The Weekly - June 23, 2020 - 16

Resources and Education
making the shift, committing to
the gap jump even though you
can't see the landing. It has to
happen, and it will happen. The
institutions will evolve, and that
will be great for the specialty ecosystem, brands, and retailers alike.
How has COVID-19 shaken
things up?
We have a saving grace right now,
coming from the influx of new participants into the outdoors thanks
to shelter-at-home mandates from
COVID-19. The audience of newcomers is exploding, and we need to

INSPIRATION
NATION
The nominations are
in. Meet the judges
for the 2020 Outdoor
Retailer Inspiration
Awards, and get ready
to celebrate the winners during Outdoor
Retailer Online.
The 10th annual Outdoor Retailer Inspiration Awards will be
the big highlight of the
new Outdoor Retailer
Online July 21-23. The
awards recognize
people, organizations,
and companies encouraging others to enjoy
and protect the outdoors. The judges will
determine this year's
finalists and winners
across six categories:
individual, manufacturer, retailer, nonprofit
organization, youth,
and a new category
#weareCommunity.
The winners will be
revealed in a live online
ceremony on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, during the online show.

16 THE WEEKLY / OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020

truly understand exactly who our
brands and specialty businesses are
serving with this new (or re-engaged) consumer. It's not just about
creating content for newcomers; it's
about considering who your brand
or business is serving and then creating an aligned target consumer
who happens to be a newcomer too.
Visual content is extremely
important to this newcomer. Just
think about how 'normal' it is for
us, as consumers, to be tethered
to our browsers and to watch and
learn, more than reading or researching online then going into a

Sasha DiGiulian

Judges will consider
all the nominees based
on their efforts to promote outdoor recreation and look at those
who demonstrate
leadership, a commitment to sustainable
practices, promotion of
equality and inclusivity,
community engagement, conservation,
volunteer efforts,
research, and programming for all ages.
The 2020 judging panel consists of:
NICOLE BROWNING,
manager "For All" marketing at REI. SASHA

DIGIULIAN , profes-

store to get the purchase validation.
With COVID-19, this process is all
done online, and the cash register
migrated online too-that's the new
normal. You need to show the new
consumer how your brand or shop
can serve them, in a way that only
your brand or shop can.
Learn more about how to connect
with consumers in the new
media ecosystem when Kristin
Carpenter joins us on The
Weekly Chat on Thursday, June
25, at 4 p.m. Eastern / 1 p.m.
Pacific. Register here.

sional climber, World
Champion, undefeated
panAmerican Champion (2004-14), and
three-time U.S. National Champion. CHRIS
ENLOW, senior director
of sustainability for
Keen, board of directors member for The
Conservation Alliance.
DR. CAROLYN FINNEY,
author, storyteller, and
scholar-in-residence
at the Franklin Environmental Center at
Middlebury College.
KRISTEN FREANEY,
director of emerging
leaders programs at
the Outdoor Industry
Association (OIA).
LATRIA GRAHAM , writer,
editor, and cultural
critic, contributing
editor for The Daily
and The Weekly. LILA
LEATHERMAN , diversity educator and
consultant, founder of
Lamella, a trans-owned
small business helping
clients develop understanding, empathy, and
advocacy with queer

and trans people. RUE
MAPP, founder and

CEO of Outdoor Afro,
a nonprofit recipient of
the Inspiration Award,
member of Outdoor
Industry Association
board and the California State Parks Commission. BRYAN MARTIN,
executive director of
Big City Mountaineers.
DOUG SCHNITZSPAHN ,
editor-in-chief of Elevation Outdoors, Outdoor
Retailer Magazine, The
Daily, and The Weekly.
GREG THOMSEN , part
of the outdoor industry since 1970, led the
launch of Adidas Outdoor, past recipient of
the Lifetime Achievement award. JIM
THOMSEN , adventurer,
executive, and small
business consultant,
co-founded Wilderness Experience, past
president of Eastpak/
JanSport/Kipling
International. DIETER
TREMP, U.S. spokesperson and market contact for all ISPO trade
shows and projects.

CA R LO N AS I S S E

caught right now because consumers may or may not choose to go
through that channel or point of
distribution today. The brand used
to be able to sway the consumer to
end up at a point of primary distribution. Today, the consumer leads;
the consumer is the true north star
for all of us right now. All pivots
should point to serve the consumer
so that they're ready to join up with
or buy from the channel experience
they choose. That's already happening. The train has left the station.
It's also really important to 'own'
your audience of target consumers
today. If you build an audience of
brand fans on social media or you
rely on Amazon Marketing Services
to target your consumer, you're
building your house on rented land.
Be on those channels, but always be
driving your target consumers to
join up with your brand via email,
as you own that 'land.'
Interestingly, we're also seeing a
surge in long-form journalism, like
Blister (blisterreview.com). Blister
employs a handful of contributors
who are very tightly vetted and they
create long-form content similar
to what DC Rainmaker (dcrainmaker.com) provides. The point
is you need to know a lot of detail
about who is doing the reviewing
these days-and when a consumer's
interests and use of a product
matches those of the person writing
the review, and you're able to read
feedback from other passionate
enthusiasts following the same
reviewer, you have group proof of
concept. Consumers are seeing this
while shopping online, and are being trained this way every day.
Media-in all of its forms-is
more important than ever to the
consumer's discovery, research,
and trust process. It's just about
http:// https://www.verdepr.com/ http:// https://www.verdepr.com/ http:// https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1337326&tp_key=dc6a207080 http://www.blisterreview.com https://www.outdoorretailer.com/events-education/inspiration-awards/ https://www.outdoorretailer.com/events-education/inspiration-awards/ https://www.outdoorretailer.com/events-education/inspiration-awards/ http://www.maker.com
The Weekly - June 23, 2020

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