TW Surf: Having fun with the Brand

Overview: Transworld Surf, never lacking for personality thanks to colorful ideas from editorial staff Chris Cote, Casey Koteen, Justin Cote and Aaron Checkwood, has taken its video production to a new level with the Transworld Surf Nerd, starring Managing Editor, Casey Koteen.

Surf Nerd is essentially a quiz game show shot on a set built within the new TW offices. With Koteen as host and celebrities from surfing as the contestants, the show is a simple surf-trivia concept but it’s the execution that makes it stand out. Completely tongue-in-cheek, the Surf Nerd show tries to keep a legitimate face amidst the classic cheesy host get up, the luau-style set, a live studio audience and a myriad of funny sound effects. Koteen says they have a lot of fun with the show even though researching the questions is a lot more work than he expected. “The purpose of the show is just to have fun and further differentiate ourselves from the other surf titles. But hopefully this is just a start of us doing original video content which I think there is a lot of room for.”

Results: So far Koteen says the response has been all positive and they are currently exploring marketing opportunities. Even if the show never makes it to network (Cote is exploring the possibilities) or produces off-the-charts traffic, it is having its effects. “A couple weeks ago we were in a bar and usually people come up to Chris because he’s the recognizable face of TW Surf from being on Fuel TV and various interviews. But this time a guy came up and recognized me as ‘that surf nerd guy from the website’.”

For more info: casey.koteen@transworld.net  http://surf.transworld.net/videos/transworld-surf-nerd/

Kiteboarding Editor Solves Editor's Letter Dilemma

Overview: Every editor struggles finding valuable content for the editor's letter. No one wants your letter to be a glorified table of contents nor does anyone want to hear how your job is tough but someone has to do it. So how can that page create real value?

Mythbusting: Aaron Sales, Editor of Kiteboarding may have found the solution in his December issue. He tackled a longstanding myth about kiteboarding--whether the kite would fly better if inflated with helium rather than air. On the surface, this is just an interesting-to-kiteboarders "I've always wondered about that" kind of piece. But at its core it could be the blueprint for a "mythbuster" type-column where you as editor can serve as almost a peoples' advocate--going out there and solving the questions about which everyone has always wondered.

Sales says this particular issue has been a question for almost ten years. "Finally we just moved forward and tested it ourselves. It didn't work as we hoped, the kite didn't just float in the air and change the way we fly, but it's good to put the myth to rest."

Results:  Sales says so far he's gotten really good response on the piece and he's now looking for other things to demystify. "It has inspired me to take on challenges. It's given me focus and it's giving the reader something interesting to read."
For more info: aaron.sales@bonniercorp.com

Transworld Skateboarding's Skate and Create

Overview:
Transworld Skateboarding’s Skate and Create is the mother of all made-for-magazine contests. In it’s second year, the contest delivers exclusive, unique and interesting editorial, creates a branded format, has multi-platform applications, has the support of top athletes and brands, has a huge reader interaction element and even generates revenue.

Skate and Create is a four-team contest where each team is given free reign of a warehouse full of skate obstacles for nine days to create a skate-able concept that makes for dynamic videos and images. The result is displayed in a 64-page edit piece and some of the best, most creative videos of the year hosted on the TW Skate website.

The anti-contest...
Editor-in-Chief Skin Phillips says the concept was a team effort. “We knew we wanted to do an event. We started by deciding what we didn’t like in traditional contests and what we would like to see instead. Everything about it was an anti-contest.” In addition to its unique format, Phillips says the real purpose is to give TW Skate controlled content. “The trouble we were facing in contests is that we’d be there with ten other magazines so our coverage looked the same as the others. We wanted it more like the NBA where we could control everything, that’s what makes it fresh.”

Planning starts in October and the skating and shooting goes on from February to May. The issue is created in July or August and the winner and all the content is in the October issue. Phillips says his edit team works seven months on this one issue, “but it’s so different it’s worth it.”

Results: Some of the best content of the year unseen anywhere else.
Other applications: Any magazine can create a made for mag contest. TW Snow did a great version this year (which we'll profile next month).
For more info: Skin.Phillips@transworld.net

Scuba Diving's December Cover

Overview:
The new issue of Scuba Diving is out and its cover is really turning heads. After a year of doing “somewhat questionable” black and white covers in the Men’s Fitness vein, the Scuba Team wanted to go to color shots underwater where Scuba belongs.

For the shot, Photo Editor Carrie Garcia first commissioned a 4-foot tall tank to be built for $500, then the hard part started. “We wanted to drop the computer in the water to get bubbles and splash but the computer was so top heavy it would fall forward every time. We needed it vertical for the shoot.” When she and her crew figured it all out, the thought of how they looked doing the shoot is comical.

Not your usual cover shoot...
With one hand, Scuba Diving Art Director Monica Albert held a small, perforated hose into the tank and with the other hand, a similar, thicker hose. Sport Diver Art Director Jenn Pileggi dangled the computer into the tank by a string with one hand and held the other end of the small hose in the other. Garcia, who was taking the shot held an end of the large hose in one hand and a Canon 5D Mark 2 with a 24mm to 105mm lens in the other. “When we were ready, Monica would blow bubbles out the small hose and I would blow bubbles out the large hose. The big bubbles made the splash-like effect and the smaller bubble made it look more natural. We’d shoot rapid fire until we ran out of breath.” They shot two different products two different ways with two different colored Plexiglas backgrounds.

As for the results: “I was ecstatic” Garcia relates. “It’s my third cover but definitely my favorite. It was great to see it in print because it took because it took so much planning. When it came out I was walking the office showing everyone so I guess I was pretty excited.”

Results: Too early to tell but getting a great response.
For more info: Carrie.garcia@bonniercorp.com

Ski Magazine's Resort Survey Interactive Tool

Overview:
Ski magazine has re-purposed the data from its print Resort Guide into a great interactive infographic on its website. You can click on any category from "nightlife" to "snow quality" and the graphic instantly changes to show every resort's relative strength. Megan Miller, Digital Director of the Bonnier Mountain Group says in developing the tool she wanted to graphically find a way to represent the results. While Miller's team didn't build the tool, (she outsourced it to a team she had worked with at PopSci in the past), she knew they made really great Flash grapics. She recalls, "it was their idea to make it a circle because once the variables started changing they thought it would look almost like a snowflake." Ski's Editor, Greg Ditrinco who has been associated with the magazine's Resort Guide for 13 years finds this digital display particularly interesting. "It translates our biggest franchise to our website and accurately displays the breadth of our knowledge, showcasing 18 different categories across 50 resorts." Ditrinco even sees leveraging this tool across Ski's coverage in other areas such as soft goods and hard goods, making it a signature tool for the site.

Results: Fast Company magazine showcased the tool as "Infographic of the Day."
Other Applications: Any magazine could use something similar to display comparisons such as gear tests.
For more info: Megan.Miller@bonniercorp.com.