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.