Today Colin is joined by outdoor journalist and host of Open Container, Doug Schnitzspahn to talk about what they saw this week at the Outdoor Market Alliance Media Event.
They recount their experiences at the show, how it compares to larger national events, and emphasize how the format allows PR Agencies and those in outdoor media to engage with brands in a focused manner.
They also talk about how the event could benefit from seeking out smaller brands to attend as well as how the current threat to our public lands are present even at a show like this one and how that is likely to impact the broader outdoor industry.
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Episode Transcript
Colin True
00:00:00.480 - 00:00:56.548
Welcome to the Rock Fight, where we speak our truth, slay sacred cows, and sometimes agree to disagree. This is an outdoor podcast that aims for the head.
I'm Colin True and today's episode is coming to you a little later than normal because I just got back from the Outdoor Market Alliance Media event and we're going to talk about it right now. Well, not right now, because first, if you missed Monday or Wednesday's episode of the Rock Fight, you missed a lot of good stuff.
We talked about the Trump layoffs. We talked about authentic brands and its impact on the outdoor industry. It's been a banger of a week here on the Rock Fight.
Go listen to those episodes and hey, have you subscribed to the Rock Fight's weekly newsletter? If not, what the hell, man? This is a real newsletter with real content, not just another outdoor link aggregator.
Head to Rockfight Co and click Join the mailing list to sign up.
And if you're new around here, we would love it if you subscribed and joined the Rock Fight by hitting the follow button on whatever podcast app you are listening to us on. And also give us that five star rating. And yeah, now it's time. Let's start the show.
Chris DeMakes
00:00:56.604 - 00:00:59.360
Welcome to the Rock Fight. Rock Fight.
Colin True
00:01:01.800 - 00:01:14.528
All right, Doug Schnitzbahn is here. You can hear him weekly on Open Container on the Rock Fight Podcast Network. You can read his work in Elevation Outdoors, among many other places.
Can we, can we tease where they can maybe read your work in the future, Doug, or are we not announcing anything yet?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:01:14.584 - 00:01:16.288
Yeah, I should say Mountain Gazette too.
Colin True
00:01:16.424 - 00:01:18.880
Yeah, Doug's gonna be in Mountain Gazette.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:01:19.040 - 00:01:20.660
Yeah. And Blue Ridge Outdoors.
Colin True
00:01:21.800 - 00:01:23.340
What's that? What was the other one?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:01:23.640 - 00:01:24.800
Blue Ridge Outdoors.
Colin True
00:01:24.880 - 00:01:26.288
Blue Ridge Outdoors Gear.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:01:26.384 - 00:01:28.848
Gear editor for Blue Ridge Outdoors too. So.
Colin True
00:01:28.984 - 00:01:42.300
And if you go to GOA Connect, you'll get a Schnitzbahn produced magazine. If you live in Silverton, Colorado, you can find a Schnitzbahn produced magazine. You're everywhere. You're just like all over the place.
You're your own industry.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:01:43.640 - 00:01:51.620
Yeah, well, I am publisher Artemisia Media, llc, Publishing. So making it happen, putting it all together. Yeah.
Colin True
00:01:52.120 - 00:03:18.346
All right. So this past week in Denver, I was out there and Doug joined me as well down at the Outdoor Market Alliance Media event.
This is the winter edition of this event and for those who may not know, we talked about the Outdoor Market alliance before on the show.
But if you're not familiar, it's a permanent group of showrooms that is owned by outdoor sales agents, agencies that showcase pretty much the vast majority of brands and products and open to buy in the human powered outdoor space. It's twice a year.
Then these agencies offer up their space to welcome in members of the outdoor media to talk about new products and marketing stories coming for spring and fall. The format's pretty simple. It's a two day event.
Uh, typically the PR agency for a brand hosts a p host meetings in one of these showrooms to talk about the brands they represent. Those of us in the media have kind of a 15 or 30 minute appointment.
We get the lowdown on a few things from the brand and then move on to the next appointment. It's a very simple, effective format. Uh, this is my second time going, I think Doug, you told me off off the air. We.
