Skate Company Builds MySpace Army
Filed in archive by Creative Weblogging on April 19, 2006
(Rocklin, Calif.) A young California skate
company is tapping into the power of the estimated 41 million MySpace subscribers by providing them with a steady stream of news. The company, Roller Warehouse, has taken the existing articles from their corporate skating blog and transformed them into a cool, scrolling newscast. By cutting and pasting a few lines of code, kids all over the world have an instant scrolling news ticker on their own MySpace page. Included are articles on new product releases, upcoming skating events and contests, equipment reviews and tips on learning skate tricks.
"Our customers are a moving target" says Rick Davis, one of the company's owners. "They are extremely passionate and fiercely loyal. Skating is not a sport, it's a lifestyle. If you can win them over, they will go to end of the world for you."
So how do you win these kids loyalty? Davis says "Almost everyone underestimates them. These are intelligent, savvy kids. They have been exposed to the most extreme marketing techniques in the history of mankind since their birth. A 13-year old can smell a sales pitch coming from a mile away." So what is the trick? According to Davis, there's not one. "Just be sincere. You have to be truly sincere in what you do and say. Be absolutely consumed with delivering whatever is best for your customer. They know the difference. Try to fake it and they'll leave you cold."
Fueling this MySpace marketing concept is the age old snowball effect. On the news ticker that Roller Warehouse developed, each topic delivered contains the first 30 to 40 words of the article. Each topic is hyperlinked; clicking it will take you back to the company's original blog page where you can read the entire text. On the blog page, the option to add the news ticker to your own page appears. Thus, the cycle is repeated.
Since starting the program, sales on the company's main shopping site are up over 10%. Davis won't say how many kids have added the news ticker on their MySpace pages. He only hinted that "It's mind-boggling how fast this has grown. If this keeps up, we'll be shopping for new computers to handle the demand."
See the news ticker at: http://blog.rollerwarehouse.com
company is tapping into the power of the estimated 41 million MySpace subscribers by providing them with a steady stream of news. The company, Roller Warehouse, has taken the existing articles from their corporate skating blog and transformed them into a cool, scrolling newscast. By cutting and pasting a few lines of code, kids all over the world have an instant scrolling news ticker on their own MySpace page. Included are articles on new product releases, upcoming skating events and contests, equipment reviews and tips on learning skate tricks. "Our customers are a moving target" says Rick Davis, one of the company's owners. "They are extremely passionate and fiercely loyal. Skating is not a sport, it's a lifestyle. If you can win them over, they will go to end of the world for you."
So how do you win these kids loyalty? Davis says "Almost everyone underestimates them. These are intelligent, savvy kids. They have been exposed to the most extreme marketing techniques in the history of mankind since their birth. A 13-year old can smell a sales pitch coming from a mile away." So what is the trick? According to Davis, there's not one. "Just be sincere. You have to be truly sincere in what you do and say. Be absolutely consumed with delivering whatever is best for your customer. They know the difference. Try to fake it and they'll leave you cold."
Fueling this MySpace marketing concept is the age old snowball effect. On the news ticker that Roller Warehouse developed, each topic delivered contains the first 30 to 40 words of the article. Each topic is hyperlinked; clicking it will take you back to the company's original blog page where you can read the entire text. On the blog page, the option to add the news ticker to your own page appears. Thus, the cycle is repeated.
Since starting the program, sales on the company's main shopping site are up over 10%. Davis won't say how many kids have added the news ticker on their MySpace pages. He only hinted that "It's mind-boggling how fast this has grown. If this keeps up, we'll be shopping for new computers to handle the demand."
See the news ticker at: http://blog.rollerwarehouse.com
About the author: Roller Warehouse was started in June of 1994. They are considered the Godfather of Aggressive Skating and their bi-annual color catalog is widely referred to as The Bible by skaters. Visit Roller Warehouse at http://secure.rollerwarehoue.com or call them at 1-800-772-2502.
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