OIA wanted to take their annual Rendezvous industry event to the next level and their hard work certainly paid off this year. Cathy Howland, OIAs event coordinator went to several different industry conferences throughout the year researching speakers and gathering an idea of “best in class” practices and all of her homework and preparation resulted in one of the most productive industry conferences BOSS has attended. While there was certainly a great networking atmosphere in the evenings, the attendees all managed to wake up early enough for the morning speakers and round-tables, with many hosting a standing-room-only crowd. The event managed to walk the tightrope between networking, recreation, and education perfectly. The event was designed to host roughly 250 attendees, but the total number exceeded that with 271 total registered attendees.
The event opened with a presentation on engaging the youth market by Tom Campion, founder and chairman of Zumiez. Mr. Campion focused not only on the key factors that made his retail chain attractive to the youth market, but also on the similarities between the Outdoor and Action Sports industries. Zumiez caters to the “Core” board sports market and creates an environment of competition among its employees to drive sales. Whereas many retail chains bemoan the fact that they cannot find good sales floor help, Campion said that the real key to the success of his chain was the kid on the sales floor. “We value the kid that can flat-out sell the product,” he said bluntly. In order to drive the sales floor to do their best, Campion started the 100K club, which is basically a sales contest that rewards any kids who make $100,000 in sales in a year. The winners are all treated to a multi-day party; last year it was held at Copper Mountain. As a result of the loyalty and competition created through this program and others, the highest level employee Zumiez has ever hired is Store Manager.
Aside from these incentive programs, Zumiez was also built on a solid marketing platform that catered to the “wannabe outlaw culture” and the core skate, surf, and snowboard crowd. Campion spoke about the first — and last — in-mall skate competition that “terrorized the mall, but we attracted a lot of new customers.” Additionally, the fact that the store has two very different summer and winter assortments helps keep the floor fresh and interesting. Also unlike many other retail chains, Zumiez uses a minimum of private label merchandise in their assortment. Campion built the company around “strong brands supported by rock-star athletes” and wants his stores to be the “key spot for product placement.”
In addition to his accomplishments in the retail world, Campion is the chairman on the board of the Alaska Wilderness League, and Treasurer of the Northwest Wilderness alliance. These environmental efforts are where the greatest similarities between Action Sports and Outdoor emerge. In fact Campions message to government leaders is nearly identical to OIAs “Open spaces are good for the economy. Open spaces are good for my business.” Campion is heavily involved, through both his donated time and money, in trying to preserve the Wests public lands and believes that they have a major economic impact on the economies of western states.
There were many other very worthwhile presentations and industry round-tables addressing nearly every major issue faced in the outdoor business world today. As always, attendees returned from the Timberland/OIA service project both exhausted and rejuvenated after completing construction and landscaping work that could potentially change the lives of the local community.
Overall the OIA and many of the attendees considered the event to be a great success, and they expect to bring next years Rendezvous “up about five notches,” when the event moves to Chattanooga.
