Trails.com and Outward Bound® West, one of four wilderness schools within Outward Bound USA, announced plans to form a strategic partnership. Trails.com will provide free Trail Finder subscriptions to more than 10,000 Outward Bound® West students, alumni and outreach volunteers.
The partnership will allow Trails.com to support the wilderness education that takes place through Outward Bound® West and to increase its visibility among core outdoor enthusiasts. For Outward Bound® West, the arrangement offers its participants added value through the complimentary Trail Finders. One-year Trail Finder subscriptions offer access through Trails.coms Web site to 30,000 guidebook trails covering 30 activities across North America, unlimited topographic maps, trailhead weather, trail reviews, and much more.
Outward Bound® West will give free Trail Finders in as gift to alumni, outreach volunteers and to participants in the 2004 Colorado Outward Bound Relay. The Trail Finders will be highly valuable to students and relay runners because they will be able to learn more about the places they just visited or to plan their own outdoor adventures. Outward Bound® West and Trails.com believe the partnership will help promote trail conservation and outdoor leadership.
“This partnership will help highlight Trails.coms role as a leading outdoor planning resource,” said Rob Holmes, Trails.coms director of marketing. “Outward Bound® connects todays youth with the outdoors, encouraging them to become leaders in the process. Trails.com will strengthen this connection by providing Outward Bound®s Web-savvy consumers with a free resource they can use to plan outdoor activities and trips locally and nationally. By doing so, were helping encourage todays Outward Bound® students to become tomorrows outdoor leaders and conservationists.”
“This is a wonderful premium gift item to offer our new students, alumni and outreach volunteers who join the ranks of outdoor enthusiasts each day,” said Peter Mason, Outward Bound West director of marketing. “Trails.com has made it possible for them to research and plan their own expeditions via any computer. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Trails.com.”
This partnership continues Trails.coms mission to work with top-tier non-profit organizations. Other partners include: American Hiking Society, International Mountain Biking Association, Leave No Trace®, American Rivers, and Appalachian Mountain Club. Trails.coms partnership initiatives include revenue-sharing programs, Gift-With-Membership campaigns, product donations, co-branded Trail Finder services, and corporate sponsorship. More broadly, Trails.com tries to promote education and conservation through all of these strategic partnerships.
“We definitely go out of our way to support these premier national and regional organizations in the most targeted and mutually beneficial ways,” Holmes said. “Our new relationship with Outward Bound® West represents this established corporate strategy.”
