1. DEALERCAMP
DealerCamp Goes Off Mostly Without a Hitch in First Year
BYMARCSANI
DEER VALLEY, UT-Lance Camisasca admits
that failing to budget for that most commonplace of
items at an outdoor event like DealerCamp-the ubiq-
uitous Porta Potty-was an oversight unlikely to be re-
peated next year.
But the missing johns were a chance for some to
make a few pithy wisecracks. Several exhibitors said
they wished they had one next to their tent -a sure-
fire way to nab foot traffic. And Camisasca, president
of Lifeboat Events, took some good-natured ribbing
over the issue.
"We thought the lodge next to the expo would
work, but it didn't. The restrooms just weren't that
convenient;' he said. While that may have been a top-
of-mind criticism among attendees and a nine-mem-
ber advisory panel, most retailers and most exhibitors
said they were pleased with the first-time event.
"It went really well for us. It gave us an opportunity
to get in front of some top dealers face-to-face and that
was nice;' said Matt Manuel, sales manager for Zoic, a
small San Diego, California, apparel supplier. "It was an
intimate setting and there was no time pressure, like we
feel at Interbike. And dealer reaction to the fact that we
were there surprised us. We're such a small company
and it helped put us on the map;' he said.
Scott USA, on the other hand, stepped it up a notch
and got many of its Western dealers to the event. "We did
a lot of work beforehand to insure that our key accounts
got there so we could work on our forecasting;' said
Adrian Montgomery, Scott's PR and marketing director.
Scott also rented a room at a nearby lodge and
brought in all 110 models for its dealers to preview.
And, Montgomery said, the company had its full foot-
wear and glove line on hand. "Lance can only do so
much to get dealers there, so we targeted the right
dealers. We weren't standing around waiting for ap-
pointments;' he added.
JT Burke, 'Breezer's brand manager, said the first
day was "really great, but the second day slowed down
a bit:' Still, Burke said dealers he
talked with were "very pleased"
to have personally met with Joe
Breeze and Pat Cunnane. Cun-
nane is president of Advanced
Sports, which owns Breezer.
Geoff Petrangelo, sales and
business director for NuVinci, a
San Diego manufacturer of plan-
etary internal rear hubs, said the
event introduced the hub to new
retailers and it was an opportu-
nity to talk with other bike com-
panies about its advantages for a
variety of bikes.
"We went there understanding this was a new
event, but we had so much quality time with retail-
ers and other companies about our technology. It was
excellent;' he said. Petrangelo pointed out that it was
truly an outdoor demo. "It was a riding event and re-
tailers took the opportunity to use the bikes;' he said.
Still, exhibitors wished a few more retailers had
made the trip to this mountain venue tucked between
Park City and Deer Valley. But Zoic plans to return.
And so does Chris Cocalis, president of BH/Pivot.
"DealerCamp went fantastically for us;' Coca1is
said. "We had times when all our mountain bikes were
.gone and people were waiting for them to come back.
Dealer turnout wasn't huge, but they were all high-
quality dealers;' he said.
Retailers also were pleased. Tracy Player, a catego-
ry manager for Cambria Bicycle Outfitter, and Vern
Ward, owner of Bob's
Bicycles in Boise,
Idaho, gave Dealer-
Camp's inaugural
event an enthusi-
astic A+. What
impressed Ward
and others was time
spent discussing
product lines-often
with the company's
owner or top man-
agement.
"There was just a
lot of one-on-one time. It was a very comfortable at-
mosphere. I rode a NuVinci (a Breezer mated with a
Nu Vinci hub) and we're ordering some. We've got a
two-acre parking lot for customers to test ride them on
and I think we'll sell a lot;' he said.
Player, who manages product for four stores plus