Third time for you, third or fourth time for you going to this. It happened for three or four years now. Um, I, I don't know.
The, the vast majority of this kind of engagement though used to happen at national trade shows. Like for the longest time that' that's sort of what or became. It was just like it was everything right.
It was sales meetings, it was marketing meetings, it was putting yourself on display. There was media meetings happening. So you, like I said, we've been, you've been to this event a few times now. What do you think about this format?
How do you, I mean, when you kind of compare it to that old school big national show thing that we did all the time, what do you think of the simpler format?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:03:18.538 - 00:04:27.930
Yeah, I think it's great for media looking to see new product. It kind of distilled what would happen as someone from the media going to an old outdoor retailer Sia show.
It kind of distilled your day of meetings where you'd go into a booth and you'd see what's new from a product and get to meet with someone there.
So I brought that back and I think the great thing about this show is since it is a, you know, a rep organization, it's reps who have this put together down in Lakewood. There you get to see some really well curated brands because these are brands that are working well for reps. Brands.
Reps want to get out there and it's a kind of nice combination sometimes of where we saw, but we saw, you know, Osprey, Loa and Blundstone all kind of in the same place. That's kind of nice too. But I really like the idea that you can see what reps are excited about because reps drive a lot of what people really buy.
And I think that media Sometimes doesn't get to see as much of that. We get to see what's put in front of us, what's really cool from each brand. But we don't see as much of what is actually selling to people out there.
And I think this show gives you a chance to do that.
Colin True
00:04:28.660 - 00:05:03.304
Yeah. The old format, when it was mostly at or I always felt like. And I was always on the sales and marketing side and I.
Even then I felt that media was sort of like, it was like second fiddle at those shows. Because that's your opinion. Well, I mean, just in terms of like where the attention was and who you were in the media mattered as well. Right.
If you were at a big publication that focuses a lot on gear, your meetings would probably be prioritized the same as, you know, a retailer or somebody coming into the booth.
But if you're sort of just like a freelancer just walking the show and you want to see what's going on at a big brand, it might be tough to get an appointment and I don't know. I mean, what do you remember from those big events?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:05:03.352 - 00:05:08.280
I mean, it was easier, it was easier to get in as media, as someone in sales or something else. Usually if you're in media, they would.
Colin True
00:05:08.320 - 00:05:08.984
That's true.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:05:09.112 - 00:05:16.808
Usually if you're in media and going to or show like that, they'd let you in the booth. When I was working for the Daily, I could, you know, you could do it. You just show up, you're the wrong.
Colin True
00:05:16.824 - 00:05:20.488
Person, come right in. Yeah, like, hey, don't. Come on.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:05:20.544 - 00:05:24.456
They were pretty accommodative media. If you're trying to sell something, it was a lot harder to get into a booth.
Colin True
00:05:24.568 - 00:05:53.844
No, no, I'm not suggesting it was. It was, it was that we weren't accommodating or the media wasn't accommodated. But I just kind of remember being in the booth.
It was kind of, look, the sales guys were running the roost today. You know, it's like, this is like, we are here. Like that was. That was the priority. And then the marketers and then.
And then like there's your PR guy kind of sitting in the corner who would have their own meetings. But it often felt like it was that, you know, there was a pecking order. I guess when I, when I was working at brands, I felt like.
But it's a good point. Like depending on who you were and what the brand was, there was probably usually a lot of like, hey, please come pay attention to us.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:05:53.932 - 00:05:59.476
Exactly. Yes, please come pay attention to us. Was for sure. Especially, please get us in. The Daily was a big.
Colin True
00:05:59.628 - 00:06:04.900
Yeah, I was going to say you're the wrong guy. Like, you are the daily. Everyone's like, hey, Doug, you want to take a picture of this thing that we made?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:06:05.020 - 00:06:33.138
You'd have to kind of hide from people. Yeah, exactly. You'd have to hide from people. But you are right, because you would definitely. Yeah, exactly.
So that is a big difference at this show, at this time of being at this show, the only people there were media.
