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The Power of Marketing

Daily News January 15th, 2014 · 7:08 am · 52

subway-ollie marketing

A little known fact that came up at the time of our noseslide research in 2012: Eric Koston was not the first person to noseslide the curved rail at Philadelphia City Hall. James Frankhouse was. Even if Koston was the second to do it, he was still really the first. Why? Koston’s was in one of the biggest blockbuster skate videos of all time. James Frankhouse’s was in some Colorado shop video. (BTW, we’ll send anyone a care package if they could procure the part for online viewing.)

Any rich girl who vacations for a living can tell you about the value of #marketing and having a strong #personalbrand. Why would skateboarders assume that they are exempt from the rule?

While we were touting Koki Loaiza’s benchmark of being the first person to ever ollie over subway tracks, a commenter (“cheese”) insisted that “my n*gga Mike from the Bronx” had done it a year earlier. He had proof, in the form of a 240p YouTube upload from summer 2012. Why was M.N.M.F.T.B. not being properly credited for his achievement? Marketing, man. He did not have a filmer and photographer willing to stand in the middle of the tracks, access to New York Times editors’ ears, or a production team responsible for past subway-related successes.

Another commenter offered some friendly advice: “Mike from da Bronx need better marketing people fam.” “Cheese” took note and went on to make a 240p re-edit featuring the trick in question, as an effort to give M.N.M.F.T.B. the accolades that he never received.

The fancy angle from the Tengu video is cool and all, but you realize how little space there is between the board throwdown and the edge of the platform more here.

52 Comments

  7. shout out to the homie mike from the BX. much love to QS for shining some light! out here fools

  9. Heard that Shef tale, too back in 89 or 90. Something like that. Tons of urban legend about that guy-probably mostly true. Quartersnacks or NYSkateboarding should get an interview with Sheffey and ask him. Either way M.N.M.F.T.B. & Koki are completely insane and if you’re first, second or tenth to make it. Shit is still wild.

  13. MNMFTB comin thru! you gotta give it to the tengu subway part tho, that whole part was insanity, cant believe what they managed to do. and there were like 2 or 3 angles on the subway ollie hahaha, production value son

  14. HAHA Good looks fam! I’m stoked this is getting posted up in here. Jeff Ceez did the re-edit , no relation to Cheese who brought light to this clip. I just thought it deserved a lil re-edit. Maybe MNMFTB gonna get some love off of this vid.

  16. Half of the city is overrun by Floridians. Good to see local cats crushin it long before Mr Tango’s circus came to town. Shout to Allen Cha-Ching for the NYTimes bread

  19. Whattya say all, can we give it up for this young man, MNMFTB? Sheeeiiitt. Mawfukkas talmbout mindin’ the gap, this man went right over the whole gotdayyyum thing! Props.

  21. Funny too that in the skateboard world a few emails and knowing the right photographer equals marketing.

  25. That video of MNMFTB looks like it was filmed in 92.Typing those six letters is so much fun. Never gets old. MNMFTB.

  27. just in case anyone isn’t aware, colin read and i are actually very anti-marketing. our projects are created with a pure intent, and are not influenced by companies who want to be a part of it. in fact we are weary of most companies in skateboarding, what they are doing to skateboarding, and what they are trying to sell. we purposefully did not invite well known professional skaters, since it would take away from the fidelity of the project in hopes of getting press attention. we invited friends. we didn’t reach out to any of the media outlets who continue to make requests, and have turned down the majority of them due to their lack of credibility and integrity, and what we would be supporting by allowing them to have content we created, whether in mainstream media like the ny post, or in skateboarding like the berrics or espn.

    the projects were noticed because colin and crew killed it, conceptually, physically, and aesthetically. the projects, like many skateboard projects, are a collaborative efforts between skateboarders, filmer, and photographer. if a filmer, photographer, or skater sucks, their work might not be noticed.

    if we want to talk about marketing, maybe we can discuss what QS is. while there is some legitimacy to some articles here. there is also plenty of witty writing used to market low fidelity projects, random, insignificant, or unimpressive skating or filming into something cool, fun, or sellable. there is also a handful of marketing of merchandise, and the street cred of corporations who have skateboard marketing departments.

