Marketing
The Company actively advertises and markets its products. The Company
spends the majority of its advertising budget on advertisements in ski and
snowboard magazines, such as Skiing Magazine, Ski Magazine, Snow Country, Powder
Magazine, Snowboarder and Transworld Snowboarding in the United States, and
similar magazines in foreign markets.
To increase brand recognition, in addition to offering technologically
advanced bindings, the Company aggressively markets the Marker brand name. To
influence its presence in retail shops, the Company devotes resources to
maintaining and improving its relationships with retailers and shop personnel so
that they will use Marker products and recommend them to their retail customers.
In this regard, the Company, through its sales force, conducts in-shop sales
clinics. In addition, the Company, as part of the United States Authorized
Retailer Program, requires that all authorized retail shops employ a technician
who has been trained and certified by the Company concerning the installation
and adjustment of Marker bindings. Additionally, the Company sells its bindings
to the sales staff of its retailers and to professional skiers at special prices
so that they will be able to recommend the Company's products as a result of
personal experience.
To foster the recognition of the Marker brand name, the Company also
establishes endorsement relationships with national ski teams and racing
professionals. These endorsement contracts typically run from one to two years
and provide for a base payment to the racer, with additional payments for
placing in a competition. Racers using and endorsing Marker bindings have been
among the winners in World Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitions.
Many of the United States' best-known skiers, including 1998 Olympic Super G
Gold medalist Picabo Street, three-time World Cup Champion and Olympic Gold
medalist Phil Mahre, World Champions Steve Mahre and Tamara McKinney and Olympic
Gold medalist Stein Eriksen, endorse and use Marker bindings.
Many Olympic, World Cup and professional ski competitions have been won
by racers endorsing and using Marker bindings. Skiers endorsing and using Marker
bindings dominated the 1998 Winter Olympic Games held in Nagano, Japan in
February 1998, winning more medals than any other company: 6 Gold, 4 Silver and
5 Bronze. The 1998 Winter Olympic Gold medalists endorsing and using Marker
bindings included Picabo Street of the United States in the Super G, Jonny
Moseley of the United States in the Moguls, Eric Bergoust of the United States
in Aerials, Katja Seizinger of Germany in the Downhill and the Combined, and
Hilde Gerg of Germany in the slalom.
Skiers endorsing and using Marker bindings also excelled in the season
long 1998 FIS World Cup competition. Katja Seizinger is the 1998 Women's Overall
World Cup Champion as well as the 1998 World Cup Downhill and Super G Champion.
Athletes endorsing and using Marker bindings won more World Cup trophies than
those using other bindings on the World Cup. These athletes scored 25 wins,
7
<PAGE>
finished second 25 times and finished third 14 times out of 70 World Cup events
(37 men, 33 women), more than any other group of athletes endorsing any other
binding on the World Cup circuit. The Company believes that winning World Cup,
World Championship and Olympic competitions at places like St. Anton, Sestrieres
and Nagano increases the Company's visibility in the marketplace. Marker
engineers also use these competitions as opportunities to work with the Marker
skiers to develop new products and to test and refine prototypes, with the goal
of benefiting skiers of all levels. |
