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Tony Hawk, the world's number-one professional best skateboards, is flying high these days.
The 30-year-old X-Games poster boy has announced plans to introduce skateboard looks for juniors, launched a signature line of boys' skateboard apparel, signed an endorsement deal with Diesel and been photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the Got Milk ad campaign. "Tony's milk ad represents the greater acceptance of alternative sports, which he's had a tremendous influence on," said Ron Semiao, director of programming for ESPN2 who developed the concept for its X-Games. "What he's accomplished in and out of his sport is probably why many parents allow their kids to skateboard. It's not an underground, outlaw sport anymore."
In the past four years, Hawk has finished first or second at nearly every major skateboardcompetition. Known for his high-flying acrobatics on the half-pipe -- an 11-foot high, U-shaped ramp -- he has created 50 skateboarding stunts, including the "720," his signature move -- two airborne, back-to-back somersaults, and the "Stale Fish," a maneuver that requires reaching between your feet and around your back leg to grab the bottom of the board.
Despite the antics, Hawk doesn't fit the rebellious skateboarder stereotype. He is a successful businessman, married, the father of a five-year-old. After turning pro at 14, he bought his first house for $124,000, and now Hawk's annual endorsement salary is nearing $1 million, industry sources said.
Unlike sports with lots of female role models, skateboarding relies more heavily on men as image-makers. Women's action sports are gaining acceptance less quickly than men's because there are few competitions in them -- especially televised ones, Hawk noted. Hawk has cultivated a strong following among female and male skateboarders alike through his six-year-old skateboard company, Birdhouse Projects. Last year the Huntington Beach, Calif., firm's sales exceeded $14 million.
Now Hawk plans to suit them up with skateboard apparel through his new company, Hawk Clothing Co. He decided to go after the apparel business after many parents in their 20s and early 30s spoke with him at skateboard parks about the void in the market.
"We want to make the kind of clothes teenagers and young adults would buy -- not cutesy, teddy bear stuff," Hawk said. "They like to be cool, too."
Aimed at female teenage skateboarding tricks for beginners, Hawk Chicks will be a 32-piece collection for juniors. It will offer loose-fitting casual dresses, halters, elastic-waisted pants, shorts and fleece pullovers.
Wholesale prices are expected to range from $7 for a T-shirt to $22.50 for corduroy pants, said Pat Hawk, Tony's older sister, who is the designer for Hawk Clothing Co. Items have Velcro closings instead of buttons, which can cut a skateboarder if she falls, Pat Hawk said.
Hawk Chicks will be available at surf and skateboarding stores, resort pro shops and specialty stores for fall 1999.
Until then, some stores expect Hawk's new line of signature skateboarding apparel for boys to appeal to teenage girls. About 25 percent of the retailers that will carry the boys' line this spring will be targeting girls, Pat Hawk said.
By the end of next year, Hawk's boys' and junior lines are expected to generate at least $2 million at wholesale, she said. Both lines are heavily influenced by what Southern Californians are wearing for surfing and skateboarding.
"We want to see it thrive. This is not something we're doing because we think it would be fun for a while," Tony Hawk said. "We want to see it all the way to the end so it keeps its integrity."
Earlier this year, Hawk was seen skateboarding in the Gap's "Khakis Rock" commercial. He recently ended a 12-year relationship with his footwear sponsor, Air Walk, to endorse its rival, Audio.
"I want to skate for a shoe company that focuses on skateboarding. Air Walk lost that focus when they got so big," Hawk said.
As the sport goes mainstream, he said, companies need to stay focused without losing their edge.
"There are all these big companies coming into the market, but the hard-core kids are not going to buy their skateboard shoes," Hawk said. "There's always going to be a group of underground skaters who don't care about televised events and all that."
In general, recent interest in what size skateboard should i get should be "really good for the growth of the sport," Hawk said.
"It promotes it in a positive light," he continued. "Before, skateboarding wasn't portrayed as athletics. It was about eccentricities, flamboyance and rebellion that are part of it, but that's not the big picture. It's a sport that's acrobatic, athletic and very creative. Now we've finally gained that recognition and we've gotten a lot more acceptance."
Last year, skateboarding was the sport that gained the most participants, according to a survey conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association. There were 6.3 million skateboarders in the U.S. in 1997, a 36 percent increase over 1996. Women accounted for 21 percent of that figure.
As part of his endorsement deal with Diesel, Hawk will appear next year in ads for the company's 55DSL, an athletic-inspired sportswear line. While meeting with Diesel executives at the company's headquarters in Italy last month, Hawk offered comments on the design of the line, which is taking more of an alternative sports edge.
To lure more female and male surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders, Diesel recently tapped snowboarder Steve Gruber and long-board surfer Joel Tudor to endorse the 55DSL line, said Rob Harmsen, merchandise manager, who is in charge of redefining 55DSL's image.
"We want to attract new customers and stores -- not just the ones that already carry Diesel," he said. "We want to grow slowly to make sure we have the right people, the right image and the right customer."

