ve only got a few hot snowboarders, so these have just been media plays and not about the locals. It?s great to show how cool vert is, but when we looked at it, we realized it needs to be the Chinese Maloof Money Cup. It needs to be for Chinese skaters and them alone.
A big part of our industry is getting people stoked on it. I know that there are going to be a ton of skateboarders, that?s going to change the complexion of our business in China and the culture, media and everything else.
CATEGORIZED: Features, skateboarding, snowboarding, surfTAGS: case, china action sports, china skateboard, china snowboard, china surf, Glenn Brumage, s3, wabsono
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