Industry: News


Salomon appoints O2 guy to drive marketing


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ichard Philip has been appointed marketing manager of outdoor brand Salomon. He replaces Richie Seymour, who has left Salomon to go travelling.


Philip has moved from AEG, one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies which manages The O2, popular music and sporting event venue in London.


Philip was involved in both sporting and music events at The O2, including marketing the recent Barclay’s ATP World Tour tennis competition, basketball matches and the proposed 50-date concert run by Michael Jackson.


Philip said his main priority will be communicating Salomon's innovations and product story to retailers and consumers. “We have been developing products for over 64 years and we want to tell our story, supplying our consumers with the confidence that they are buying into our incredible depth of product expertise which spans across the whole outdoor market from trail shoes to ski boots to snowboards,” Philip said.


“Another project I would also like to activate


is to build some key brand partnerships from outside the skiing and outdoor industry, utilising our brand DNA and image, helping to develop and build our brand awareness to the masses.” Digital marketing will be a core element of Philip’s work in the next 12-18 months. He said: “My experiences in the world of entertainment and sport have given me a thorough understanding of the digital landscape which I will be translating to our marketing plans for 2011.


“For the past two years, Salomon has been at the forefront of social networking and as a result we now have the largest and most active Freeski Facebook page in the world. Our plan for 2011 is to build on what we have, both around the great content we create and through developing digital technologies which will allow us to generate improved sales for our retailers.


“We’re developing our strategy around educating our customers on our great product range and working with our retail partners to increase awareness around our brand ensuring we deliver results.”


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Berghaus takes Euro plan further


erghaus has continued to realign its European activities by signing a distribution deal with Montana Sports AG in Switzerland.


Montana Sports already distributes a number of outdoor, sports and fashion brands in Switzerland, and will represent Berghaus in the Swiss market with immediate effect, with Christian Gerlach, Montana Sport’s outdoor division manager, taking responsibility for Berghaus.


He will focus on targeting specialist climbing and outdoor retailers with clothing and packs from Berghaus’ Extrem range and new products to come out of the MtnHaus innovation programme. Berghaus recently tidied up its operations in Germany and Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland in an effort strengthen its position (see SGB Outdoor, December 2010).


Bergaus EMEA sales director Simon Roberts said: “Switzerland is at the heart of the Alps and a crucial European market, with very knowledgeable and demanding customers.


“It is important that Berghaus has a world-class partner there with a deep understanding of the most technical and innovative outdoor products, and excellent relationships with key customers. We believe that Montana Sports offers us exactly that combination and that together we will establish the brand as a leading player in the market.”


Brands plan export growth after US launch R


unning brands Ronhill and Hilly are targeting further export growth after launching in the US through distributor RI Brands. Ronhill and Hilly launched in the US at November’s The Running Sow in Austin, Texas, where they reported strong interest. Founder Ron Hill (pictured, right) attended the event, as did Lasse Viren (pictured, left), the double Olympic 5k and 10k champion. Former European and Commonwealth marathon champion Hill also won the Boston Marathon 40 years ago in a course record at the time of 2m10s, and helped draw attention to the brands during the show.


Graham Richards, brand director responsible for sales and marketing at both Ronhill and Hilly, said this success followed a similar launch into Canada, where its autumn ranges sold out through its distribution partner.


RI Brands is to start offering products from both brands to the market from February, although Richards said this will be more of a soft launch as RI Brands will use the coming months to hold meetings with retailers in order for a harder launch with its autumn/winter ranges, which will be in-store from mid-August onwards.


6 www.sgboutdoor.co.uk


Richards said the immediate plan is to expand the export markets for both brands even further, as the opportunity for growth is larger in foreign markets.


He said: “The UK remains our core market but as we only deal with specialist shops growth will be limited.


“UK independents also only tend to have one store, while in the US, for example, independents will have multiple stores, so you’re instantly getting into more than one store.” Richards continued: “Together the two brands export to around 12 countries, such as Ireland, Holland, Canada, America, Singapore and Hong Kong.


“We intend to take a focused approach in the future. For example we will be exhibiting at ISPO and are working with UK Trade & Investment to arrange meetings with German distributors. “We’re also likely to appoint an export manager to lead this growth in the next 12-15 months.”


Richards added that as Ronhill is a running clothing brand and Hilly is more associated with apparel, the two will be sold to distributors in Europe and markets further afield as a “one- stop shop offer”.


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