The news yesterday that Burton would be dropping Forum, Foursquare, and Special Blend (collectively “The Program”) by 2014 came as a huge surprise to most people, and for good reason. Here’s a snapshot of recent news items about Forum none of which would give any indication that the brand was in trouble:
- The Program announced a new partnership with Shopatron and new e-commerce websites to connect the brands to brick & mortar retailers.
- There’s the continuing “We Live Forum” shop kid program which they announced an expansion of Monday.
- And then there’s dropping their new full length movie, #FORUM for free earlier this week.
Just a thought… I can’t help but wonder if all of this stuff has been timed, strategically making these announcements to hype up the Forum brand name, rally the shop kids, the riders, their fans & customers and generate a bunch of buzz just in time to announce that Forum is basically up for sale.
Of course it could all just be coincidence or maybe they’re just trying to pump up the perception of Forum so that any potential buyer will pay the highest possible price — but wouldn’t it be nice if Burton’s intent was simply to do right by snowboarding and go the extra mile to cast Forum in the best, most positive light before they announced their re-0rganization?
