In somewhat of a shocker, Scorpion Sports, Inc. prez Rick Miller did an about face arachnid takedown of Scorpion founder and former marketing vp Eric Anderson. In a tersely worded release dated September 1, 2009, Miller says that, “…the basic business paradigm has shifted,” leading to “the decision to terminate Anderson.”
Scorpion charged into the lid and rag trade just five years ago, led by Anderson’s vision and quickly making a mark in a very competitive field with popular dealer direct pricing and a tech-heavy approach to helmet design. Since then they’ve branched out to include an apparel line under the somewhat quirky exo brand, a reference to the venomous insect’s external armored skeleton.
This summer they announced their products would also be available through distributors in a controversial departure from their former policy of dealer only protected sales.
Anderson, formerly with Intersport Fashions West, is one of the original pioneering apparel marketeers in the powersports channel, and is also a familiar columnist writing on a variety of topics aimed at improving dealer selling practices.
Seeing the anti-campaign for Buell’s late Blast continuing to pop up has me wondering what the fuss is all about. The latest in snicker snicker tsk tsk from CP+B sure doesn’t break any new ground. From my perspective the best that can be said is that it’s – I suppose – a sort of reverse psychology swipe at pumping sales of two cylinders because the one cylinder was so not about performance. Well hooda hey, color me caught totally off guard.