Rapid Media beat out three other companies to win a contract with Nielsen Expositions to design, produce and manage the Paddle Zone at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in August.
The agreement follows a request for proposal (RFP) process that was conducted by Outdoor Retailer earlier this spring. Rapid Media responded with a comprehensive plan to build on the initial groundbreaking treatment accomplished in the 2010 Paddle Zone. The 2011 strategy includes an updated New Product Preview, as well as a packed schedule of athlete and multimedia presentations, making the Paddle Zone a welcoming place for paddlesports retailers, brands, media, athletes and advocates to meet and do business.
“Fourteen years ago, with my little upstart whitewater magazine Rapid, I wandered the aisles of Outdoor Retailer completely star struck,” remembers Rapid Media Publisher Scott MacGregor. “To again be working with OR and the industry to showcase and promote paddlesports in the new Paddle Zone at Summer Market 2011 is amazing.”
Rapid Media was one of four companies who vied for the opportunity to co-produce the Paddle Zone.
“In reviewing each of the submitted proposals, it was clear to our team that Rapid Media best understood the unique needs of the paddlesports community at Outdoor Retailer and our vision for a brand-neutral community center for paddlesports businesses at OR, ” said Kenji Haroutunian, vice president at Nielsen Expositions and OR show director. “Were very confident in their abilities to help us deliver the type of experience and inspiration our attendees have come to expect from the show.”
The Paddle Zone will be located in the northwest area of the show floor (between aisles 34000 and 36000) in the center of many paddlesports brands within the main hall at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market (August 4-7, 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah).
As the centralized location for learning, meeting and conducting business, the
1,200 square-foot Paddle Zone will include ample seating, networking events and
on-the-hour presentations from brands, authors, filmmakers, athletes and expedition paddlers. The Paddle Zone will also host screenings of winning films from the 2011 Reel Paddling Film Festival World Tour.
In addition to emceeing events and handling logistics for the Zone, the Rapid Media team will be producing Rapid Media TV, a live-to-web style paddling news show, and “Today in the OR Paddle Zone” online video segments.
The newly updated Outdoor Retailer/Rapid Media New Product Preview (NPP) will be displayed on vibrant meter boards around the Paddle Zone, and in all show copies of Rapid Media’s Adventure Kayak, Canoeroots, Rapid and Kayak Angler magazine. The NPP will be available for immediate download in the Zone via Rapid Media’s smart phone apps available for both Apple and Android devices. The New Product Preview will then be released and promoted to consumers as a digital edition later this fall.
Attendees can expect to hear more details about events in the Paddle Zone through Outdoor Retailer eNewsletters and the dedicated Paddlesports web page, as well as in Rapid Media Newsletters, publication inserts and web properties. These updates will be released as more information becomes available leading up to the show.