So it was really focused on letting you in and seeing stuff as opposed to some a selling show where they're more interested in talking to retailers or getting new clients. So that's really the business of what's going on. This was just a media preview. Preview, which was really refreshing and fun to be at, for sure.
Colin True
00:06:33.274 - 00:07:04.170
Yeah. And I think that's what makes it simple. I'm sorry, not what makes it simple. That what makes it a good event is the simplicity. Right.
No panels, no big keynote speaker. It's pretty limited in who can attend because this is a permanent showroom.
It's a small facility, so there's a cap about who can actually, like, be in the building. They do a great job in feeding people who come. The food's really good.
So it's like, you know, you don't have to worry about, like, where are you going to go get lunch or whatever beforehand. And you just get to see, like, kind of what the brands are up to and the product stories are looking to tell.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:07:04.790 - 00:07:25.610
Yeah. And also, I mean, the booths are simple, right? I mean, people aren't setting up booths for one day.
This is a permanent location where everything's already there and set up, which is really nice. So people aren't worried about that. So you're kind of almost walking into a.
I mean, you're not work walking into a brand headquarters, but you're certainly walking into a place that's an outpost, right?
Colin True
00:07:25.990 - 00:08:11.560
Yeah. And I think it's.
It's really easy to kind of look at an event and overcomplicate it and, like, try, like, we have to give people a lot of reasons to come to this. And so it's just kind of refreshing for me to kind of be like, no, this is all it is.
And also, I really like the fact that it's the PR agencies kind of running the meetings, because when you go to those big national events and it is everybody from the CEO all the way down to potentially a customer service rep in the booth along with your PR agency and everybody else, there's a lot of brand dogma that kind of seeps into a lot of the conversations. And it's like when. When it's the PR folks, it's like, look, this is an agency. They've been handed a talking point. They're a PR agency.
Their customers, I mean, yet they work for the brand, but their customers are the media. Right. Because they're going to, if they leave their PR agency to go work for somebody else. Well, they're still going to call you, Doug, right?
They're still going to, like, maybe call me, whatever it is, as they do.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:08:11.600 - 00:08:12.248
Yeah, yeah.
Colin True
00:08:12.344 - 00:08:23.238
Right. So kind of like, let's the bullshit or like, maybe the thing that they're not as excited about be like, yeah, we're not going to.
We're not going to focus. They want us to focus on this. We're not going to focus on this. Let's talk about this thing over here.
It's a little bit more of a real conversation, I feel like.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:08:23.384 - 00:08:43.978
Yeah. And these PR companies, I think, too, are really important to the outdoor industry, you know, because they get brands out there.
They have such good connections with the media, and a lot of them are people who spend a lot of time playing outdoors. They get the stuff, you know.
So I think the PR agencies are a really important part of this, for sure, and a big benefit to the brands they're working for there.
Colin True
00:08:44.114 - 00:09:30.308
I think that's something brands miss, because, I mean, it was the same thing. I took the mindset when I was a sales manager and I would hire the rep agencies.
It's like, well, I need to maintain those relationships with those rep agencies. Those rep agencies need to maintain the relationship with their retailers.
If I fire that rep agency and they go pick up another line, they're going to go sell to the same retailers. So they're way more accountable to their. To their. To their retailers than potentially the brands they're working for. Same thing for me.
Like, I want to make sure I'm in good graces with these reps, because if I can move on to a different brand, I'm probably going to assemble the same team.
And I think a lot of times the brand sort of, it's easy for them to kind of look at something and be like, no, no, no, you all serve us because we are the brand. Like, we are the logo on the sweatshirt. When it's like, well, that's actually a lot more like, nuance to those relationships than you may realize.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:09:30.484 - 00:09:57.220
Yeah, yeah. You know, another nice thing about having PR people, some of these PR people We've known for years and years too.
So there's kind of no bullshit when you talk to them as well because they know you. You know them. You know, we saw our friend Michael Colin. We gave him a hard time, but we're still looking at the shoes.
