By Eric Smith
British Columbia-based backcountry ski brand G3 has a simple mission that perfectly aligns with the skis, bindings, skins and other gear it has been making since 1995: Improve people’s winter backcountry experience.
Product innovation is, of course, where G3—officially Genuine Guide Gear Inc.—has been able to differentiate for nearly a quarter century, but a few years ago the company wanted to bring even more value to its customer base of backcountry skiers, snowboarders and splitboarders.
G3 in 2015 began focusing on how it could provide content to help its audience make better decisions about every aspect of their backcountry adventures. Until then, G3’s marketing efforts had been run of the mill, according to the company’s founder, Oliver Steffen, who spoke with SGB recently on a wide range of topics.
“Up to that point we had been creating content based on the same model that companies much bigger than us use,” Steffen said. “We created a few lifestyle-based mini ski webisodes per year based on our athlete team. These would get a little bit of excitement when launched, but would quickly fall off the radar of the ski community due to the amount of similar content being launched by other brands.”
Steffen said G3 dug deeper in hopes of truly showcasing the “collective expertise” of its brand, its team and its partners. The result was G3 University (or G3U), a series of videos and blogs to help backcountry explorers with anything they might need for an off-piste adventures, from trip planning and safety tips to gear selection and gear care.
“We had an opportunity here,” Steffen said. “G3’s team of engineers, athletes, professional guide partners and testers, and partnerships with organizations like Avalanche Canada, ACMG, AMGA, etc., allowed us to create a platform for high level backcountry-specific educational content to be shared with the world.”
Recent videos with titles like “Why Weight Matters,” “How To Trim Splitboard Climbing Skins” and “Backcountry Ski Poles: How To Select The Best Length & Get The Most Out of Them” not only tap into G3’s collective expertise but also harness the shared experiences and skills among the backcountry community, Steffen said
“Much of the backcountry ski lifestyle is passed along from one user to another,” Steffen said. “Your new ski partner may teach you a more efficient way to transition to ski mode while you may show them how you cut a skin track. We are just making that more of an open platform where anyone can learn how to be a better backcountry traveler and realize the value of getting educated, hiring a guide, or simply trying new things. Nothing in G3U is meant to replace proper backcountry training and education in the field with professional instructors. Instead, it is meant to whet the viewer’s appetite for this stuff and get them excited about that next level of training.”
G3 launched G3U in the fall of 2016 with about 50 videos, all made on the same annual budget the company had been using for its previous webisode program. These one- to four-minute videos are gaining traction, with content views up 500 percent, Steffen said.
And while “no single video is getting massive amounts of views, the catalog together appeals to every type of backcountry skier—whether you are just starting to venture beyond the gates at the resort or if you are a seasoned veteran having done this your entire life,” he added.
G3 didn’t develop and launch G3U necessarily to grow the top line, but this small investment in a unique digital marketing initiative is already yielding returns in the form of fulfilling the company’s mission statement.
“At G3, our goal is to amplify our customers’ exhilarating outdoor experiences so they can better experience their active lives,” Steffen said. “Nothing in G3U is directed as a hard sell of G3 product. It is all meant to improve our users’ backcountry experience. That is why we offer it for free to anyone who wants it. We use strong branding in every piece of content, but then let the user learn and engage with what is being taught. Ultimately, we want people to associate the G3 brand with the feeling they get when they have their best outdoor experiences.”
Here is the rest of what Steffen shared with SGB about a host of things happening at G3 beyond content marketing and G3U, including what’s driving growth and what’s new for the upcoming season.
Are you and the team ready for ski season and how much is getting out and making turns throughout the winter part of life at G3? As a winter seasonal business, everything we do prepares us for the upcoming winter season. We work every offseason to improve our systems and processes to be able to do what we do well each year. The culture at G3 thrives on ski touring. We are dedicated skiers and splitboarders that do what we do because of our connection to the sport and the outdoors. We all find time in the off hours to get out and explore the mountains as much as possible. Our products also require rigorous lab and field testing which none of us complaining about! We try to spend time together in the mountains each year, as well, either on single day ski tours or longer trips where we are able to grow as a team and improve what we can accomplish together. Most of the people at G3 are keen outdoors enthusiasts with many pursuits.
As we head into the prime snow sports selling season, how’s business and what’s driving growth? G3’s business is strong and growing in the 18/19 season. Our new product launches of the ZED binding, the ALPINIST+ family of skins, and the SEEKr skis are definitely supporting this growth. We are also seeing growth in the brand thanks to our strong internal team, our ever-improving business processes, and the way we are communicating the brand to our retailers and customers.
We continue to see an increase in backcountry skiing, snowboarding and splitboarding participation; what do you think is driving the “earn your turns” lifestyle and how is G3 working to both tap into and grow this trend? G3 was started as a backcountry brand; that has always been our focus. Product innovation, greater outdoor education, improvements in avalanche forecasting and communication, and more general awareness of what outdoor opportunities await people are all helping to grow the sport. G3 is a recognized authority in this area and we just want to continue to support the community in ways that improve their outdoor experiences.
Innovation is obviously crucial in snow sports hard goods; as the owner and CEO, how do you create a culture where your team is constantly innovating? Innovation is one of our core values at G3 along with perseverance and integrity; these values are at the heart of everything we do. We work on products we love and challenge each other to push what may be possible with each iteration. As a single-owner, privately held company we have the opportunity to take risks that we, as a team, believe in. We have systems in place that help push each other at each stage of a project and allow us to make sure we are on the right path to eventually innovating in a way that improves the backcountry experience for our users. It’s all about the end result for the user and ultimately if G3 has amplified the end users’ experience.
How important is your heritage story, but do you also strive to balance that legacy by keeping an eye on the future? It is important for us to be true to who we are. We have been a backcountry-focused company for nearly 25 years. This is who we are. Our origin story is important because it sets the stage for the G3 brand, but we don’t hang our hat on it. We want to make the best possible products right now and not rely on the past. We try to learn from everything we have been through to be the best version of ourselves in the future.
Has G3’s brand vision changed over the years, and if so, how? At G3, our goal is to amplify our customers’ exhilarating outdoor experiences so they can better experience their active lives. This vision and focus has always been true for G3, we have just become better over the years at articulating it and allowing it to drive our decision making throughout the company. Every decision we make—either in product, customer service, finance or marketing—is focused on improving the outdoor experience.
The retail landscape is continually evolving; how have you ensured that G3’s channel strategy is optimized for generating revenue while also maintaining a healthy production level? We have an omnichannel approach at G3. We look at every piece and see how they work together to support the industry, to give the best experience to the customer, and ultimately generate revenue for G3.
What should we look for from G3 next? We have our team in place to keep innovating and persevering to create great products, content, and customer interaction in a way that keeps the G3 brand top of mind for backcountry skiers and snowboarders.
Photo courtesy G3
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://s.gravatar.com/avatar/dec6c8d990a5a173d9ae43e334e44145?s=80[/author_image] [author_info]Eric Smith is Senior Business Editor at SGB Media. Reach him at eric@sgbonline.com or 303-578-7008. Follow on Twitter or connect on LinkedIn.[/author_info] [/author]
