The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show (or “Summer OR”), an annual outdoor industry trade show, took place last week in Salt Lake City, Utah. Proctor was represented at the show in part by the Deuter/Ortovox exhibit, but also by our own Justin Pass, Jessica Proctor and Luke Apke. Justin, Jessica and Luke—a director of business development, a sales person and a designer— were sent to Salt Lake City not only to maintain the quality of experience for our attending client, but also to gain valuable knowledge and industry insight from the show, while establishing new business relationships within the outdoor market.
The Outdoor Retailer show, thought to be an “REI on steroids”, features a huge variety of outdoor industry-related companies, and this Summer Market show in particular claims to be the largest outdoor sports show of its kind. According to our three travelers, the show was notably exciting and highly successful on many levels. Luke described the week as “amazingly productive and eye-opening”.
Justin was beyond impressed with the size and product array of the show: “The OR show was bursting at the seams with just about every product line featured at any size outdoor retail store in the world. Summer OR showcased an outdoor entrepreneurial spirit from small start-ups to enormous, industry-leading brands. The lifestyle of this show and its attendees echoed throughout the entire convention center and the pavilion across the street. From fun products like folding kayaks or spring board running shoes to mainstream products like The North Face and Keen. It featured unique and progressive apparel, products and athletic wear all featured inside exhibits and POP designs with large budget booths down to hand made exhibits using up-cycled raw materials. One of the most unique and inspiring ‘take-aways’ I had from the show was seeing all the young athletes who have taken a risk to launch a product and display it at Summer OR, or talking with others who used crowdfunding platforms to realize ideas and launch businesses that are now growing exponentially into successful companies.”
For Luke, Summer OR was an exposition of a massive spectrum of inspiration. “I did what I went there to do,” Luke explained, “and that’s get inspired! This was a trade show full of brands I already knew about and support as a consumer, so it was fantastic seeing brands I look up to spending serious money and pouring serious effort into Summer OR. Brands from all kinds of industries were represented, from outdoor clothing and apparel to paddle board companies, fly-fishing companies to motorized long-board companies, kayak companies to chair companies, clothing companies and backpack companies. We truly all put ourselves out there, and we hope that a series of new, exciting clients, can come from this trip. We are very excited about some prospective opportunities!”
Our client at the show, Deuter, was more than impressed with their booth and the entire experience. After taking in the vast scope of industry representation at the show, Luke noted, “The Deuter/Ortovox booth looked really great amongst its competitors, and we have some very happy clients. Their booth really came to life after it was all decked out in product and apparel. We were proud to be able to tell prospective clients that all they had to do was go check out Deuter/Ortovox’s booth to know what we’re made of.”
On the second night of the show, Deuter held a German-themed social in their booth space with prize giveaways, live music, German-style costumes, and cold beer served in stein mugs. The event caused huge buzz on the trade show floor, spurring attendees and exhibitors alike to come check out what all the hype was about, in turn exposing even more people to Deuter/Ortovox and the new booth. Visitors were awestruck by the new structure, and no doubt competitors were slightly intimidated. Deuter found a sense of relief and satisfaction in having a trade show booth that matched the quality and personality of their product. Becky Marcelliano of Deuter was overly-delighted with the booth: “We’ve never felt like the cool kids on the block, but we feel like we’re making a splash now.”