  30. Wow, Allen Ying, quite the bushel of value judgments there…

    Before we get in to whether QS’s contents is, as you identify it, “low fidelity, random, insignificant, or unimpressive,” let’s be clear about what you’re talking about. Let’s talk about Quartersnacks. You know very well that Quartersnacks is not an organization or a company, but largely the work of one very prolific individual, someone who has a specific view of what they like about skateboarding, and who uses their talents in communication to promote that. You both share a lot. Further, I think, and you may agree, that the “low fidelity, random, insignificant, or unimpressive” aspects of skateboarding end up being the most meaningful.

    While your point over all is well-taken, re: “pure intent,” the line that you draw between marketing and anti-marketing is pretty fuzzy. Skateboarding is and has always been funded by outside money. All of us, when we either bought our first skateboard or had our first skateboard bought for us by a parent, were outside money. It is, from your end and from that of most of your peers at this point, a business. Your print magazine, 43, is a platform for you to promote what you like about skateboarding, and that type of promotion is, as a professional photographer, another way of saying marketing. As a freelance photographer, you naturally tread the line between celebrating and exploiting, and that is something that you should be well aware of.

    By attempting to unveil the secret cogs that run the business side of QS, or positioning yourself as decidedly against the skateboarding industry, you are not necessarily showing integrity. You are taking a well-worn stance against the bad buy, but in this case, you’ve picked the wrong target.

    Keep doing what you do. What you do is great. You should see no need to defend yourself by making meaningless value judgments.

  32. I think Mr. Ying may be missing the the rather obvious (at least to me) satirical elements that are inherent in the Snackman’s writing. It is capable and insightful writing, but at the end of the day, I think it’s just supposed to poke fun at an activity whose participants all too often tend to take it far too seriously. As for the marketing thing, if your homie-based website caught on with people enough based on the quality of its execution, why wouldn’t you brand yourself? All I know is that I laugh my ass off whenever I hop on QS, and I’m not even from New York.

  33. Allen just tossing salt because him and his homie done spent 80 gs on a cameras and crew for a ollie and MNMFTB did it with a cellphone in2012.

  34. hey, you know, maybe i took it the wrong way, maybe i didn’t get the humor, and although QS can be a site of one person’s view of what they like about skateboarding, it also comes off as a sort of authority on skateboarding. so i had these feelings for a few days and felt obliged to share some info that i felt was wrong.

    thanks.

  35. Using Kickstarter to market yourself as anti-marketing to people who don’t like marketing ?

  38. Stop. Now, look and listen…..here come your main man,it’s the Proposition! Heh Heh Heh. Y’all got yourselves fired up, heh heh. Mr. Allen Ying, I got mad love for you. I got the postcard y’all put out of Stevie doin the bs180 nosegrind on my fridge (Y’all know I open that mawfuggah about 15 times a day, heh heh). On that real tip though, the SnackMan provides quality writing for free, and has been for a minute. I remember reading about skate spots from 5050 skateboarding. People can’t really be no authority unless others give them the authority, feel me? Snack got love all over, even from strangers. Why, I was in Philly the other weekend and some guy on the bus started cracking up over the 50 Cent sticker “skateboarding is a way of life I aint wit it”. Didn’t know Snack, didn’t have to heh heh. Well, ennyway, gotta go for now, finna hit up a Go Go joint and merk some krab kakes. Peace, Love, and Prosperity from ya boi Joe.

  39. What the fuck is Allen Ying even talking about. He is probably bitter he doesnt have his own acronym. And as far as industry goes, what kid is going to make his own trucks? Sometimes an outsider is necasary, like when dealing with metals and rare earths. Let that one rattle around in your domepiece, homepeace.

  40. Allen, can you please stop trying to pay your rent in back issues of 43 magazine? If this continues I will be forced to evict you, and your white jeans.

  41. Allen Ying be marketing the shit out of himself at Morrissey night …. “Dancing with myself”

  42. ceez deez, good job on the MNMFTB recheddit!! but i don’t get what your saying that allen and them spent 80 Gs on cameras for the ollie, and a crew……it was just filmed on a VX…..and it was just allen, the filmer, and like one other dude lookin out i think. allen wrote about it.

  43. Unrelated to the Allen Ying vitriol, why do skate videos take so long to make? Think of Girl/Chocolate, if in one year, there wasnt enough footage of those dudes to make a good flick, then something is wrong with pro skating. Before, it may have been a tech issue, but now, what holds these things up? Maybe some industry insight from QS, or Prop Joe.

  48. Quartersnacks/Allen Ying/ ya both not about that life as much as MNMFTB and everyone else from uptown, thats just #facts ..

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