But, you know, having that longer term relationship, there's less bullshit or, you know, seeing Stacy Klein or someone like that, like you get down to real conversation. And that's really nice too, as opposed to kind of just meeting someone and trying to figure it out is weird sometimes.
Colin True
00:09:57.380 - 00:10:02.480
Yeah, you can, you can pick on the, the naming, the naming of a product a little bit more with someone on the PR front.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:10:03.580 - 00:10:07.380
We found some interesting names out there that I don't know if we can even repeat on this show.
Colin True
00:10:07.500 - 00:10:14.940
Listen, I'm going to say it. Oboz is a sponsor of the podcast and they have an amazing boot coming and it has. Honestly, it's not a great name.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:10:16.520 - 00:10:21.696
It's an incredible name. I know exactly where the name comes from and on both sides.
Colin True
00:10:21.808 - 00:10:55.660
We'll get to that. We'll save that for a future episode. But so, okay. But you're at heart at the end that you're not like a gear review journalist. Like, that's not been.
I mean, I'm sure you have written plenty of gear reviews, right? But it's like you're a storyteller. Like that seems to be like that's in your way. Like that's what you want to do.
That's why you, that's how you explore your topics on Open Container.
When I see the things you've written, I know the stuff you're going to probably write for Rogui and Mount Gazette, that is exploring the depths of themes and things like that. How do you. What can you take away with that mindset from a gathering like this in terms of what you want to explore and your work as a writer?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:10:56.080 - 00:12:27.668
Yeah, that's great. I mean, first of all, I still do gear reviews. As I said, gear editor for Blue Ridge Outdoors, I still love doing that stuff too.
And looking at gear, I've done it for so long. And it's true that when I went from having an MFA in creative writing to writing gear reviews, part of me felt dead inside.
But now I'm addicted to it right now. I still keep trying to find a way to do those gear reviews.
But on the larger side, yeah, I think this show for me, storytelling, there were two really important things I saw. One was it was just great to talk to some of these brands.
I think Royal Robbins in particular, we went and talked to and got a really cool story of how the brand is reinventing itself, how it's thinking about its place in the marketplace, what its strategies are to reinvent itself as a brand and come back. And as a business writer, business storyteller, I find that stuff really fascinating to know.
You know, what it takes for these businesses that I started out meeting just because I was going to write about their gear.
But then as you know, my work developed with the Daily and Grassroots Connect and all these other places to really see what the story is of how a brand can live and die and come back and all that's really cool.
But I think the biggest storyline obviously of this show is it's happening in the shadow of intense danger to our public lands, to people who manage public lands being laid off, and to the outdoor industry being this giant beast that really has no, I don't want to say no leadership, but no centrality to it right now. Right.
Colin True
00:12:27.724 - 00:12:31.362
And needs no centrality is a great way of putting it.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:12:31.476 - 00:14:05.772
Yeah, I mean, the outdoor industry needs to get together and respond to this because this is going to affect all of us. I mean, I saw, you know, and any story comes together from different angles. Right.
Like, so I went to this media event and talked to people and obviously we were talking about what was going on nationally and parks and forest service people being laid off.
And then I saw there was this post also from a friend of mine, Lizzie Scully, who runs a pack graph business down in Mancos, Colorado, and talking about how she's not going to be able to get a permit.
Once she can't get a permit, that means that she can't run her business, which means she can't buy the freeze dried meals she's buying from companies, which means she can't visit their local. So there's these economic ripples and these economic ripples are going to affect our whole industry.
We talk about how big the outdoor industry is, what an economic driver is, and if public lands are being taken away, if agencies are being gutted and shut down the way they are, and we're losing outfitters and stuff out there, that's really going to affect the economics of the industry. So it's more than just an ethical problem. Yeah, you know, it's an economic problem. So that story was definitely at the show too.
It was definitely there. And I think, I think that too is what we're missing from not having these, you know, big shows too.
I mean, it was great to have, you know, to be here. And as you said be simple, be focused.
But man, I was missing the chance to have a whole room full of people, you know, dedicated to making sure we protect public lands the way we used to have it. Outdoor retailer at the Conservation Alliance Breakfast or those places.
