• by Larry Dobrow , May 19, 2003

As SG: Surf Snow Skate Girl bounds through its second year of existence, Primedia's automotive/action sports group is attempting to expand the brand through a series of events designed to keep aficionados engaged and mainstream advertisers intrigued.

In the wake of its "Queen of the Mountain" skiing/snowboarding gala in February, the publisher is pressing forward with a second "Queen of Surf" competition, scheduled for June 7 at California's Pacific Beach Pier. The event will feature professional and amateur surfers, surf instruction from Op Girls Learn to Ride (a series of girls-only action-sports clinics) and a tie-in with the Boarding for Breast Cancer Foundation.

Debuted as an "onsert" to Primedia's Surfing title, SG: Surf Snow Skate Girl has grown its circulation to 45,000 over the last 18 months. Targeting surf/snow grrrls between the ages of 13 and 18, the mag has attracted a dedicated following - even in areas far removed from the roar of the early morning surf, according to Primedia automotive/action sports group president and CEO Craig Nickerson. "That's when we knew we were on to something special, when we started to get amazing feedback from girls in Minnesota," he recalls. "They want to identify with the surfing lifestyle, even from afar."

"Queen of Surf," Nickerson stresses, is a pivotal part of Primedia's strategy to expand the SG brand beyond print. "Something like this gives us added credibility among our target audience," he says. "And it's no secret that every magazine publisher out there is looking for integrated platforms to take to advertisers." To this end, SG is hoping to develop an action-sports television show for the teen-girl segment, as well as a series of instructional videos to be made available via Comcast's video-on-demand service.

Nickerson also hopes "Queen of Surf" will help convince a handful of mainstream advertisers to partner with SG. While the mag is currently packed with surf-gal category mainstays like Quiksilver and Billabong, Nickerson wants to attract CoverGirl and other "non-endemic advertisers that ordinarily go into Seventeen and Teen. Our audiences don't necessarily overlap, but our readers are interested in items like that." Not that SG is going girly, mind you. "We're not trying to be CosmoGIRL or anything like that," Nickerson stresses.

As much as he seems to relish SG's edgy attitude, Nickerson is equally proud of the "Queen of Surf" breast cancer tie-in, through which Primedia hopes to promote the importance of early detection and the value of a healthy lifestyle. "The response we've gotten from that has been incredibly heartening," he says.