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Tricia

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I sat down with Marjie McKone, Marketing Director in the U.S., at the Rossignol headquarters in Park City to talk about their We Rise campaign. I was surprised to find that it wasn't gear related, but instead more of a call to action for women.
weRise.png
It’s our goal to encourage all women, whatever their age, skill level, or background, to get outdoors and into the mountains. To feel the exhilaration of sliding on snow no matter the application. To create a positive and inspiring community where women across the globe can interact, offer advice and share ideas. A gathering place for women everywhere, and We Rise is our rallying call.
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Edit to add Q & A
Also posted in #27

  • Q: What influenced you to start We-Rise?
  • A: It was initially started in the European market Led by Marion Bonnard, Women’s Category Manager because (from their website)*the demands for gender equality and more female participation in sport have reached a fever pitch across the globe. A wave of positivity and a movement perfectly aligned with Rossignol and our vision of Another Best Day, every day, for every participant.*
  • Q: What is the objective?
  • A: We want to celebrate Rossignol's community of women and reinforce a commitment to develop dedicated women's' products and a drive to create opportunities for women to come together and share their passion for the mountains. We want to inspire, motivate and support women in the outdoor community, and lift the next generation.
  • Q: Why the "We-Rise"?
  • A: Our intent is to raise each other up and encourage women to be the best they can be, not just as skiers but in every aspect
  • Q: What is your next step?
  • A: When we launch we will start with a video of Rossi athlete Marion Haerty, sharing more aspects of her life than skiing, which will be followed by other female Rossignol athletes
  • Q: Where do you see the future of this program?
  • A: We will be working on some women specific ski clinics at our partner resorts which will be supported by female instructors, female binding/ski techs, and female facilitators. The plan is to have the clinic supported with quality instruction and Rossignol demo gear that is set up by women in a thoughtful manner.
  • Q: How do you see Tricia and Pugski helping with this program?
  • A: We'd like you to get the word out.
*I will provide a list of resorts where these clinics will be taking place as they are confirmed.
Some preliminary thoughts are places like, Deer Valley, Stratton, Seven Springs, Snowbasin, Crystal, Steamboat

This list will be confirmed as the clinics are set up.
 
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Tricia

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WeRise will be shining the spotlight on some amazing female athletes, sharing their experiences on the slopes, on the trails and in their every day lives.
The first WeRise Spotlight is Marion Haerty


 

Analisa

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I get what they were going for with a “rallying call,” but the fact that it’s one traditionally used in marginalized communities fighting for human rights is super cringey to me. Especially in a super white sport. Especially announced on Indigenous Peoples/Columbus Day.

Did they miss the OR show where the biggest headlines were about co-opting ideas from people of color?
 
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Tricia

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I get what they were going for with a “rallying call,” but the fact that it’s one traditionally used in marginalized communities fighting for human rights is super cringey to me. Especially in a super white sport. Especially announced on Indigenous Peoples/Columbus Day.

Did they miss the OR show where the biggest headlines were about co-opting ideas from people of color?

I can't disagree. I get the call to action for women to create a community of support to get out and enjoy the slopes among other outdoor activities, and perhaps I am too close to the industry and knew this was coming so I felt warm and fuzzy about it, but since I missed the actual launch, I did a google search and it only brings up human and civil rights actions.
I had to go directly to Rossignol's website to find the content I posted above.
As for the launch date being on Peoples/Columbus Day.....I didn't realize that.

I will say, in their defense, We Rise with Rossignol was originally created in France and has been fairly active over there. From what I understand (and I could be wrong) the launch and emphasis in the US market is through Rossignol US but the French office is where the direction is coming from. I wonder if they had any idea that Columbus Day even existed.
 

AmyPJ

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I'm looking forward to seeing what direction Rossi plans to go with this, and what they have in store at Snowbasin this winter.
 