Most likely probably the most prominent how to turn on skateboard executives within the u . s . states skipped the X Games the other day in San Francisco Bay Area.

Tod Swank, Ceo and president of Tum Yeto, Corporation., a Logan Heights-based company that sells and markets four brands of skateboards and accessories, didn't know which of his brand managers went.

"The X Games aren't really the only (tournaments) that are around,In . the 34-year-old mentioned.

Possibly, while not many skateboard tournaments are across the nation televised.

"There are particular things while using X Games that have been an positive for skateboarding," Swank mentioned. Nevertheless the ESPN extreme sport games "are supported by Slim Jim and Chevrolet. It is therefore very difficult for just about any manufacturer like ourselves to acquire involved only at that level."

The primary reason he didn't attend, Swank was adament, wasn't as they preferred to maintain the skateboard industry's independent, grass-roots marketing platform that, although lucrative, provides the an aloof appearance as well as the misperception just like a counter-culture.

Swank isn't keen on public occasions such as the X Games since it is, but his absence likely originates from the distaste he retains for your big businesses that nearly destroyed the skateboarding movement.

The ultimate time the sport was this hot -- inside the late 1980s -- nonindustry companies exploited skateboarding.

They mass-produced cheap skateboards and saturated industry together. When demand dried up, the sport increased to get trendy as well as the industry's loyal following disappeared. The continued to be to obtain the pieces and start again again.

Wrong Reasons

Swank knows as they started his first company, Foundation, in 1989.

"Between '91 and '93 that was possibly the least expensive in time this entire industry," mentioned Swank, a specialist skateboarder inside the 1980s.

Because he started Foundation, big companies ran the. They'd little curiosity about the integrity or growth and development of the sport plus they didn't purchase the, Swank mentioned.

"Now all the top companies fit in with skateboarders who elevated up skateboarding and possess some appreciation for your sport," he mentioned.

Industry profits have grown to be every year since former pros needed back the, Swank mentioned.

Now skateboarding is experiencing a revival having its best year ever.

Revenues for skateboards change from $150 to $200 million yearly, and $1 billion yearly in retail accessories for instance footwear, mentioned several skateboard company executives.

They offer to Generation Y, a demographic of 13- to 19-year-olds that showed up at 26.5 million along with a combined discretionary earnings of $80 billion in 1998, according to Ladenburg Thalmann, a completely new You'll be able to investment bank.

And eighty percent of skateboards, related equipment, and accessories are created and manufactured between Hillcrest and La.

A year ago, Tum Yeto, which markets the Toy Machine, Foundation, Zero and Pig brands, recorded $9 million in sales from skateboard decks, trucks, wheels, an entire clothing line, backpacks and accessories.

Impressive Goals

This year Swank projects a 53 % increase.

And that's the best expectation, say industry analysts.

"A Few Things I know at the moment is manufacturers can't make enough skateboards," mentioned Rob Harbaugh, a Dallas-based action sport consultant.

However, Harbaugh mentioned because skateboards, trucks and wheels resemble among competitive brands, there is a problem distinguishing their items.

That puts the main focus on marketing, which at Tum Yeto is conducted within the brand level. The organization managers are individually responsible for the organization teams and advertisements.

Swank controls and monitors the productivity in the infrastructure. The 47 employees inside the 45,000 square foot of Tum Yeto warehouses across Hillcrest develop, design and distribute the organization products that compete against 50 to 60 similar brands.

In the present competitive how to ride skateboard market, professional riders are the key advertisement tool for companies, and signing good riders for tournaments and videos is vital.

That's not a problem for Swank, mentioned Rob Kendall, the director of advertising for Santa Cruz-based NHS, a Tum Yeto competitor and distributor of Santa Cruz skateboards. Kendall was supported by Santa Cruz just like a professional.

"The brands he's as well as the team riders he's -- virtually immediately -- will be top-notch," Kendall mentioned.

Huge Discounts

Swank markets skateboarding round the premise it's less costly than almost every other action sport for instance snowboarding, wakeboarding, surfing in addition to summer time time soccer camps.

A "top-notch" skateboard costs $100 and pads from $50 to $75, he mentioned.

"Skateboards are really an inexpensive factor for kids to register in and for parents to assist,In . Swank mentioned.

