AvaTech Appoints Backbone Media as Agency of Record
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+.
AvaTech, a new technology company focused on developing breakthrough, proactive snow safety solutions, has appointed Backbone Media to manage its public relations strategy.
“Backbone has the experience and expertise in the snowsports industry, as well as the larger active lifestyle market, to effectively share the AvaTech story with a broad audience and help us build our brand,” says Thomas Laakso, brand president of AvaTech. Laakso joined AvaTech in May having previously worked for Black Diamond Equipment and The North Face.
AvaTech originated in 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as a start-up comprised of entrepreneurs with advanced degrees in engineering and business from MIT. With the avalanche fatality rate increasing 220 percent over the past two decades and the chances for survival for those buried in a slide less than 50 percent, the company’s goal for mountain enthusiasts is not focused on how to survive an avalanche, rather how to avoid them. AvaTech will integrate high tech user-friendly sensors in a device with real-time data collection, crowd-sourced live networking and analytic capabilities enabling mountain communities to better understand the snowpack and to enhance better decision-making and communication.
“AvaTech offers the most exciting and innovative technology to enter the snowsports market in a long time. It’s a brand with a great story and their products will change the way people make decisions in the backcountry,” says Backbone Media partner, Penn Newhard. “
AvaTech’s products will be available this winter and are scheduled to debut at September’s 2014 International Snow Science Workshop in Banff, Canada. Beyond snow safety applications, AvaTech’s products will also solve key needs of military, mining, railroad, highway, hydrology, oil and natural gas markets.
“We have been overwhelmed by the support from the professional snow community,” explains Brint Markle, AvaTech founder and CEO. “We look forward to engaging the global community in creating a smarter and safer backcountry together.”
AvaTech is a builder of proactive systems that instantly analyze the snowpack and facilitate real-time sharing of this information in order for individuals and groups to make better decisions in the backcountry. For more information on AvaTech, visit AvaTech.com
