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Burton

Our Role:

Advertising
Brand Identity Systems
Brand Plan Development
Brand Strategy Consulting
Brandseeking®
Design Tool Kits
Innovation Frameworks
Internal Pitch Deck Creation
Mobile Exhibitions
Product Creation
Sales Meeting Impact
Tradeshow Booth Design
UI/UX Modeling

Vision

In 1977, Jake Burton, founder and CEO of the Burton Snowboard Company, dreamed how big snowboarding could be. Burton has now become the largest snowboarding brand in the world and sells in over 4,000 doors worldwide and over 1,500 locations in the US alone. Burton has grown to own 10 companies that market snowboards, helmets, optics, outerwear, apparel, footwear, and surfboards. Those companies include brands such as Red Protection, Gravis Footwear, Anon Optics, Analog Apparel, Forum and Jeenyus Snowboards, Special Blend and Foursquare Technical Outerwear, and most recently, Channel Islands surfboard company. Soldier has worked with Burton since 2003 on a host of diverse initiatives for many of their privately held brands, all bringing strength to the overall Burton corporation portfolio.

Mechanics

Soldier’s work with Burton dates back to 2003, where in true-to-form approach, Soldier takes on diverse mission-critical assignments where the stakes are high and clear definition and empowerment is needed for success. Projects with Burton range from rebranding initiatives to large scale retail transformation. When Burton needed to stand out in distinction at trade shows, Soldier redefined a complete retail experiences by creating a unified design language for an 8,500 sq/ft. mobile environment that would house and discern five different brands under one Burton umbrella, reconciling over 1,200 product SKUs in men’s, women’s, and kid’s categories. The goal was to ultimately position Burton as market leader within a crowded space of undistinguished snowboard brands vying for attention in the B2B tradeshow circuit.

Soldier also worked with international senior management teams on a holistic, multi-year, re-branding initiative for Burton’s Red Protection brand through Soldier’s Brandseeking® framework to uncover the plot-power of “Ride Forever,” driving advertising, packaging, digital and retail for the growing and highly profitable category, which segued into a two-year strategic initiative with The Program brands (Forum, Special Blend, and Foursquare) to audit and clearly define their purpose and expression in relationship to each other and within the marketplace. Strategic brand plans were created for each brand that informed innovative product creation and dynamic marketing communication, including product superiority commercial spots.

Influence

Whether realigning or empowering brands at Burton, RED Protection, or The Program brands the transformative efforts have halo effects that extend across the entire company, helping drive Burton’s brand expression and profits to new heights. Since implementing vitality into the RED Protection brand, it has grown more than 15% a year ultimately being brought closer into the Burton brand itself, and equaling more funding and creative expression. Soldier’s efforts around product creation and communication with Burton’s Forum boot business increased sales upwards of 38% per year, while the strategic brand and marketing efforts around The Program brands overall has helped Burton to determine which businesses to invest in, which to exit from, and where to innovate moving forward.

 

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Brand Strategy

Soldier uses a structured method for brand storytelling called Brandseeking™ to elevate the brand experience and the journey of the consumer. Essentially defining the spirit of the brand that defines why a product, service, and brand matters. Working simultaneously to audit and realign three brands: Forum, Special Blend and Foursquare.

We rallied a cross-functional council of key brand members including original brand founder Peter Line and team rider Pat Moore. Together, we assimilated a brand plan with senior management approval from the unified perspective of product, sales, and marketing. Achieved, at the end of the session, was the collective goal of building a common vision and direction for all three brands in unison regardless of history, and very optimistic for the future.

 
 

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Forum Boot Collection Design

Soldier worked along side the tenured Burton boot development team for two seasons to create a ten boot capsule collection for the Forum brand, involving all new styles, color systems and branding stories including the engineering of a new Good Vibes sole. Working from a place of "The Boot" versus athletic shoe aesthetic,

we drew inspiration from impromtu boots originally used for snowboarding to brown shoe cues prevelent across classic boot making designs. From that operating perspective, Soldier built a tech savvy design language to scale across a host of artisan separate snowboard boot designs to create the 2013 and 2014 product collections, including the redesign of the provocative freeestyle Tweaker technology.

 

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Forum Videos

Forum Snowboards engages Soldier to concept, direct, and produce a series of infotainment videos to illustrate product superiority technologies across a host of selected snowboard boards, boots, and bindings. The commercial campaign consists of eight shorts covering eight unique product technologies.