As one example of the proliferation of public skate parks inside the county. Yearlong passes for the park in Ocean Beach is $30 and Coronado promises to open one next season beneath the bridge.

Presently, Swank is trying to influence Hillcrest to create a park near his Logan Heights warehouse.

"I realize (eighth District City Councilman) Juan Vargas was very considering through an open skate park built at the base,In . Swank mentioned. "Which is an excellent factor for the low-earnings area because there are a large amount of kids available with no cent to accomplish.In .

Swank does not have problem like a spokesman for your skateboard movement -- skateboarding is he's ever done.

Swank was present using the Del Marly Skate Ranch at the begining of 1980s since the sun is always to La.

"I'd say he's quite the guru in skateboarding," mentioned NHS' Kendall, who first met Swank in 1985 within the skate park.

Swank recently authored a column for Trans World Skateboard Business magazine promoting the small skateboard shops to focus on the comparatively affordable cost of skateboarding to customers.

Swank's newest venture, is along that exact same line.

The website was produced just like a sales site for the entire industry while offering direct links to skate parks, brands, training tips and free E-mail accounts.

The web site is not a subsidiary or spin-from Tum Yeto, even though Swank has owned the name since 1995. Rather, it's a means to safeguard the small skateboard retailers in america us dot-com firms that won't safeguard them. How to ride a skateboard for beginners

"It is not about taking business from anybody," he mentioned. "It's about (the) hitting in places where nobody is hitting."

So as opposed to watching his riders drop melon grabs and barley grinds and entrance flips round the idol idol judges as well as the national viewing audience the other day in San Francisco Bay Area, Swank went skateboarding in Hillcrest.

Maybe he is not much like he used to be, but that's okay he's an even more important job now.

"I bust out my Boost Mobile phone and call my boys, and the next thing you know, we're playing Moto-GP on the phone," says an old man with a walker. A http://skateszone.com/the-top-8-best-skateboards-for-beginners-reviews-2017 rests on top of it. A bearded buddy, forehead bandaged and looking a bit disoriented as he clutches his skateboard, chimes in with, "Boost Mobile gets us stoked!" The man with the walker proclaims, "Our boys 'bout to school y'all with some tweaked-out technical shiznit!" He turns to see one of the senior boarders crash and lie groaning on the cement. Supers explain the ill-assorted posse: "Boost Mobile. Designed for young people. But it's just more fun showing old people."

In a second execution from Team One in El Segundo, Calif., an elderly woman talks about "getting 10 kinds of nasty" at a "banging party, yo." The campaign, which broke last month, is "a juxtaposition between our target market and the people in the ads," says Boost media director Mark Fewell.

Mocking the old to pique the interest of the young is exactly what advocacy groups for seniors would like to see as a thing of the past. "It's time to raise awareness of ageism in advertising and work toward its demise," Robert Snyder, a senior partner at J. Walter Thompson's Dallas-based Mature Market Group, told the Senate's Special Committee on Aging at a hearing on the issue last month.

"Business and advertising is missing the boat," says Dr. Robert Butler of the International Longevity Center in New York. "Either [seniors are] not in advertising at all, or the portrayals tend to be negative." Butler, who also spoke at the hearings, is credited with coining the term "ageism" in 1968.

Even as the population ages, the 18-34-year-old demographic is still the most coveted among mainstream marketers--who have shown little concern about offending older viewers in the pursuit of younger ones. But with baby boomers hitting retirement age, agencies and their clients will have to rethink the way they portray older demographics.

"It would behoove marketers to demonstrate respect of [seniors'] age, wisdom and relationships," says Bill Ludwig, chief creative officer of Campbell-Ewald in Detroit, which handles Chevrolet as well as the Department of Health and Human Services' Medicare and Medicaid accounts. "Too much time and energy and press is being focused on chasing after the young market. Baby boomers are every bit as big as Gen Y, a lot bigger than Gen X, and they have a lot more money."

To be precise, 78 million baby boomers are reaching retirement age, and Americans over 55 account for 27 percent of the $4.2 trillion that households spend on consumer goods each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But not only do clients and their agencies overlook "the largest, wealthiest consumer group in a collective worshipful attitude toward youth," Snyder told the congressional committee, but "laughing at and stereotyping older Americans appears to be tolerated by many industries in ways that would never be allowed by any other group in our country."


Finding humor in the aging process is nothing new. Comedians from Groucho Marx to Woody Allen have made self-deprecating jokes about getting older. And some of advertising's most memorable characters are seniors: Clara Peller barking, "Where's the beef?" for Wendy's, Bartles & James' porch rockers. But it's one thing to show seniors as quirky but lovable and another to laugh at their expense.

