Rip Curl
Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick were teenagers when they created Rip Curl – now one of the greatest surf and snow brands in the world.
"Skype allows us to keep on top of things globally... instant messaging and video calls also provide a much more interactive way of communicating, which really suits the culture of our company."
Skype helps to keep the company up-to-date with global industry trends, as well as fit their work culture, co-ordinating international surf events and collaborating on designs across the world.
Freeing up communication across the Rip Curl world
Rip Curl has six major regional offices in all corners of the globe, from Australia to the US, Europe and South America. Skype is integral to the marketing team's way of working with each other across the regional offices.
"Daily contact with international colleagues is essential at Rip Curl – especially for the marketing people. We have a really busy calendar with lots of global product launches, promotions and events, so we need to align plans across different countries," said International Media Manager, Dane Sharp.
File transfers through Skype speed up decision-making
Rip Curl has an in-house design division responsible for the design of the entire Rip Curl range including surf boards, wetsuits and snowboarding apparel. The design team often transfers artwork and graphics files over Skype, and uses the chat and video call functions to discuss the files simultaneously. According to Sharp, this has proven much quicker than using traditional telephones and email.
The future
Rip Curl's IT Manager Heather Guy plans to analyse cost savings using Skype over the coming six months. "Not only are communication costs decreasing, but staff are now keeping in touch more effortlessly than in times past," said Guy. Sharp is also keen to integrate Skype's webcast and public chat features into upcoming Rip Curl surf, snowboarding and mountain climbing events.
"It allows you to share and work on visual materials instantly, make decisions more quickly and in turn increase productivity."
"We've got some major events like the Rip Curl Surf Pro and the Rip Curl Pro Search event in Chile, which is all about discovering and conquering new parts of the world, like unexplored mountains, or new surf territory. We're looking at involving some of our sponsored surfers and athletes to have a public chat with fans through Skype. There's a really good synergy between what the Rip Curl and Skype brands stand for."
