A Few Minutes With Cec Annett
Airwalk's snowboard division manager and mountain-biker extraordinaire.
Edited By Sean O'Brien
(7-7-98)

Tim Wrisley (TWS) and Cec Annett (Airwalk)

SNOWboarding Business: So, we heard you were in a mountain bike race.

Cec Annett: Yes I was.

S. B.: Aren't you getting a little old for that kind of stuff?

Annett: Fortunately, they have a special category for guys like us.

S. B.: What was the race?

Annett: It was the Nationals and I finished fifteenth in the nation.

S. B.: In the nation?

Annett: Yep, of 30- to 34-year-old beginner men who happened to be at Soda Springs that day.

S. B.: Did you get some huge medal or something?

Annett: I got nothing.

S. B.: Do people at work treat you a little differently now that you're a nationally ranked mountain biker?

Annett: Hey, I made it into the Airwalk Insider. That's something. Both myself and Glenn Kibbens-the product manager for the bike division-raced. Really it was nice to be out there with the athletes. They see you participating in the sports you sell, it validates your credibility.

S. B.: Does that mean we'll be seeing you at the X-Games Big Air soon?

Annett: Yeah, I'm x-treme.

S. B.: One-hundred percent extreme?

Annett: Yep, extremely middle aged.

S. B.: So, what's going on with the Airwalk snowboarding program?

Annett: We've heard some rumors. Despite the many rumors in the industry, we're going forward with Airwalk snowboards. We had very good sell-in season for boards, and there's been terrific response from on-snow demos. The team riders are stoked. The whole program is working well. The Quad step-in system is also full-steam ahead after a few years of crying wolf. We're committed to the Quad. In the last few months we've reviewed the entire strategy for the program. We all still agree on that strategy we've had since the beginning. However, tactically we've lost a couple a years because of some mistakes, but we've addressed those and things look really good now.

S. B.: Will Airwalk ever partner with other step-in binding companies?

Annett: I think it's a possibility. In fact, we're exploring that right now. However, those agreements will not replace the Quad. We're definitely committed to the Quad. Whatever partnership we make with other companies will be complimentary to the Quad program.

S. B.: Northwave partnered with both Clicker and Switch, saying it would let the consumer decide which system was better. Are you also planning to go with a couple of different step-in systems besides the Quad?

Annett: At this point our thinking is that we'll go forward with the Quad and with one other system, rather than spread it out too much.

S. B.: What will retailers see in terms of marketing from Airwalk this year?

Annett: I just had a meeting with Louise [Balma, TransWorld Media's special events coordinator] about our continuing involvement with Board AID. We've been involved with that for many years and will continue that support. On the snowboard side, we have a very strong team of riders who'll be out on the hills. From a print standpoint, we're looking to run spreads in fine magazines such as yours. I also think you'll see a lot more from Airwalk in the next year from an entertainment standpoint-videos, television commercials, and Internet. We're really looking to develop the third leg of the Airwalk tripod: sports, style, and entertainment. We started with our 'core heritage in sports. In the last few years, we've burst out into the style segment of the market. Now we're looking at the entertainment world.

S. B.: So, can we expect to see the kiddies tuning in to watch the Airwalk cartoon hour on Saturday mornings?

Annett: Yeah, it can be all sorts of forms. With the new technologies, kids from all around the world can be linked together with our Web site-ATV [Airwalk TV]. We see lots of possibilities there for edutainment.

S. B.: Edutainment-I like it!

Annett: That's where I think the Airwalk brand really has some legs.

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