One spot screened at the congressional hearing was a Midas ad from Cliff Freeman and Partners in which an old woman flashes an employee at the auto repair chain. Enthused about Midas' lifetime guarantee, she takes off her shirt and asks, "What can you do about these?" The ad broke in March but was pulled after a "considerable amount" of complaints from adults of all ages, says a Midas representative. The campaign was created after the client lowered its target age.

Commercial roles for the elderly come around "rarely," says Los Angeles-based casting director Cathi Carlton. Most often the parts are for "a nice grandmother at a baby's first Christmas. Occasionally they write good roles. But there are few [creatives] who know how to pull it off."

These one-dimensional characters are a result of sheer laziness, says Mike Hughes, president and creative director of The Martin Agency in Richmond, Va. "Advertising people ... too often settle for easy jokes that aren't really part of the message that's trying to motivate people to act in a certain way," he says.

Other creatives chalk up the proliferation of negative stereotypes to the fact that creative departments are predominantly staffed with younger talent. "I don't feel it's done out of maliciousness, but [creatives] aren't walking in the shoes of the people they are writing about," says Snyder.

One of the "sins" of the advertising industry is the "assumption that once you are over 40, you are dead," says David Baldwin, executive creative director at McKinney & Silver in Raleigh, N.C. "It's very strange. You look at the agencies that are hot and it's usually the ones that are doing the young stuff. A lot of that is because the creatives doing that work are 25." skateboarding tips and tricks for beginners

Work in young-skewing categories such as fast food, beer, soft drinks and videogames tends to be considered higher profile and sexier than categories that traditionally target seniors, such as financial services, insurance, pharmaceuticals and travel. The popular assumption is that younger demographics are more likely to switch brands, but an AARP study conducted earlier this year contradicts that notion. It found that adults 45 and older are no more brand loyal than those 18-34, and about half of Americans age 45-plus are "always looking for better products."

"Ideally, if you are a big, broad mass marketer, you've got to find a way to talk to the 18-34 market at the same time you are talking to the 50-plus," says Ludwig. When C-E asks focus groups to name their favorite ads, Ludwig notes, responses vary little between age groups. But while 45-plus Americans appreciate humor in ads, according to the AARP study, they say many of today's commercials are "too weird."

Ludwig points to the music in C-E's new "Rock 'n' Roll" Chevy campaign--with '60s-era classic rock in some spots and new artists in others--as one approach to cross-generational marketing.


Gap's fall campaign is another broadly targeted effort, carrying the tagline "For every generation." Personalities of every age are featured--Willie Nelson sings alongside up-and-comer Ryan Adams in one spot-in the work, done by Laird + Partners in New York. "This campaign reflects the connection that people of all ages have with Gap," the company's former CEO, Millard Drexler, said when the work broke. "Whether you are 6, 16 or 60, nothing is more universal than a pair of Gap jeans."

Communicating appropriately to older consumers takes "a good client" and strong planning insights, says Randy Saitta, co-executive creative director at Merkley Newman Harty & Partners. In contrast to most pharmaceutical ads, which portray the elderly as dependent grandparent types, the New York agency's commercials for the cholesterol drug Lipitor star a sexy older man in his swimsuit and a sophisticated, gray-haired diva in evening wear.


One of the agency's more unexpected casting decisions came from a commercial Saitta created last year for Mercedes-Benz. It targeted younger consumers with words of wisdom from people in their 90s. They talked about living life fully, ending with the line, "Before it's all over, get a cool car." "It was a bold move for Mercedes to use elderly people to sell to a young target," says Saitta. "Traditionally you want your target audience in your commercial."

A current PlayStation 2 ad flips the stereotype of the confused, senile grandma. The spot takes place in a retirement home, where a seemingly disoriented elderly woman stares off in the distance and tells her daughter, "I was going to defeat the lord of the underworld. The silver dragon stole my key." Her young grandchild recognizes her ravings, advising, "Next time, use the magic stones."

The tag, "Live in your world, play in ours," lent itself to the execution, says Jerry Gentile, creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif. Gentile, who says his son often plays PlayStation with his own grandparents, wanted to show instances of people talking about something very different from what one would first assume. "It's just one of those cliches you see in life--maybe [old people] are not lunatics," he says. "Maybe they are the sane ones."


Lee Lynch, the 65-year-old founder and CEO of Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis, agrees with Snyder's belief that consumer values are more important than generalizations based on age. He says advertisers should take an "ageless" approach to their work and cites CL's Harley-Davidson campaign as an example. In the ads, the rider is faceless, allowing people to project themselves into the image, regardless of age. top skateboards

Says Lynch, "The sooner marketers realize there is an ageless aspect to virtually every product, the better."

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