Colin True
00:14:05.836 - 00:15:30.250
So that's a really good point.
I mean, and you're right, number one, like, even if it was just anecdotally, the tenor of the room was positive and people were happy to see each other and it was, I think it was an exciting show.
But also there was, I don't think I had a meeting where there wasn't some off the cuff remark of like, well, or if we still have public lands or oh, if we still have a country.
Like, I mean it's definitely on everyone's mind what's happening, happening right now and how that all trickles down to the economics beyond just the, well, this is horrible from the immediate impact of people and what's it going to mean broadly for where we can go visit? Like.
Yeah, but also to your point, it's gonna, there are, there are elements of the industry that will absolutely be impacted from this move as I'm sure every industry that is being impacted by everything going on right now is having the similar conversations.
And you're right, I think I'm a little jaded too as, as I tend to look at the, the panels and the keynote speakers and some of the, you know, more fluff that comes with other outdoor events.
But as we look at this summer and the sort of, you know, the head to head war here between like Switchback and Outdoor Retailer, I hope they're taking notice of this and it will be, it won't just be a, hey, retail and business and trying to like be so singular in that. And, and this is what you talked about.
I think one of the first times you came on the rock fight is it's like that opening OIA breakfast was important because it set the tone. And then as we returned to or six months later, we'd revisit those themes and those kinds of things as an industry.
And that is a big opportunity as the national show scene sort of shakes itself out here in the coming, you know, months and years.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:15:30.550 - 00:15:57.718
Yeah. And you get to meet people you didn't know.
I mean, normally if you're sitting at home or if you're just in your own bubble, not going to a big convocation mixer of people, you know, you're not going to meet people who aren't in your orbit, who you could potentially work together from a business standpoint or to protect public lands. Right, right. And how. How up is this?
We're not just talking about, you know, when we used to talk about protect public lands, it would be some nuances of policy. Now we're actually talking about protecting.
Colin True
00:15:57.814 - 00:15:58.886
Protecting public lands.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:15:58.918 - 00:16:03.366
Yeah, like, public lands going away. That's fucked up that we're actually right at that point.
Colin True
00:16:03.438 - 00:16:20.392
And, oh, the conservation alliance, like, handed out a grant to, like, do this thing and be like, oh, that's so cool. We should be doing more of that, though.
It'd be like, just kind of like, really almost like highfalutin conversation around, like, how can we improve, improve, improve?
And now it's like we have regressed to the point where it's like, no, we just really need to protect the fact that we may have public lands eventually.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:16:20.536 - 00:16:26.460
Yeah, we're the. We're the Kansas City Chiefs in the super bowl at this point. We're getting our fucking asses kicked. And it's embarrassing.
Colin True
00:16:27.040 - 00:16:32.888
I love, man, total drive by on the Kansas City Chiefs. I love it. Yes. More of those, please. How long?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:16:32.944 - 00:16:33.800
We were, like, the star.
Colin True
00:16:33.840 - 00:16:34.552
We were the stars.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:16:34.616 - 00:16:40.664
We were Great. We were 15 and 2. We had this giant economy, and now it's all going to go away. It's going to be embarrassing.
Colin True
00:16:40.712 - 00:16:51.670
You know, if he had made it a game, we would just have said, ah, they got. They lost. That's a bummer. But no, you got beat, Kansas City. Anyway, I think Doug had money on that game. That's why he's so mad.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:16:52.890 - 00:17:00.914
I. I didn't have money on it. I would have won money if they won. Yeah, that is true. In the pool I was in. Yes, I did. Yeah. Yeah.
Colin True
00:17:00.962 - 00:18:24.170
No, but one other note, and I was thinking a little bit more on sort of the business side, but I think to your point about these conversations and, and, and even on a. And this is where I agree with you. The. The bigger organization, the bigger gatherings are important.
We're going to see how that shakes out in the next few months here. But this is also the intimacy of this event, and that is smaller.
And you can kind of like, you have a very simple meeting, say, hey, come see our stuff.
