Deals with corporate sponsors such as Teva, Volkswagen and Coors Brewing Co. have helped propel this week’s Teva
Mountain Games in Vail into one of the largest outdoor adventure festivals in the country.
Now, Teva and Vail-based Untraditional Marketing, which produces the event, are taking the mountain games international, starting with a European event in 2007 and plans to move into Asia, Australia and Latin America.
They’re following the successful model set by the ESPN
X Games action-sports contests, the winter version of
which is held on Aspen’s Buttermilk
Mountain.
“We do sell more shoes because
this event happens,” said
Adam Druckman, global sports
marketing manager for Teva,
the Goleta, Calif., shoe company.
“Now, we’re looking to sell
more shoes internationally because
of it.”
When Untraditional Marketing
took charge of the games
four years ago, it was a whitewater
festival with an attendance
of roughly 8,000 people and
$100,000 in sponsorships, according
to Joel Heath, president
and chief executive of Untraditional
Marketing.
At least 22,000 spectators are
expected at this year’s event,
which started Wednesday and
runs through Sunday. It features
outdoor sports such as
kayaking, trail running and
bouldering, as well as an arts
festival and live music.
More than a dozen corporate
sponsors have ponied up “well
over $1 million,” Heath said.
“Teva is a very organic brand
that really gave us credibility,”
he said. “It has all snowballed
from there.”
Adventure sport events are attractive
to sponsors because
they attract a wide age range of
brand-loyal customers, said
David Ehrlich, executive vice
president at local sports marketing
firm The Bonham Group.
“Action sports are a great,
growing area,” he said. “It’s a
tremendous demographic
it’s very energized, very active.”
The target age range of the
Teva Mountain Games is 18 to
45, sponsors said. The average
age of attendees at last year’s
event was 37, with an average
household income of $89,000,
Heath said.
“One of the things we like
about this event is that it crosses
over a wide variety of demographic
groups,” saidKim Coupounas,
chief executive of sponsor
GoLite, a Boulder outdoor
clothing and gear company. “It’s
not like the X Games in that respect.
It has a broader appeal.”
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be
reached at 303-820-1592 or
jdunn@denverpost.com.
