How Will the Election Affect the Industry?

OIA Post-Election Webinar
scheduled for Thursday, November 6

On Wednesday, October 22, OIA hosted an informative and entertaining Webinar for its members, entitled Improving Your Bottom Line. The session, presented by Profit Planning Group (PPG) CEO Dr. Al Bates, covered two essential concepts: "Planning Profits First" and "Setting Profit Priorities." The first of these topics focused on treating profit as the first element of the plan that should be developed each year. According to Dr. Bates, in most cases profits are simply viewed as what is left over after everything else has been covered. As a result, profits are never adequate. With a profit-first approach, all of the other elements of the planning process will revolve around reaching that profit goal.

The second topic, "Setting Profit Priorities," focused on putting effort where there is the greatest potential pay-off. As Dr. Bates explained, "Too many firms waste their time and energy in areas that do not dramatically improve results." For those members not able to join the Improving Your Bottom Line Webinar, it will soon be available on the OIA website and we’ll notify members when it’s ready.

The Improving Your Bottom Line Webinar is the first of what promises to be a robust calendar of informational and timely topics to be covered in the coming months as a benefit to OIA members. OIA members will have free access to upcoming Webinars on topics ranging from government affairs, market intelligence, how to best utilize member benefits and many more topics designed to help OIA members run their businesses efficiently and make smart decisions.

Announcements on upcoming Webinars will be included in future editions of WebNews and sent directly via email.

Help Get Kids Outside.
Bring the I Will Campaign to Your Company

The Outdoor Foundation I Will campaign supports healthier children, healthier communities and healthier businesses by asking every individual to share their passion for the outdoors with the youth in their lives and community. Specifically, it asks each of us to commit to connecting youth with the outdoors by pledging to share an outdoor experience with at least two youth in the next year.

At Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in Salt Lake City, more than 2,500 outdoor industry members took the I Will pledge, impacting more than 5,000 kids. Since then, stories have been pouring in about the outdoor experiences industry members have shared with youth. Some headed out on memorable hikes, others explored their urban spaces and many others visited a national park or two.

You can now help continue the success of I Will by bringing the campaign to your company. The Outdoor Foundation is now developing a corporate toolkit for the I Will program to help companies bring the I Will campaign to their coworkers. Click here to view it online.

Industry leader Cloudveil, creator of inspired mountain apparel, started the corporate I Will charge last week when they combined the I Will pledge with a planned office service project. Cloudveil employees took to their community for a day and helped an early education center rebuild and revitalize its outdoor play area. Ten employees spent the day clearing old play equipment and building new play areas, finishing the day by signing the I Will pledge. Cloudveil has plans to make the pledge part of all their future service work in the community as well.

By asking your coworkers to make the I Will pledge or combining your company's existing outreach program with the I Will pledge, as Cloudveil has, you can help impact youth across the country. Learn more about the I Will corporate program online. There you can read more about Cloudveil’s service project, download the I Will corporate toolkit, and learn how you can order I Will materials such as buttons and placards for your office. If we each commit to connecting two kids with the outdoors, our combined impact will be enormous.

If you haven’t made your personal I Will pledge yet, you can do so by clicking here.

Eco Working Group Forms New Subgroups,
Seeks Volunteers

Coming out of the meeting in Boston, the Eco Working Group (EWG) formed three new subgroups to work on specific areas of the development of the industry's first environmental index. The new groups are Environmental Lenses, Materials and Product Manufacturing.

The Lens or Metrics Subgroup will work to develop metrics for each environmental lens (water, waste, climate, chemistry, etc.) identified in the Framework 2.5.1 document. Co-chairs of this group are Colleen Kohlsaat, Levi Strauss and Co. and Peter Girard, The Timberland Co.

The Materials Subgroup, led by Chuck Haryslak, Polartec and Derek Campbell, Brooks Sports, Inc., will work to develop new and identify existing guidelines/best management practices and metrics for materials as well as identify measurement protocols specific for materials for each metric and performance measures and associated scoring.

The Product Manufacturing Subgroup will collaborate to develop new and identify existing guidelines/best management practices and metrics for product manufacturing; identify measurement protocols specific for product manufacturing for each metric and performance measures and associated scoring. The chair for the Product Manufacturing Group is Ammi Borenstein, Outdoor Research.

All businesses in the outdoor industry are encouraged to participate in this important project. Volunteers interested in participating in a subgroup should contact the co-chairs directly.

The working group has an open membership, encouraging participation from all companies throughout the supply chain. In order to have “voting” rights, however, a company must pay an annual participation fee. Dues are levied on a sliding scale based upon corporate revenue and OIA membership.

For businesses interested in becoming a voting member or participating in the group and getting access to the EWG's website, please contact Loraine Gruber at OIA.

To view the complete meeting minutes of the September 28-29 meeting, please click here.

Outdoor Retailer Signs SOAR Communications

Outdoor Retailer (OR), a division of Nielsen Business Media, has signed Utah-based SOAR Communications as its public relations agency of record.

Under terms of the multi-year agreement, SOAR Communications (a full-service marketing communications agency), will develop and execute public relations campaigns serving each of OR's annual events, as well as all of its year-round PR needs.

"During the past three years, SOAR Communications has generated great results for our sister shows - Interbike and Health and Fitness Business Expo - so it's clear they understand the specialty sports marketplace and our culture," said Kenji Haroutunian, OR's show director. "Naturally, we're looking for similar results from SOAR with Outdoor Retailer, both in solidifying our support for trade media journalists, while also broadening our efforts to reach consumer-focused media outlets throughout the U.S. and abroad. As expected, SOAR has already hit the ground running on some key OR and industry initiatives. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with the SOAR team."

Formed in 2004, SOAR Communications serves the Sports, Outdoor, Athletics and Recreation industries, thus the moniker SOAR.

"After attending my first OR (Summer Market) in 2004, I soon discovered that there wasn't a single agency in recreation-rich Utah that focused specifically on servicing the sports, outdoor, athletics and/or recreation industries," said David Politis, chief executive officer for SOAR Communications. "That led me to form SOAR in the first place, which is why it's so cool to now be working with OR and the great OR team. I feel like I've now gone full circle back to SOAR's very first beginnings, and that's just awesome!"

As well as being the CEO of Draper, Utah-based SOAR Communications, Politis is the president and founder of Politis Communications (a long-time strategic communications and public relations agency focused on serving technology clients).

A year after forming SOAR, Politis invited Chip Smith to take the position of president at SOAR, thus leveraging Smith's nearly 20 years of marketing and sales experience, including 10 years with bicycle industry leaders Shimano and Specialized and three years with Ogilvy and Mather, one of the largest agencies in the world. The resulting combination of Politis and Smith has helped transform SOAR Communications into one of the up-and-coming sports marketing communications agencies in North America.

"We're excited to take the lessons we've learned with Interbike and HFB and apply them to OR," said Smith. "Naturally, SOAR will continue to serve the media in a collaborative manner that best meets their needs, while always looking for the best ways to land positive media exposure for the show and its exhibitors. We're also eager to help Kenji and his team achieve their goals of further strengthening the relationships between OR exhibitors and endemic media, while also expanding exposure to non-endemic journalists as well."