What's Selling in America: part 3 of 5.

Ron Pompei, the design architect who helped pioneer the brand-destination concept a decade ago when he launched the Lab, a southern California "antimall" designed as a hangout for 18-to-25-year-olds, believes that a brand can no longer simply put out a message -- it must now deliver an experience. "Skate parks personalize the X Games brand in a way that advertising never could, because they let kids live the product. And if it's a good experience, the kids will be grateful to ESPN for creating it. They'll look at the brand as a benevolent force in their lives."

What do the grommets of the skating world think of ESPN's bid to immerse them in the X Games brand? A thoroughly unscientific polling at the Franklin Mills mall tapped a consensus that's best summed up by Ki Realer, a 22-year-old who has been riding for nine years: "They'll use skateboarding to market anything -- we understand that. The big thing is, they're giving us something back. They're giving us all of this." And with that, he kicks his board to the lip of the half pipe and drops in.

What's Selling in America

Part 1: "First You Get High on It, Then You Buy It."

Amoeba Music Marches to Its Own Beat

Part 2: "How Does a 900-Pound Gorilla Get to Be an 1,800-Pound Gorilla?"

Wal-Mart Thinks Outside the Big Box

Part 3: "Our Customers Can Sniff Through Any Kind of Hard Sell. And When They Do, They're Gone."

ESPN Takes Retailing to the Extreme

Part 4: "We Decided to Merchandise Raised Toilet Seats in the Same Way You'd Merchandise Lamp Fixtures at Pottery Barn."

Can Take Good Care Make Hip Replacements Hip?

Part 5: "The Lamest Question in Retail Is, 'Can I Help You?'"

How the Container Store Lays a Solid Foundation