More than just a logo: The POW Brand Alliance

Photo by Matt Power

You’ve seen the work of our Athlete, Science and Creative Alliance, but our Brand Partners are often doing work behind the scenes, playing a key role in supporting our efforts to create a just transition to a clean energy future. Our Brand partners are much more than just a logo on our website—in addition to helping fund the programming that makes some of our most important work possible, they’re putting in the work with us on Capitol Hill for Lobby Days, calling lawmakers, writing op-eds, helping rally voters to the polls on election day and providing their storefronts and offices as event locations to gather the POW community. But most importantly, they’re helping re-shape the conversation around clean energy and climate policy. 

Our Brand Partners supported POW by advocating for the historic passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most comprehensive climate package in U.S. history. In the final moments leading up to the bill’s passage, we worked closely with our partners at Alterra to collaborate with Snowshoe Mountain Ski Area, a top employer in West Virginia, to write a letter to West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, whose support of the bill was teetering. The letter discussed how a transition to green energy would help save our economy, and two days later he signed on in support of the bill. 

Additionally, our Brand Partners are elevating the voices of our Athlete, Science, and Creative Alliance members by supporting our Advocacy & Adventure Alliance Grants program. Our friends at 11th Hour Racing are helping to fund this grant program, bringing the visions of our Alliance members to life, including  Amie Engerbretson’s, The Hypocrite and Lydia Jennings, Will Run for Soil. These projects help tell the stories and experiences of these Alliance members, bringing more awareness to climate issues and allowing us to find common ground with others. 

We’re also stoked that other Brand Partners have found ways to couple sustainability with advocacy. Here are just a few examples:

• Fat Tire is America’s first carbon neutral beer, and when New Belgium re launched its flagship beer in January 2023, it did so with a guide for beer drinkers to ‘Drink Sustainably,’ including how they can become climate advocates in their own communities.

• The North Face not only designs its products for circularity, but also finds unique ways to use its platform to raise awareness to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil and fossil fuel infrastructure and drilling.
  
• Burton has been vocal on its platforms about advocating for carbon pricing as well as encouraging Burton U.S. Open attendees to contact lawmakers by placing a POW branded phone booth at the base of the half pipe.
  
• Brands like Jones Snowboards, Arc’teryx, Skullcandy and Smartwool are creating a more circular economy with the goal of keeping products out of landfills and working toward climate positive operations. 

“Reducing waste and shifting to a circular economy is one of the most powerful levers we have to protect the planet,” said Dominique Showers, Arc’teryx’s ReBIRD Vice President. 

POW has over 140 partners that understand that the future of the outdoors and the places we love most rely on healthy seasons with consistent snowpacks,  less disastrous wildfires and fewer extreme weather events. These brands have the perfect audience to help bring more lovers of the outdoors into this work by using their platforms to help people make a connection between the things they love most and climate change. IKON and The Mountain Collective are just two brands who are using their platforms to help bring more people into this work by offering passholders a complimentary Team POW membership as a passholder perk. With the support of these partners, we’ve been able to grow Team POW to over 21,000 engaged members who are actively advocating for the places and lifestyles we love! 

Over the last year, we’ve been highlighting the rad work that some of our Brand Partners are doing through our Partners in Advocacy program. You can learn more by reading our feature stories here below:

• Aspen Snowmass and U.S. Ski & Snowboard Join Forces to Host the Cli
• mate World Cup
• Jones Snowboards is Contributing to a More Climate Conscious Snowsports Industry
• Arc’teryx ReBIRD Program is Creating a More Circular Economy
• Skullcandy Double Downs on its Sustainability Efforts
• Smartwool is Creating a Road Map to Climate Positivity
• How the Mountain Collective and its Resorts are Helping to Keep Winters Snowy
• Brands like Fat Tire and POWDR Corp join us on Capitol Hill to Lobby for clean energy security, jobs and a clean energy future.

April is Earth Month and many more of our Brand partners are offering some pretty sweet opportunities for their communities to help give back to POW. Check them out below:

• Camelbak is auctioning off one of a kind products and proceeds will go directly back to POW.  
• Avocado Mattress is featuring POW the entire month of April, publishing articles with POW staff on their website, in their magazine and on their social media feeds. 
• Christy Sports has made POW the beneficiary of its Earth Month Campaign! 

At the end of the day, a POW partnership works in both directions and we couldn’t get this work done without the support of our partners. We offer our partner brands the education and tools that they need to use their platforms to get the word out about their climate advocacy efforts and in return, they help us reach more members of the Outdoor State.

“I think it’s easy for any of us  to sit around and think, ‘boy, I hope Congress passes some good climate policy,’ but we’re not in that world every single day to know exactly what we should be looking at and who we should be talking to,” said Todd Burnette, CEO of the Mountain Collective. “POW gives us that ability and having a partnership is really driving what we’re doing on behalf of the whole organization by taking many different people to speak with one united voice and get things done,” said Todd Burnette, CEO of the Mountain Collective.

Author: Stacie Sullivan

Stacie always knew she wanted to pursue a career in the ski industry from a young age, having first clicked into skis at the age of 4 and writing her 8th grade career project on being a professional skier. While her dreams of becoming a professional athlete didn’t quite pan out the way she planned at […]