Response to Kristen Shea

Do you find yourself in need of a constant new item or toy? Do you find yourself to be a big spender or saver?

I find myself always wanted new items but not necessarily needing them. As I have gotten older I have learned that I do not really need much and I should save my money for important things. It is also hard to buy things as a broke college student so I try to not even look. Clothing is my wearkness and I can always use new clothes. I am definitely a saver and always have been. I have always tried to save my money and do not like to spend extra money where I don't need to. I do like to travel a lot and I will find myself spending money to go out with friends and do things. It is more important to me to have fun with friends than to buy expensive things. When I finally have a job and am not spending 10 hours a day on homework it will be nice to be able to buy some things that I want.

Burton Snowboards

Burton snowboards is a $487 million dollar industry and is the top name in snowboarding. But do they really produce best snowboard products? The answer is no, but because of the name many people will automatically think that it is a good snowboard or pair of bindings. They use marketing tools like Sean White and are the main sponsor for snowboarding in the Olympics and x-games. I always wonder if spending millions and millions of dollars to sponsor the biggest names and events actually pays off. We see a "red bull" billboard at a red sox game. We dont think anything of it at the time, yet red bull is the most popular energy drink out there. As goes for Burton, they are the most popular snowboard brand out there. The odd thing is, everyone that is an adamant snowboarder and goes 40+ days a year will not be caught dead wearing Burton. By becoming so main stream they have lost the market of snowboarders that actually know how to snowboard and ride every day. We do not want to buy a pair of bindings for $400 that are going to break half way through the season because they say "Burton" on it. But with all the gapers out there they presume Burton as a cool company of high quality because of who they sponsor, so they buy them.

Do you think putting their name on huge events such as red bull and the olympics, or Burton and the x-games competitions makes them be perceived as better than other brands like Amp Energy or GNU? Does this make you buy the more expensive-known brand over the smaller ones?