RachelV

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I took this to be aimed less at resort skiing
specifically and more at getting women in the mountains in general, and I do think that overall intent is great. While the ratio of men / women in resort skiing is equal-ish, it’s worse for touring / backcountry, and, as discussed recently in another thread, pretty bad for guiding.

There’s nothing about it that’s “forced diversity”, it’s just nice to see examples of people who look like you doing the thing you’re thinking about doing before you do something. It’s not a requirement, of course, it just makes the barrier feel a little lower.

I took this campaign to be a more serious version of this video, I guess:
 
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On a side note, when I was at the Rossignol offices a few weeks back, I saw these soft shell ski pants that I really want!
06456C80-293F-4960-9A4F-42AF9B435110.jpeg
 

mountainwest

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There’s nothing about it that’s “forced diversity”, it’s just nice to see examples of people who look like you doing the thing you’re thinking about doing before you do something. It’s not a requirement, of course, it just makes the barrier feel a little lower.
Agreed!
 

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I can understand why you may think that way. You probably won’t “get it” until you walk a day in a female’s shoes. I would challenge you to try to see the outdoor industry world through a woman’s eyes...

- Walking into a ski shop and being recommended a ski that is 10 cm too short for you without being asked any questions about how you ski.

This is the reason my wife has pondered not skiing this year. She wants new boots, but the shops have just treated her like crap. She went in trying to a higher performance boot last year and again earlier this month. they continually try to sell her a 65-70 flex boot. She tells them what she wants, they continually discount her requests.. I’ve tried to stay out of it, she made the appoint to allow ample time with the fitter (no kids just her) and they immediately go to the soft ‘lodge mom’ boot as the last guy put it, he fitter explained that these would allow her to still be comfortable while preparing lunch for the family... what???
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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This is the reason my wife has pondered not skiing this year. She wants new boots, but the shops have just treated her like crap. She went in trying to a higher performance boot last year and again earlier this month. they continually try to sell her a 65-70 flex boot. She tells them what she wants, they continually discount her requests.. I’ve tried to stay out of it, she made the appoint to allow ample time with the fitter (no kids just her) and they immediately go to the soft ‘lodge mom’ boot as the last guy put it, he fitter explained that these would allow her to still be comfortable while preparing lunch for the family... what???
Tell her she’s going into the wrong shop. Better yet, send her to me!

But seriously, what would you do to make sure she has a positive experience in skiing?
 

Ski&ride

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I totally agree women in outdoor recreation/sports are not getting served as well as they should be (compared to men).

But I don’t see how the “We Rise” thing is going to help. Having a pretentious catchy phrase notwithstanding.
 

EricG

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Tell her she’s going into the wrong shop. Better yet, send her to me!

But seriously, what would you do to make sure she has a positive experience in skiing?

I actually signed up her for a women’s ski group this year (6 or 7 weeks). It’s 4hrs of group skiing with drinks & apps after. I hoping that if I can get the boot thing figured out she might enjoy skiing with a L3 instructor and 4 other ladies mid week exploring the mountain.
 

mountainwest

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This is the reason my wife has pondered not skiing this year. She wants new boots, but the shops have just treated her like crap. She went in trying to a higher performance boot last year and again earlier this month. they continually try to sell her a 65-70 flex boot. She tells them what she wants, they continually discount her requests.. I’ve tried to stay out of it, she made the appoint to allow ample time with the fitter (no kids just her) and they immediately go to the soft ‘lodge mom’ boot as the last guy put it, he fitter explained that these would allow her to still be comfortable while preparing lunch for the family... what???

Yeah that's outrageous and absurd, and she needs to go to a different shop. Are there any shops near you with female boot fitters? My local shop has a female Master Bootfitter who has treated me very well. She sold me a pair of 100 flex boots in my second season of skiing (at her suggestion based on what I told her about my style and goals - and they were pefect).
 

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I totally agree women in outdoor recreation/sports are not getting served as well as they should be (compared to men).

