News broke recently that Nike has signed back on with IMG Action Sports for a “multi-year” sponsorship agreement for the U.S. Open of Surfing. After last year’s dramatic investment in the event from Hurley, Nike 6.0, and CONS the announcement brought up a slew of questions. How many years is the “multi-year” deal? What kind of plans do the brands have to out do themselves this year? Was there a measurable return on the company’s investment last year? If so, what was it?

TransWorld Business asked Hurley’s Founder, Bob Hurley all these questions and a few more. We got answers to most of them … well, sort of. Looks like there are some details Nike would prefer to save for later. So stay tuned for much more as the event dates—July 31–August 8—draw closer.

If you were to grade the marketing push, brand enhancement activation, and overall success of last year’s US Open for Hurley (and Nike 6.0 and Cons for that matter) what would give yourselves and why?

I would prefer to let the athletes who participated and the crowd who came out to support them give us a grade. Our whole focus was on elevating the experience. We were definitely happy with the outcome and it was a huge credit to all involved, especially the community.

Based on last year’s turnout, what was the number one lesson learned and how do you plan on adapting this year to implement improvements?

I’d say the lesson we learned is that when the three brands come together, we can accomplish some amazing things. As for what we will improve for this year, you’ll have to wait for more details.

How many years is the “multi-year” deal with IMG? Why not disclose this in the release?

We generally don’t reveal the specifics of any of our contracts.

There are a lot of moving parts to the US Open property and a number of ancillary events in HB during that time frame. How do you approach utilizing all of these (the sporting events, Agenda trade show, movie premieres, parties, etc.) to create the strongest branding opportunity possible?

For all the reasons you mentioned above, we believe the US Open of Surfing has the potential to be an All-Star weekend for action sports, where the sports’ best athletes compete, the fans are entertained, and the industry comes together to celebrate. As far as the branding opportunity, you have to focus and try to make every experience special. You can’t assume that people will be coming along for the week-long journey of everything you do. But for those that do, you will see a common thread in our story telling and experience.

How does the event activation breakdown from a management standpoint between Nike and Hurley?

All three brands (Hurley, 6.0, and Converse) have dedicated teams for their specific event, as well as an overall team (comprised of members from all three brands and IMG) that steers the whole event. Though it’s “lots of moving parts,” as you said earlier, it’s energizing when you bring the thinking of three creative brands together.

Obviously this event is a major investment. How do you measure ROI on something of this magnitude?

The US Open is part of our overall commitment to the action sports community. We measure that success over the long term. In the short term, we judge ourselves on whether or not this event will be better than the last year. We’re confident it will be.

Did Hurley, Nike 6.0, and CONS conduct any sort of research tied to the event as far as regional sales spikes, Web traffic, etc that you can share that offer any significant, quantifiable data or interesting stats?

We have numbers that supported many of the elements of the event last year. We were encouraged, but we expect to deliver on a whole new level this year.

story via transworld.net

Huntington Beach set for the Hurley US Open Of Surfing basically looks … flat.

surfline is reporting a possible ground swell to fill in later today, but that will only push the surf into the 1-3 ft range.. There are some surfers out, but looks like slim pickings…

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Tuesday, July 14, 2009) – Hurley has just made the unprecedented announcement that first place in the upcoming Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star U.S. Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach will now be US$100,000, the biggest prize purse in professional surfing’s history.

“Huntington Beach is ground zero for competitive surfing in mainland America, and on the 50th anniversary of major events at the Pier, we’re excited and honored to help bring surfing back to center stage at the U.S. Open,” Evan Slater, Hurley Digital Marketing Manager, said. “This includes attracting the world’s best surfers and making it the significant event it deserves to be.”

The event, which runs at the historic Huntington Beach Pier from July 20 – 26, 2009, has attracted a bevy of the world’s best surfers from the prestigious ASP Dream Tour as well as the top ASP WQS seeds looking to gain valuable qualification points in their respective campaigns for an ASP World Tour berth in 2010.

“Going back to the Op Pro days in the early to mid 80s, the event here at Huntington always seemed larger than life,” Slater said. “Where your heroes performed the unimaginable right in front of you. The waves weren’t the key factor it was the atmosphere. At Rob Machado’s suggestion, who remembers those days clearly as a kid, he felt a first-place incentive like this would help rekindle that electric atmosphere.”

Hurley’s unparalleled financial incentive has caught the global attention of surfers, fans, industry powerbrokers and the ASP.

“Hurley already has a reputation with Hurley Pro Trestles in San Clemente, providing one of the best events on the planet for both surfers and fans,” Brodie Carr, ASP International CEO, said. “This year, we have started early with Hurley’s $100k 1st place prize purse at the upcoming U.S. Open – the biggest winner’s prize in surfing history!”

Hurley is no stranger to financial contributions to the world’s best surfers Bob Hurley, Founder and Chairman of Hurley International, famously upped first prize at last season’s inaugural Hurley Pro Trestles (an ASP World Tour event) from US$30,000 to US$75,000 moments before the Final. When asked if their prize money incentive at the upcoming ASP WQS meant the potential for an even bigger gesture at this year’s Hurley Pro Trestles in September, the industry power player remained guarded.

“We can’t comment on that now,” Slater said. “But let’s just say that we like surprises.”

The ASP WQS 6-Star Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing will be held at California’s famed Huntington Beach Pier from July 20 – 26, 2009.

The event will be web LIVE at www.usopenofsurfing.com

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org

story from ASP