I bought the agency from my business partner a little over a year ago. It’s been a fun challenge managing all aspects of the agency, especially installing and dealing with server and VoIP issues, and setting up a new accounting system, etc. Not the things you want to deal with when your clients need your help.  Luckily, we made it through the year.

We lost our Assistant Account Executive, Elizabeth. Her husband graduated and they moved on to build their life elsewhere. Maura is still here working her butt off, being the agency’s right hand person and doing a great job. The Monday before Outdoor Retailer Winter Market we hired Alex, our newest account executive. We threw him into the fire and he came out unscathed and he still wants to work here (check out his post below).

So we’re looking forward to another year serving our clients and looking forward to serving many new ones in the Sports, Outdoor, Athletics and Recreation industries (Lately I’ve taken to telling people what SOAR stands for. Many of them didn’t know, so now you know too.).

Happy late New Year and welcome Alex,

Chip

Despite the huge amounts of preparation that goes into each OR show, SOAR, like the rest of the OR operations staff, doesn’t have time to rest on its laurels when the show is happening in the Salt Palace.

We start before day one managing the periphery of the show to make sure only qualified media get badges and that their press needs are me once they’re inside. We help journalists work around the show director’s very busy schedule and step in as spokespersons when needed. We get up at 4:30 a.m to coordinate early morning shows on the floor, with hair brushed and smiles on our faces. On occasion, we double as models for exhibitors’ product, feeling a little embarrassed and mostly excited when attendees point and ask “Weren’t you on T.V. this morning?” We get a little jealous when attendees ask us about the discounted lift tickets they can purchases with their OR badges, not sure of the next time we’ll be able to hit the slopes.

Though we don’t do as many laps around the show floor as most retailers, the 12-hour day catches up with us once it’s time to party with the industry. Still, we party on. The Woolrich Fashion show made us want to dance (we may have acted on that impulse) and industry’s enthusiasm over the Canada Goose Cup was super fun to watch. We talked to Pam Theodosakis about Prana’s hockey win the next morning as we prepped her to speak about Project OR on camera with a local TV studio.

Of course, between these appointments we are writing like crazy so we can keep media in the loop about the news of the show. We each manage to get away for a few moments, though, to admire amazing new products on the show floor, talk with exhibitors and see how the Project OR designs are developing.

Even though there is still snow still on the ground and in the mountains, we’re shifting our attention to Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, running August 2-3, 2010. Even more exciting times for SOAR and the outdoor industry are on the horizon.

Here’s to warmer weather and more hot products!

The ORWinter conversation will continue throughout the show as attendees Tweet about the new products they’re seeing, the people they’re meeting and the industry events they’re enjoying. Outdoor Retailer sponsor Channel Signal will display these conversations, too, on four 50-inch screens strategically placed around the show.

They’ll toggle between the ORWinter Twitter feed and the top five mentioned exhibiting OR brands. Look for them while you’re there. It will be convincing visual evidence of how social media permeates even the outdoor industry and a reflection of how fast the conversation can shift, especially when there are thousands of people participating.

Next to the monitors will be a directory of 200 exhibitors on Twitter.

If you’re interested in attending the show, January 21-24, please register at outdoorretailer.com. See you there!

Scott USA marketing team members say they hope the site will help on-deadline media get a logo or product fact quickly without having to rely on a member of the marketing team. (See today’s BRAIN article)

From my perspective, this Web site is yet another example of bike industry leaders showing the importance of using the Internet to better communicate with media and how better business practices can improve the industry’s environmental impact, one company at a time.

A few years ago, the Interbike Expo announced its Green Steps program. The program offsets energy used to operate the show by purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (REC), recycling aisle and booth carpeting and increasing electronic communication with exhibitors, attendees and media.

New this year, Interbike provided downloadable press kits of more than 40 participating exhibitors for the media to cut down on the amount paper used in the press room.

My hat goes off to these two companies who know how to work with the media and protect the environment as well!

I have a lot of things I’d like to blog about since my last post, for example, working with the media at Interbike, meeting my cycling hero Greg LeMond in the Media Center at the show, and taking a road trip vacation to Colorado – mountain biking and hiking along the way, etc. I’ll write about those later.

This week was a busy week, but a good one. Monday, November 12, we were in New York City for the PepCom Digital Focus media reception. We took our new client, Delta 7 Sports. They make a $12,000 carbon fiber/Kevlar reinforced Arantix mountain bike using a unique tube design called IsoTruss. Before the evening event, we met with “Popular Science” and “The Wall Street Journal.” The staff at both publications were very interested in the Arantix and its IsoTruss technology for possible stories.

Following those meetings we went to PepCom. Even though PepCom was predominately a “digital” high-tech event, we knew the media outlets slated to attend would also be interested in the IsoTruss, because of its highly engineered, science-based, well thought out design.

It turned out to be a great event. Journalists attending the media reception were surprised to see a bicycle among the computers, digital cameras, home security systems and other electronics products at the event. There were close to 300 journalists there, and we spoke with many of them. The contacts we made resulted in a video shoot the following morning with TheStreet.com and several requests for more information and product for reviews. I’ll be keeping an eye on my Google Alerts for the resulting stories.

Anyway, I got back in the office for Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday, but then it was off to the Bay Area for a visit with our new client, Ritchey Design, Inc. Ritchey Design was founded by Tom Ritchey, one of the original founders of mountain biking. They offer a full range of road and mountain bike components that are well known for their thoughtful design and reasonable price. We’re excited to be working with them.

One of the tools we recommend our clients use to help build brand awareness, open a dialogue with their customers and improve search engine optimization (SEO) is blogging. Interbike has a successful blog (www.interbiketimes.com) and we talked with Ritchey about setting one up soon.

I often feel awkward when recommending blogging when I’m such a bad blogger myself. My excuses, “The contractor’s house is never done,” and “The cobbler’s kids don’t have shoes” can’t be used anymore. I need to serve our clients by example. So, I’m looking forward to blogging more.

I’ll write more – sooner than later.