But I don’t see how the “We Rise” thing is going to help. Having a pretentious catchy phrase notwithstanding.

Yeah ... I will withhold judgment until this Rossignol thing is fleshed out -- except I won't, so now I'll be judgy. lol. I just don't see where they are going, especially compared with Blizzard's W2W and K2's Alliance. Those campaigns offer specific, concrete goals and processes. At this point, Rossi looks like it just realized "Oh shit, we don't have a fancy female campaign -- hurry, let's get inspirational!" It's early, though, so there is that caveat.

Who exactly is the target here? I don't understand exactly how inspiring women to go outside (I mean, honestly, that isn't such a stretch) is going to make dumb shop employees any less oblivious. My idea is shock collars: salesmen must wear them, and they must give the women customers the clickers. Each time a male employee says something condescending or cringe-inducing, *buzz*! If you really want to fix things, that would work the fastest. (Now I'm off to think up a catchy title for this campaign, which I do think is needed.)
 
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Tricia

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I actually signed up her for a women’s ski group this year (6 or 7 weeks). It’s 4hrs of group skiing with drinks & apps after. I hoping that if I can get the boot thing figured out she might enjoy skiing with a L3 instructor and 4 other ladies mid week exploring the mountain.
Where is this program?
The reason I asked is because I was involved with the conception of a women's program at Northstar about 5 years ago that was fantastic the first year, then the "experts" came in to tweak it so some of the platform we formed it on dissolved.
This is how it worked when I helped with it:
Women would come in to the Adventure Learning Center and I'd ask them a few questions to set them up in high performance rental gear, meaning, not basic, but appropriate for their size and ability, including a *better* rental boot that was appropriately sized.
They had a 4 hour lesson with a max 4 women per group
After their lesson they came into the shop at the base where we had a nice après set up and they had time to ask me questions which were personalized toward them, including boot fitting, ski technology, waterproof mittens/gloves, trends in tech clothing, etc...

The idea of this program was to set these women up for success and help them take control of their own ski experience
Quite often the tech talk at the end of the day inspired *lightbulb* moments.

Me: So, Ann, when your instructor told you to do this, what happened?
Ann: I was easier to turn than the last time I tried this
Me: Here is the basic rental ski you had last time. This is the ski you were on today. See how this tip is shaped like this and the (blah blah blah- me explaining the difference). The rental ski just lets you smear into a turn while this one has more torsional ridgidity (I then explain torsional). *****PING**** lightbulb.

Most often these women continued skiing, came back to me for a boot fit appointment and we've stayed in contact, mostly because this program and my part in it treated them like they were intelligent and important. Ownership has its benefit.

It was sad to see the corporate structure take the personal touch out of it.
 

EricG

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Yeah that's outrageous and absurd, and she needs to go to a different shop. Are there any shops near you with female boot fitters? My local shop has a female Master Bootfitter who has treated me very well. She sold me a pair of 100 flex boots in my second season of skiing (at her suggestion based on what I told her about my style and goals - and they were pefect).

The real point of my post is that women are commonly misunderstood when they are in a shop. This is an issue that I feel is across most recreational sports places of business. It could be a ski/snowboard shop, bike shop, gun shop, etc.. In general it is easier for a guy to walk into any of these retail establishments and buy a product than many most females..

'll leave it at that as I am deleting my long diatribe about the sports recreation industry.

Tricia you have PM.
 
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Tricia

Tricia

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The real point of my post is that women are commonly misunderstood when they are in a shop. This is an issue that I feel is across most recreational sports places of business. It could be a ski/snowboard shop, bike shop, gun shop, etc.. In general it is easier for a guy to walk into any of these retail establishments and buy a product than many most females..

'll leave it at that as I am deleting my long diatribe about the sports recreation industry.

Tricia you have PM.
If you should ever happen to be in the Tahoe area, please connect with me. Your story is not the first and this is why I'm having a hard time pulling away from boot fitting at a shop. I have developed a big list of female clients because of this very thing.
 

