One of the best things about being independent is getting to throw some of our more ambitious ideas at the wall and see what shit sticks. Since the day I started at NS with doe-y eyes and functional knees, I've wanted to put something like this together. Inspired by King Of The Road and by Orage Masters, among other things, the NS Brand Battle is a contest pitching brands against each other in a winner-takes-all EDIT contest, featuring a host of challenges that each brand can gain points for completing and winning.

For the first Brand Battle, we are stoked to invite SURFACE, ON3P & RMU to duke it out, and can't wait to see what they come up with.

To keep things relatively simple for the first edition, there are 10 points earning challenges, with each brand able to field up to 5 riders to complete those challenges. That aside, it's a free-for-all. Each brand has been tasked with putting together its own edit, to allow for as much freedom in creative direction as possible. They will put together videos around 10-15 minutes highlighting what their team got up to while filming and we hope to see the character of the brands and riders shine through in this one.

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Brands can score points in three ways:

- Up to 50 points will be awarded by a panel of judges, including NS staffers and seasoned industry vets

- Up to 50 points will be awarded by community voting

- Up to 50 points are available for winning the Brand Battle Challenges

We picked seven challenges, but each brand also had the opportunity to add one challenge for the other teams. The challenges are as follows:

Fastest shotgun (standard-size beer, stopwatch proof)

Most switchups on a single feature (each POPPED switch-up counts)

Longest butter (extra bonus point for breaking 'world record')

Sketchiest send (inbounds)

Best 180 rotation

Biggest side hit send (inbounds)

SURFACE CHALLENGE: Biggest single-axis spin (no dubs/trips)

ON3P CHALLENGE: Teams must record a song, best flow wins.

RMU CHALLENGE: Gnarliest straight line, who can cheat death?

*Redacted Online Challenge, the brands know*

We can't wait to see what each of these teams comes up with, because they are all STACKED with talent and stoked to get this done. Edits will drop at the beginning of April, so get hyped.