I’d made one trip to Outdoor Retailer (OR) before, in Salt Lake City a few years ago. We were only there to meet with one client and one potential client. For the most part we just browsed around, drank beer starting at 3:30 or so, went to a music event, and ate dinner. We skied at Solitude then went home.
This was our (Teak and our partners at MBED) first real effort to spend three full days at OR, and really immerse ourselves in it. Our goal was meet as many people as possible and learn as much as we could about the industry, the challenges, and the opportunities that people (particularly marketers) are facing. We also geeked out on gear.
By 2pm on day one I was mentally exhausted. It’s both energizing and tiring to meet lots of new people, but combine that with the massive sensory overload that is Outdoor Retailer and it’s something else.
We covered a lot of topics over 2–1/2 days of conversations. From a brand and marketing perspective, all of those topics ladder up to one broad theme:
How do brands own and control their end-to-end experience?