Outerknown sponsor the Fiji Pro
Of all the rumours and innuendo that surround the Championship Tour, how could no-one see this coming? The Fiji Pro has been without a sponsor for three years, Kelly Slater owns a clothing company, and Fiji is Kelly's fave stop on the tour. Put the pieces together and you have...the OK Fiji Pro.
Announced overnight, Outerknown will assume naming rights to the Fiji Pro over three years for both the mens and womens.
Slater has won at Fiji four times and has a deep relationship with Tavarua.
“I fell in love with the small island of Tavarua a long time ago and I go back a few times every year.” said Slater. “It’s definitely my favorite escape and may be home to the happiest people on earth.”
The sponsorship further entwines Slater into World Surf League administration. His manager, Terry Hardy, is part owner of the WSL, he sold his wave pool company to the WSL, and now he is a paying sponsor as well as a serving athlete.
The OK Fiji Pro gets underway with the women’s competition on May 28 through June 2, followed by the men’s event, which holds a competitive window of June 4 - 16.
Comments
One of the problems in creating a new brand is not knowing where the associated initialism - or other abbreviations - may lead.
As such, the OK Fiji Pro - if surfers end up using that moniker - really loses its bite. Tavarua is much more than an "okay" competition location!
Yeah I agree. CLOUDBREAK is far from OK. freakin awesome really ! In line with G land and Mundacca and several others that we all know the names of . Hmmmm !But hey Good on him for doing it though. At least some one has the balls to get up front and put their money where their mouth is. Well be interesting to see how its run other than the normality of other years. BUT with WSL involved, I am sure the vision, commentary and day to day castings will be great. OK KS C-Brk Fiji. Who's doing the comp swag teeshirts KS? Bring it on CB. Oh Owen Wright My bet!
..and if Kelly wins the OK Pro this year..will that be OK?
Girls don't get much of a run
Come on Ozzie Girls. A big nail fight between Tyler, Steph and Sal --- 1,2 & 3. Big barrels please !
Great to see. Yeah, the abbrevs, maybe a problem. Let's see what his marketing team come up with. Kelly, putting money where his mouth his. Have to agree, happy people. It has a great future as there are a plenty of good waves around those islands.
At least he can get a sponsors wildcard to the event if he retires this year
It's cool but almost a conflict of interest while he is still on tour, wonder if they would dare to underscore him in his own sponsored comp.
I really don't think that's a risk. Kelly doesn't have anything to prove these days, and the WSL doesn't "need" Kelly to win the event to assist their business strategy.
O.K FIJI PRO. Cloud break is such a heavy wave that calling it O.K is actually making it more interesting. Anyone who underestimates cloud break will regret it. Anyone who doesn't know cloud break will be asking why is it called O.K.
Kelly could really push Outerknown with this simple abbreviation.
By the way have you noticed when K.S was winning everything he had Quiksilver. The minute he had no sponsors he couldn't make the finals. He launches his wave pool and "boom" guess who's back. WSL are so predictable. Guess who is going to have the stellar year 2017? K.S is now WSL"s favorite surfer.
From a marketing POV - Outer Known or OK is a dream name and brand. To work with 'OK' the options are endless. I'm sure this is why they named it OuterKnown - they are no fools.
Yeah I can't disagree with you.
But it's been almost two years since the brand launched. I wonder when they're going to take advantage of this "dream name and brand" marketing opportunity? It's been a little quiet since the get go.
Unless that is their marketing strategy?
Not sure about it being their strategy. But I think Kelly has way too much going on :) When he gives up competing I think it'll crank up. Maybe they are doing more in the bigger market places - US etc. Australia is way to small. This may be the start of a strategy and pretty perfect environment to do it in :)
I don't think it's positioned as that kind of brand. It's a higher end brand where logos and slogans are frowned upon. If it was trying to compete with your Rip Curls and Billabongs who happily plaster their ugly logos across everything they produce, then they might look at making the most of it. But pricewise they're competing against the APCs and Acnes of the fashion world where that shit just isn't cool.
Hi Peabo - yes your right, its positioned to an A, B demographic - but I think Fiji is still quiet relevant to this audience - as is the island on Tavarua -(how much does it cost to stay there, if you can get on!) and it is still a surf brand (kinda) through association. They do have the 'OK' on neck tags and garments, although tastefully positioned and in a colour on colour scenario. Depending on the brand, some upmarket brands sell on their logo, as people want to be associated with it, think Channel / Tiffany / CK etc. People buy for the brandmark.
I rekon they have to run if its huge again. No excuses with KS's brand on the line.
Punters may call it the "OK Fiji Pro" in general talk, but there is no way that will be on any official signs, communications or the stream. The point of sponsoring the event is to get brand exposure, and "OK" is not an OuterKnown trademark.
They'll be plastering the full OuterKnown all over the place. As they should.
OK or a circle and a triangle is an official brandmark
'Tis a bit of both at the moment.
The OK looks pretty corralled in to me!
As for leveraging the "okay" connotations with the Outerknown brand, they've already done it before (Stu did an article on this here: https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2017/02/22/kelly-says-it...).
An interesting move if that's how OuterKnown are going to position their products - basically appeal to the environmental conscious of your customers. Good luck on that. Or many examples of success in any area of consumerism on that. Generally, the Gucci, Tiffany sell because of quality. Ask my wife, she bought a twenty year old Gucci bag ! (I think I'm the sucker here).
Another great fashion success which does not aim at 'environment' is Camille Franks. Her fashion has become collector items and she is only 40.
Wife sold one of her outfits which was ten years old for the price she bought it. So unless OK are going to have something else at a high price then good luck to them. In this case, its great to see the Fijians get something.
Hope Slater wins his own contest even thou wsl will do there best to underscore him.
That should stir up the haters and we will have lots to discuss.
Actually--if you research it--KS--does 'not' own Outerknown--'Outerknown' is 'owned' by a 'French Women's Fashion Company'--called 'Kering'--and pronounced--'Caring'--to appeal to the feminine clientele. Kering also owns--Gucci--which makes high end purses for women. Slater gets a --percentage $$$ of the sales from Outerknown. --And--never seen anybody wearing Outerwhat at my local break--how about you? Wait--that's right--Outerwhat seems It was designed for the--psuedo yuppie--well off--genteel--Euro wanna-bee surfer
What this whole thing 'Really' looks like though--is an "attempt by Slater and the WSl"--to try and cut "Dirks Ziff's losses" for basically being the sole sponsor of the tour now.....
Outerknown "has attracted a minority share investment from French conglomerate Kering".
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/bof-exclusive/inside-kelly-sl...
So, their influence is only small. Hence why you won't find OK on the Kering website.
Outerknown should sponsor a contest at Outerkom?
Another minor point on branding - there's not a lot of visual difference between:
OI Rio Pro
OK Fiji Pro
Does it matter? Probably not much. But if I were brand manager for OK, I'd be pushing to limit the use of the initialisation for this event.