By mid-2003, Ogden City Mayor Matthew Godfrey had a problem on his hands. The then 32-year-old mayor was coming to the end of his first term, an office he had won in part because of his promised focus on generating new jobs for Ogden. Unfortunately, the city’s economic development efforts targeting technology companies had not panned out.

“We had planned to first go after high-tech companies and then outdoor companies,” says Godfrey, a former All-American track star. “But three years later, we had zero success.”

Turns out Ogden didn’t have what most high-tech executives were looking for: Proximity to a top-notch research university, a fact that wasn’t likely to change soon.

Then came a call the mayor wasn’t expecting — the call from Curt Geiger.

A year and a half previously (in early 2002), Ogden native Geiger was running Descente North America, the athletic apparel company that was then headquartered in Denver. In spite of Colorado’s well-deserved reputation as a winter sports mecca, few ski or snowboard shop dealers ever visited Descente in Denver because the Colorado resorts were 90 minutes away from its downtown location. Hence, Descente was looking to relocate its U.S. operations, a search that was primarily focused on ski resort towns across America.

Coming Home
Not only did the 2002 Winter Olympic Games focus the world’s attention on Utah, they also attracted winter sports aficionados from around the world, including Geiger and his wife.

In his own words, Geiger was “blown away” by his visits to Utah’s Snowbasin, home to World Cup competitions and several downhill ski events in the 2002 Olympics.

“I was absolutely amazed at what Earl Holding had done with Snowbasin,” Geiger says. “It had become a world-class ski resort.”

It was after attending an Olympics event at Snowbasin and traveling to Ogden for dinner one evening that Geiger realized the city was no longer what one fellow outdoor executive termed “a boarded-up rail town.” Downtown Ogden is 20 minutes from Snowbasin, about 20 minutes from two other ski resorts, and less than 45 minutes from the Salt Lake International Airport, a potentially winning combination for Geiger and Descente. Hence, Geiger’s call to Mayor Godfrey in mid-2003.

Mayor Godfrey outlined the strengths the city offered, and a little more than a year later, Descente formally opened its North American headquarters in Ogden. According to Geiger, his brick-and-mortar costs dropped by more than 80 percent by moving to Ogden.

“That allowed us to spend more on ads, staff and events,” Geiger says. “In fact, that was part of our promise to our dealers: We were going to plow those savings back into building the Descente brand.” And that strategy has apparently worked. In the three-year period since moving to Ogden, Descente N.A. has seen its overall revenue increase by more than 70 percent.

Encouraging Growth
According to Mayor Godfrey, once Descente moved to Ogden, Geiger became a cheerleader for the city, approaching competitors and friends alike and explaining why the company had chosen the Northern Utah location.
Mike Dowse was one of those outdoor industry executives who saw Ogden’s potential. Besides, as a Utah-native Dowse already knew that Utah had the “best skiing in the United States.”

Not only had Descente and Goode Ski Technologies relocated to Ogden by mid-2006, Quicksilver had also announced its plans the previous year to consolidate its winter-sports businesses to Park City: Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange and Look.

Dowse, president and general manager of Amer Sports Winter and Outdoor America (ASWO), a unite of Finland-based Amer Sports (the largest sports equipment company in the world), was intrigued. In 2006, when Amer decided to consolidate Atomic USA, Salomon USA and Suunto USA (its three leading winter and outdoor sports companies) into one location, Utah was already on Amer’s short list, even if Ogden was not. Regardless, the city’s strengths soon rose to the forefront and by October 2007, ASWO had opened shop in Ogden City.

“For us it came down to the three Ms: the Mountain, the Mayor and the Money,” Dowse says. “Mayor Godfrey’s vision and passion for this place are unsurpassed. And it was one-third the cost to be in Ogden than Park City or Salt Lake.”

Currently, 13 winter-sports manufacturers have moved to Ogden – no surprise to Jason Perry, executive vice president of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.

“The outdoor products industry in Utah is hot,” Perry says, “which makes sense given that Utah is the world’s largest testing ground for outdoor products.”

 But even with its focus on wooing out-of-state companies, not all move to Ogden, nor are the only outdoor products companies in Utah transplants. Homegrown winter-sports companies range from Camp Chef and E.K. Ekcessories in Logan to Backcounty.com in Park City and 3point5 in Salt Lake City. Other examples include OGIO in Draper, Fezzarri in Orem, Delta 7 Sports in Payson and Zeal Optics in Moab.

What the Future Holds
Roughly more than 100 outdoor-products manufacturers are based in Utah today. So how big is this emerging category of businesses in Utah? Certainly it’s not grown anywhere near the size of the state’s high-tech industries. In that regard, perhaps an association for the Utah-based manufacturers of outdoor products is in order.

However, when taken in concert with the travel/tourism/recreation industries within Utah, especially those that leverage the state’s natural resources, the combined economic impact exceeds several billion dollars in annual revenue.

In the meantime, Mayor Godfrey has just entered what he promises will be his last term in office. That being the case, one wonders what Utah’s outdoor-products industry will look like when Ogden’s mayor steps down nearly four years from now.

Sidebar - Putdoor Products PR
By Colin Kelly Jr.

Business Connect asked three local executives whose firms specialize in outdoor products public relations to comment about their unique challenges when presenting their clients to the world.

Marit Fischer is the Park City director of Base Camp Communications. David Politis and Chip Smith are cofounders of SOAR Communications in Salt Lake City.

Marit Fischer: PR is changing. Staid, formatted, everyone-is-the-same press releases don’t fly anymore. They’re boring. Good PR now engages the community through social media. Blogs, forums and social sites like Facebook are the new playing field when it comes to publicizing a company, service or product. But you have to do it right. Transparency is key. As is voice. You have to move away from spin and tell it like it is. When you do this, and do it well, there’s lots of room to be irreverent and even funny. Whoever said that news has to be dull?

David Politis: Many companies are starting to understand Web 2.0 and comprehend that the consumer now has the power and desire to connect directly with a company. Whether a company supports that interest or not, its enthusiasts will find a way to connect and create a community around that brand. Savvy companies get that point and look for ways to support and engage those enthusiasts.

Chip Smith: Most companies not only want to sell to hard-core enthusiast but also want to expand and sell to the broad-based public.

As long as you don’t alienate the enthusiast core, PR is a great way to extend a brand’s reach beyond just the enthusiasts. Outdoor product companies have traditionally used small scale advertising more than PR to reach their core customers. When they see what it costs to advertise to the masses, they can’t afford to do it. But PR is an affordable way to reach the masses.

A good example is Fox Racing who was able to grow from branded racing gear and enthusiast clothing to branded casual clothing.