Ypulse Guest Post: Go Father's Day!

Today’s Ypulse Guest Post from Gregg Witt, Creative Director and Partner for Premise in honor of the two holidays that took place yesterday. I’ll let Gregg explain. And if you work in youth media or marketing and have an idea for a guest post, feel free to email me.

Go Father’s Day!

Skateboarding culture, with over 13 million participants in the U.S. alone,
has an undeniable influence on the lives of youth and young adult consumers. Leveraging skate culture to authentically connect brands with young people is, of course, nothing new.  Yet, this weekend while skateboarding with my kids, I thought of a few noteworthy tidbits to share as Father’s Day and National Go Skateboarding Day both fell on the same day.

For those of you who didn’t know, the Go Skateboarding Day holiday was conceived by our friends at the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) to help make skateboarding more accessible to the world through various events held in major cities around the world. Beginning with the first celebration in 2004, the holiday also known as GSD has since received Special Congressional Recognition from the US Congress for promoting the sport of skateboarding. This holiday is now celebrated by millions of skaters around the world.

Go Skateboarding Day events took place in many places, but one event in Afghanistan struck me deeply. The police actually provided an armed escort for these members of the Skateistan crew as they rolled through the streets of Kabul promoting skateboarding and how it is changing the lives of youth in Afghanistan.

“With sirens blaring, officers shouted commands through a megaphone at motorists telling them to make way for the kids of Afghanistan’s first skateboarding school: Skateistan. . . “In the name of God!” cheered one man at the side of the road, clapping and smiling in disbelief . . . “Long live Afghanistan!” the children shouted in reply as they skated past . . . Wearing white T-shirts adorned with “Skateistan” logos, the children zipped from the national stadium - once the scene of public Taliban executions - to another part of the city to take part in a competition in honour of world Go Skateboarding Day.”

I encourage anyone to contact the Skateistan non-profit directly if you are interested and able to contribute to their cause. It is truly having a
positive impact on youth in Afghanistan.

On a side note, I didn’t really want to pull Tony Hawk into this, but simply had to. As part of a special famous fathers event at the White House, President Barack Obama invited Tony Hawk. While there the President gave Tony official permission to jump on his skateboard and bust a manual down the hall past the Old Executive Building! Now that’s a RAD Dad!

More on Greg

Gregg is partner at Premise youth marketing, three times Skateboarding World Amateur medalist, and father of three. Premise specializes in building positive connections between brands and youth through immersive marketing.

For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection.