Imagine the logos of Audi, Easy-Jet or some other major brand printed in a big format on a pair of skis as a form of advertising. A group of five French entrepreneurs and former ski champions has launched this idea with the cooperation of Atomic, which has agreed to turn out limited editions of alpine skis featuring such brands that will be rented out to the general public at interesting conditions.
The objective is to place 10,000 pairs of such skis in about 150 independent rental stores in France for the first season, and to widen the distribution to other European countries thereafter. Some French retailers have already accepted to participate in the operation.
The new project, called SkiMedia, has been launched by a new French company, Innovaski. It has been negotiating a deal with three different brands, and it hopes to sign the first contracts in order to give its first contract to Atomic by the end of June, in time for the first skis to be rented out during the next winter season.
Innovaski proposes to lend the skis to retailers for a period of two years, charging only €118 per pair and collecting the money in installments, starting in January 2010. After two years, the skis will be taken out of the stores, to make sure that no damaged branded skis are in circulation, and then they will be destroyed by a recycling company.
Innovaski is run by Didier Schmidt, a former partner in big French ski rental company, Ski Republic, which will not participate in the SkiMedia project and is instead launching a franchising operation. Schmidt is one of Innovaski’s shareholders along with a well-known triple Olympic medalist, Franck Piccard; Sébastien Amiez; Pierre-Emmanuel Delattre; and Michel Vion, a former ski champion and a former brand manager of the Rossignol group. Some of them are also involved in another company, Tricolor, that has developed the ski suits of the instructors of more than 120 ski schools and clubs in France.
Schmidt denied reports that Bernard Liatti, who left as ski division manager of the Rossignol Group after its disposal by Quiksilver last year, is involved in the SkiMedia project, although he offered some advice on a friendly basis. Liatti has been involved in a co-branding operation, developing a line of Dynastar skis emblazoned with the Ferrari logo. Liatti has set up a consulting firm and is working on a takeover outside the snow sports sector.