Analisa

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Kind of echoing what @SBrown had to say, I struggle a lot with a lot of these women's initiatives. The main messaging seems to focus around the fact that they have a very robust testing program for their women's line, which, surprisingly, hasn't been going on for super long amounts of time, nor is it being ton by the entire industry. That being said, it's also not particularly new. I know it's not the case for all skiers, but I don't know a time before solid women's gear. The first Aura, Kenja, Black Pearl, and Dakota came out when I was in high school. The women's-specific Joy line wasn't long after (RIP Big Joy). The marketing message of "hey, we've been actually prototyping and testing your skis over the last 5-10 years" doesn't seem particularly compelling. I'd gander that a lot of it is reactionary after the launch of Coalition Snow, and needing to form a marketing narrative about women and display the strengths that many of the big name brands have. (Or they were just late to the Empowerment Marketing movement that really kicked up 4-5 years ago).

The classic skeptical, cynical Gen Z/Millennial fence-straddler in me is really disappointed that the empowerment story is limited to the messages that move gear. If brands really wanted to show that this was a value, not a marketing gimmick, they'd increase sponsorship for their female athletes, research the pay gap and address differences in advancement opportunities across gender, ensure ethical working conditions for factories and supply chain partners (in the apparel world, brands are still walking away from or working with factories to instill that pregnancy testing your female employees is not okay). I think Burton definitely deserves accolades for including this in their overall goals for sustainable and ethical sourcing, and they have hard goals and a place to publicly track progress against them. They have not gotten enough recognition from the snowsports community for how they creatively figured out how to support Kimmy Fasani through her pregnancy and motherhood, nor for their announcement that they were amending all of their female athlete contracts accordingly. (An announcement prompted by Nike's PR fiasco after putting out a nice touchy-feely Mother's Day commercial, only for athletes to quickly discredit it. Really good read if you missed it). Younger customers expect a lot of transparency and authenticity from brands - and consistency. We called out superficial eco initiatives for greenwashing, superficial social initiatives as goodwashing, and superficial empowerment marketing as... feminine washing? (Do I dare make a douching metaphor? About how both pretend to be good for women but don't do any good? And before anyone flags this as crass, I'll direct your attention over to last year's "Cold Junk" thread).

I've been to some really incredible women-only events and I see what they're aiming for, but I don't think it executes. There is something really powerful and magical about working with someone who really believes in you and your potential as a female athlete. To tack on to your comment, @Tricia, I don't think the industry thinks as highly of female skiers, and I think that's why the corporate replication of these moments kind of cheapens it. Namely they market to one archetype of a female skier compared to all of the different disciplines of skiers on the men's side. The industry hasn't figured out how to nuance the narrative, and it makes more advanced skiers not feel seen and creates a ceiling effect for intermediate skiers in terms of what to strive for.

I think most brands are jockeying over market share without thinking of how to grow the pie. The more exploration women do across the mountain, the more progression they make, and the more they understand about their gear, the more gear they'll grow through/ultimately need to buy.
 
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Guy in Shorts

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Wife gave up the corporate world five years ago to ski everyday. She works retail for the resort a couple of hours at the end of the day. She is the go to employee on exactly what the conditions are on the mountain. The quiver of women skiers that often join up up with us is growing. Find myself on the tails of some amazing female skiers. Joke with my Brother-in-Law that he has to keep up our asthmatic 67 yo friend or we might have to drop him. In my world you better be able to - Ski like a girl.
 

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I sat down with Marjie McKone, Marketing Director in the U.S., at the Rossignol headquarters in Park City to talk about their We Rise campaign. I was surprised to find that it wasn't gear related, but instead more of a

I’d be interested in hearing more about about the talk you had with Marjie McKone, to learn more about this initiative from someone involved in marketing it. Any chance you plan on doing a write up based on your talk?
 
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