In case you aren’t up on current events, the ASP just opened offices in The Big Apple. New York City is the ninth global office on the map (headed up by new Chief Commercial Officer Mark Noonan), and in keeping with New York practice, they were toasted at a rooftop party hosted by Dirk Ziff and Harvey Weinstein. In attendance were a number of the world’s best surfers, including Kelly Slater, Steph Gilmore, Gabriel Medina, Julian Wilson, Courtney Conlogue as well as Katie Holmes, Anna Wintour, Matt Lauer and more. This came on the heels of a number of surfers appearing on The Today Show to talk about the North American leg of the World Tour.
It seems that, whether you’re for or against it, surfing is going mainstream. The new office could be a big step for the ASP towards securing more impactful partnerships – a move that could put surfing in front of more people than ever before – and the party was one example of surfing rubbing elbows with mainstream figures.
ASP CEO, Paul Speaker, optimistic about what the New York office presence could bring, said in a recent press release, “Planting a flag in the media and marketing capital of the world, New York City, is a natural extension of this growth and places professional surfing in line with all major sporting leagues in terms of proximity to major partnership opportunities.”
