Blair Conklin joins us as we explore sponsor obligations today and where wave pools help (and hurt) pro surfing for both spectators and those earning a living as brand ambassadors. In this abridged WavePoolMag Friday Session Blair shares what it’s like to come up with new, creative videos to feed his YouTube channel and how surf parks help push that process.

“You can pull into a barrel 20 times in an hour, maybe with a GoPro in your mouth, getting the soft board in the barrel perfectly and setting up the shot to capture the board and promote the brand. It’s very easy to produce content in these pools that aligns well with the companies.”

Do surf brands benefit from wave pools? Yes, two fold. In once sense new surfers are exposed to brands for the first time on a level more visceral than casually passing by a Costco table of Quik tees. In the other sense there will ultimately be more surfers each year who frequent these wave tanks.

“I think there’s so much opportunity to grow surfing in the wave pool world that brands are embracing it. I don’t see any reason for a company to shy away from it. I think it’s the next big thing in surfing and the next big way the sport’s going to grow.”