Discussion: REI

All,

I have a meeting scheduled with REI in a few weeks. I am looking for examples where orienteers and clubs have worked with REI locations to educate and promote the sport. I have already sent this out to Clubnet and Boardnet and I have about 10 clubs. If you have something new, please post.

Sincerely,
Glen

Our marketing director has had regular success with REI here in Chicago. See below for his correspondence that led to another sponsored event on Sep. 18, 2010.
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Claire,
REI Lincoln Park was a sponsor of one of the Chicago Area Orienteering Club (CAOC) events last year and I thought it was a success for both of us. We have our Chicago loop event coming up this year. Kathy Bullard and I wanted to see if you'd like to that event again.
The elements of the sponsorship are:
- CAOC teaches an orienteering clinic at your store
- The Start/Finish line of the race is in the store in the events room
- Both CAOC and REI promote the clinic and the event
- REI pays $xxx sponsorship fee
Interested in participating again this year? If so, please coordinate with Kathy to
set the date.
Regards,
Chris

As an orienteer living in Seattle, I've always thought that REI would be a great partner for us. We can teach instruction, and they would give us visibility and sponsorship. But we've never (in my 5 years here) established that relationship.

I think it would be very beneficial to have a map with REI on it, no matter how small, to make the instruction sessions more practical and fun for the participants. The flagship store in downtown Seattle has some attached green space (tiny) and there's a playground within a block or so.

Even if it's in a tiny urban setting, participants in store can still get a feel for what orienteering is, and be able to extrapolate how the experience would be in the wild.

Last time I was in REI, they had a section with Geocaching supplies. As in, using the Geocaching brand name and everything. I also noticed a lot of the niche sport magazines they sell, too, and I was wondering, how can orienteering get involved here.

We can even get involved with some product demos? Garmin Forerunners, compasses, Green Trail maps (not competitive orienteering, but something to get them thinking about maps), trail-running shoes, Gu packets, etc, etc...

Would it be possible to pick up an occasional copy of Orienteering North America at an REI store?

...looking for examples where orienteers...have worked with REI locations to...promote the sport....

REI was originally a climbers' co-op. And my impression over the years as an REI member, has been that non-competitive backcountry sports is where REI's heart remains....and their customer base as well.

For instance, a search of the current REI website for "orienteering" only yields one Suunto compass with a 1:24 000 primary scale.

Not that I'm not in favor of sponsorship. But realistically can we really gain much from spending time and effort tapping into REI?

REI sponsors some adventure races, and adventure racing organizers use REI for clinics, etc. A quick search also showed that REI has sponsored 5K runs, too.

Not everyone who runs a 5K is competitive, just like not everyone who orienteers is competitive.

But I think there's a strong case for an REI partnership. We (as orienteers) can provide expertise in map reading and compass work. Those are skills that a lot of REI members/customers would be interested in having. We also have enough elite athletes that we could provide expertise in trail running fitness or something-or-other.

The win for REI is that we can provide a service to them, and we're experts in that service. And they have a way, through clinics, for us to provide that service.

The win for us should be obvious. Exposure to a whole bunch of people who enjoy the outdoors. Exposure is what we need more than anything.

As with any product the more targeted your advertising exposure is and the more focused it is to your potential customers, your return on that ad investment will be larger.

I can not imagine a segment of the public that is closer to becoming orienteerers than a group of people that proactively searched and signed up for a map reading and navigation clinic.

I think it is really good that Glen is reacing out and trying to work out a deal with REI.

I would put the full court press on REI.

Agreed. I'm so excited about this that I'd love to be a part of it. I live and work in Seattle and I drive pretty close to the REI flagship store every day. Sign me up to help out! (Well, not until October 1st... I've committed to not signing up for anything until then...)

that non-competitive backcountry sports is where REI's heart remains....and their customer base as well.

In a lot of clubs it seems that the most active volunteers (meet directors especially) are exactly that type of person. They love backpacking and other non-competitive outdoors activities and mostly treat orienteering as one of them. I think we're more likely to get avid orienteers from the REI crowd than from the FleetFeet/RoadRunner crowd.

MNOC has had a very productive partnership with REI for about 9 years. We enjoy the following benefits:

a) REI provides advertising and hosts 2 - 3 Intro to orienteering sessions put on by MNOC at the local REI stores (includes a mini course in the store) (This typically attracts 40 - 60 newcomers who then come to our meets)

b) REI sponsors with 3 Rivers Park District the MNOC annual Orienteering Skill Development clinic (attendance around 120 ) . They provide name brand recognition, circulate to their mailing list and also are very generous with door prizes for the event

c) MNOC has a click through arrangement on our web site which credits MNOC 5% of all purchase at REI.com that orginate at our web site

d) REI sponsors the MN Adventure Race series (of which MNOC is one of the 2 race promoters) and generously provides several hundred dollars worth of prizes , free meeting space and advertising support .

e) the REI connection pulls in many committed newcomers to the sport who learn of our existence through REI

f) REI gave MNOC a $2000 grant which established 3 orienteering tool kits (30 compasses, books, maps, flags tec ) for use by local teachers and youth group leaders

A mutually beneficial relationship between a non-profit O club and a co-op outdoor retailer is an easy one compared with the possible $$ conflicts when non-profits partner with for profit outfits.

Our MNOC-REI relationship has been a great success for MNOC. I highly recommend that other clubs think about similar partnerships. Success for our sport relies on us building connections with other groups involved in the outdoors . If we try to do it alone we really limit our success.

Ian

Well ok. I just remember about ten years ago...USOF's much-touted sponsorship from K-Swiss. Someone spent a lot of time developing that alliance, which seemed like a good idea at the time.

But it turned out there were few orienteers who wanted to buy the highly-stylized K-Swiss shoes, no matter how much they might look like real orienteering gear...

It's good to learn from the past, but I fail to see any similarities between the K-Swiss partnership and an REI partnership... especially since we seem to have several examples of positive partnerships with REI already.

Yeah, you're right, Clark. If it didn't work out last time, we definitely should not ever try again.

Hmm... it's a good thing orienteers don't use that strategy when it comes to, umm... orienteering...