At the recent ASR show, Sports Executive Weekly sat down with Vipe Desai, founder of Project Blue, an action sports industry organization that helps to raise funds for the Surfrider Foundation through special products manufactured by industry companies like Billabong, Reef, ONeill, Electric, Nixon and DaKine. Project Blue, which just celebrated its one year anniversary, is currently on track to donate $100,000 as the books close.
According to Desai, the program is working because it makes selling an eco-story easy for retailers. “The important thing is creating a product that consumers want to buy anyway. The fact that a portion of the sale goes to Surfrider is just an added benefit,” said Desai.
For the programs second year, the focus will be on educating retailers about the story behind Project Blue and its relationship with Surfrider. In addition, Desai will focus on how to make the merchandise included in the program a better and easier sell. Included in that will be working with retailers and vendors on building a merchandising story around Project Blue. Though, according to Desai, retailers already have the product facing out from the wall, the next step is building displays around the Project blue products.