The production highlights Soldier's product design capabilities and consumer experience approach to product design with the boot collection and the immersive communication we do around communicating visible technology in advertising with product development credence, entertainment, and efficacy.

 
 

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Product Creation and Communication

Soldier designs some choice outerwear pieces for Special Blend including the Blow Jacket from the 100 Proof Collection. Soldier's creation of these top tier pieces for SB influenced a halo effect of benefits for the entire collection representing top shelf quality and "First Chair, Last Call" promise. The 100 Proof Collection is founded on distinct looks, opinion leading style, and tailored specifically for snowboarding.

Soldier also concepted, directed, and produced a video lookbook series to illustrate product superiority and detailing across the 100 Proof Collection by Special Blend. From First Chair to Last Call, Soldier illustrates the collection's versatility through a “crafted for convergence” storyline with an emphasis on premium detailing, functional superiority, and style for on and off the mountain.

 

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Red Protection Ad Campaign

Shawn White and Hanna Teeter may be stand out and widely known olympic gold medalists, but they are also a part of the larger Burton snowboard team with rockstar talent talent such as Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Mason Aguirre, and Peetu Piironinen to name a few. As the first snowboard specific helmet emerged, Burton called it RED.

It's success was largely dependent on the game changing riders who wore it. Celebrating less of the helmet itself, but more of the riders decision to wear it. As a part of an 18 month rebranding strategy coined "Ride Forever," Soldier delivered ad creative to global markets in printed, digital, and physical ways.

 

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Red Print Collateral

Communicating the "Ride Forever" campaign direction took many forms. However, print remained a powerful tool in both B2B and B2C communications. Soldier communicated the "Ride Forever" promise through smart design, information architecture, art direction, and photography.

The meticulous execution of ink, paper, and finish was behind the impactful brand collateral and brand storytelling. Dealer and consumer catalogs delivered brand ethos, team message, product technology, fit, and design inspiration.

 

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Red Tradeshow Booth Design

The gathering party to many brand campaigns is at tradeshows where new product, technology, and marketing communication, in never seen before fashion, comes together in a real space with real people who have country-wide buying power. Immerse, enlighten, and educate is often the clearest path to purchase in such a setting.

Soldier created a space continuing to riff off the "Ride Forever" modalities. Symbolic for protection itself, we built the vastly sustainable project around a shipping container, surrounded by reclaimed timber and the essence of mountain side nature. Jake Burton himself said when inside "this feels really good."

 

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Digital Strategy, Site Design, and Ecommerce

Based on the successful sell-in results of the RED branding initiative and driving business goals, RED became a native shop-able category on burton.com, which had not been the case in previous years. It was a true testament to the style and substance of the new "Ride Forever" campaign and the upfront presence of Burton riders that graced the RED brand experience online.

Soldier crafted the front-end web design interface and integrated ecommerce experience.  Soldier also created content and strategies to launch exciting new product technologies such as Airband™ fit system and REDphones™, which was Burton's foray into helmet audio integration.

 

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Red Helmets and Packaging Design

Talking full advantage of Soldier's product creation and communication capabilities, we worked with the Burton product development team for two seasons to design a host of tip-of-spear helmet designs in both men's and women's categories. Discouraging the notion of superfluous design treatments or veneering Soldier created a strategy and execution plan focused on subtle design details in ID and product branding.

We avoided the overly expressive, including the intentional reduction in model name art. This was all as a response to rider insights of "less is more" on the head in many ways. The minimal design language decisions scaled across product hangtags and packaging, capitalizing on the color Red as a powerful brand driver in ways that had not been true in years past.

 

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Burton Tradeshow Booth Design

Creating an epic environment was the assignment. Soldier embraced the challenge with an over-arching innovation message known as "co-developed" to represent their process and culture of collaboration. We articulated the pop message with two intersecting forms to drive meaning in an artful, modern, and integrated way. Whereas a more organic and humanized approach to consumer interfaces became the experience at a tactical display level.

Practically, Soldier's task was to create a unified design language for an 8,500 square foot mobile environment that would house and discern five different brands (Burton, Analog, Anon, Red, and Gravis) under one Burton umbrella. Functionally reconciling over 1,200 product SKUs in men’s, women’s, and children’s categories. The goal was to ultimately position Burton as market leader within a crowded space of undistinguished snowboard brands vying for attention in the B2B tradeshow circuit.

 

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