Football and brands are practically synonymous. The football brands that really matter are brands you might not have heard of–unless you are a player, coach, or parent. They are the helmet brands.
Head injuries in football are propelling genuine advances in helmet design–true engineering miracles able absorb more than 50% of the force of a hit, dramatically reducing the potential for concussion.
Virginia Tech began independent testing of helmets in 2011. Here are the four companies making the top five rated helmets.
The same helmet (Riddell Speedflex) before the season:
The same helmet after:
TRANSCRIPT
00:03 Brands and football go together but the most important brands in football are
00:08 brands you might not have heard of unless you’re a player coach or parent.
00:12 And those are the brands of football helmets
00:15 The American Marketing Association New York came out to take a look at some of the top rated helmets.
00:21 Head injuries in football are pushing advances in helmet design.
00:26 Some are absolute miracles in engineering able to absorb more than 50% of the force of a hit,
00:32 dramatically reducing the chances of a concussion.
00:35 Virginia Tech began independent testing in 2011 and here are the top rated brands.
00:41 Innovation is legendary at Riddell
00:44 from the invention of football cleats to the first non-leather helmet
00:49 to the headgear for General Patton’s tank crews in World War II.
00:55 In 2014, Riddell launched the SpeedFlex made with
00:58 a special kind of plastic and featuring
01:00 a unique groove so it can flex on impact and spread out and reduce the force of a hit.
01:05 The Precision Fit model will set you back $1,700
01:12 Schutt, Riddell’s primary rival, quickly caught up and surpassed Riddell
01:14 with its F-7 model
01:16 Schutt uses plates that flex on impact like Riddell, but
01:19 Schutt’s plates move independently from the helmet.
01:21 To further spread out the force of impact, an interior radiant diffusion liner and special stabilization system
01:28 work together to offer even more protection.
01:31 These two legendary brands now face two new competitors
01:35 Vicis came on the scene in 2013, not as a sporting goods company,
01:40 but as they say, a technology company and indeed technology
01:44 is inherent in their helmets.
01:47 Notably the outer shell is not hard plastic, but flexes on impact,
01:50 transferring force to an inner layer of flexible columns that torque when impact
is applied.
01:56 Last among the top brands is Xenith, which was launched in 2006.
02:00 The introduced their first helmet in 2009.
02:03 It, too, uses a multi-layered approach.
02:05 The flexible outer helmet covers an internal system of shock absorbers
02:10 that redirect linear and rotational energy.
02:12 Protection from Xenith is affordable.
02:15 A top-of-the-line Xenith costs about half of what a top-of-the-line Schutt or Riddell costs.
02:20 These top football brands are dominating the field, not just as
02:25 bestsellers but as leaders in protecting players
02:28 And that’s brilliance in marketing.