Vertical Marketing and Mismanaged Product Channels

I’ve bought computer related items on and off for years from New Egg, and like a lot of online retailers, they’ve been adding more tangential items to their main inventory. Still, it was a bit of a surprise to see them offering skateboards in their online newsletter about year or so ago, and they’re still […]

Can you find a bunch of balls?

Random, unbranded kid’s cup from a restaurant in a mall in Florida. Looks like he’s hanging loose while doing a finger flip, and has a giant baseball sticker on the tail. Makes sense. Oh wait, there’s a tennis ball on his show too. The text probably says “Can you find ___ balls on this cup?” […]

Sketchers Lighted Footwear

Sketchers have announced their first pro model skateboard shoe…

Christian Hosoi for Sk8 Candles

Christian Hosoi is involved in a product called a Sk8 Candles, and definitely not Skate Candles. I can’t help but feel like this is an idea we’ve seen before, perhaps not executed with he bearing in the middle, and only in the new school style symmetrical profile, definitely not a Snoopy candle. I like that […]

Tobin Heath Soccer Superhero, Skateboarder?

I don’t know if Portland Thorns midfielder Tobin Heath is actually a skateboarder or not. These illustrations come from a collaboration with Dark Horse comics and the Thorns front office designed to sell some t-shirts, scarves, and patches. I suspect it was just an easy way for Dark Horse to conjure a loose (or lazy) association with […]

Grace & Grit, Sweet & Tart

These are stills from a Sweetarts commercial featuring the the old archetype of the skateboarding ballerina, right? The simple message is “Grace & Grit. Sweet & Tart. Be both.” The ballerina in question appears to be doing her own stunts, and I should be able to recognize who she is, but I’m an old sexist bastard, […]

Steve Caballero for Kawaski

Steve Caballero is appearing in Kawasaki ads for the “Good Times” sales event. Makes sense, as he sort of concentrated more on motocross riding at the expense of skateboarding for a while sometime after the new millennium. I can’t recall if he had a factory sponsorship with Kawasaki or not, but he did turn up […]

That’s cold, dude.

There was a time, oh, say anything before the year 2000 when this would have seemed inconceivable.  Cross marketing between a mainstream commercial brand and a core skateboarding brand? Not a big deal anymore. No, I don’t know how a “Zine Rolltop Lunch Bag” differs from a regular rollmop lunch bag. It must be more […]

Trick Tip: The Obvious Plant

I’m surprised there isn’t a trick called an Obvious Plant. Sounds like something Neil Blender or Lance Mountain would have made up. Wait? Is there an obvious plant? Well, there’s Obvious Plant, the fake company run by Jeff Wysaski. He makes fake products in packaging and plants them in retail locations. It’s very good stuff, […]