But then over the course of that conversation, we can get into marketing strategy, you know, the conversation around public lands, those kinds of things.
You know, there was one brand, it was Marmot, actually, for all the grief Marmot has taken on this podcast over the last six or seven months, they had their general manager there. We had an amazing conversation with him, like. So stay tuned, Rock Fight listeners, for more Marmot stuff as I share like the.
Some of that conversation down the road, not for this episode, but I told him, like, thank you for being here, because, like, him sitting in that room. And I know it's a small event and you can't. You don't want to overload it.
But having someone from leadership at Marmot to come and see that and see these types of conversations again on a smaller scale and not get lost in the sort of like the big brand dogma that can exist in a national show, I think that's important. And then. And if he was sitting there and listening to, you know, this is someone who's owned by. That company's owned by Newell. Right.
So they have a lot of, you know, it's a. It's a corporate brand at this point. If these kinds of conversations, the one we're talking about on public lands as well as.
Then the gear and apparel conversation and everything else. There's just so much that can be learned from going to these things.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:18:24.710 - 00:18:29.198
Yeah. And it's great to see those executives or those owners getting excited about their products, too.
Colin True
00:18:29.254 - 00:18:29.534
Yeah.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:18:29.582 - 00:19:06.718
Which is really cool. Cause that's where it's coming from. And that's where, you know that they. They love it. So it's. It's great to see that. I mean, it's also great. Right.
We got to see these, you know. You know, we saw those great layers for Mountain Hardware we wanted. So there's no better way, too, for media.
Like, if you get an email about something, it's really tough to know if you're going to care or not. But when you're there touching it and feeling it and seeing it, then you walk out of there wanting it.
So I think it's a huge advantage for those brands to actually get. It's always the best thing to get product in the hand of media or reviewers. So that's a great advantage, too.
And then when you see the executives excited about the stuff, that's. Yeah, as you said, that's even better. And you get to.
Colin True
00:19:06.774 - 00:19:07.150
Even better.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:19:07.190 - 00:19:11.496
Yeah. Expand the story beyond just the gear, but the philosophy on why that gear is out there.
Colin True
00:19:11.678 - 00:19:12.596
Yeah.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:19:12.788 - 00:19:13.092
Well.
Colin True
00:19:13.116 - 00:19:50.590
And also, I mean, that was the first thing. The first person I saw was one of Marmot's reps, this guy. This guy Matt, who I think he's in. Matt. I'm sorry, I forget which region you.
I think maybe the Rockies. Yeah, it's the Rockies. He's a Rockies Rocky Mountain rep. But immediately I remembered him because I'm from one of his other lines.
He's like, hey, general manager from Marmots here. Obviously he's been listening to the podcast, knowing the criticism we've been throwing their way, and I'm like, let's talk.
And we did, we had to spend an hour with the guy and it was great. It was a great conversation. So, yeah, well, okay, I know we're keeping you from going skiing.
You got snow in the Front Range and, and you're getting out this morning. So any sort of final thoughts? Anything else, like kind of observations from, from your time at Outdoor Market alliance media event this week?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:19:50.890 - 00:20:19.590
Well, I mean, I think, I think we went through it pretty well as far as what's there, but I do think that, you know, as a, as a media person, I think it is a really valuable event.
If they want a media person, if they want you to fly out there and see some stuff, I think you really walk away with a lot of stuff that you can use in reviews throughout the year, in contacts you can make, you know, and it's, I think it's important for that face to face time for media to be able to then go back to brands, have good relationships and really important to have relationships with those PR agencies as well.
Colin True
00:20:20.130 - 00:20:48.300
Yeah.
And by the way, if anybody listening to this who's maybe, you know, like curious about the event, I mean, it's everything from there were definitely like, you know, gear junkie was there. Like we were there. Other podcasts were there. Got to sit and have breakfast with some folks who run a really cool YouTube channel yesterday.
Like, it's, it's all over the spectrum, media attending. It's not just the gear review populace from the outdoor industry.
No, it's like, no, if you, if you have been interested in talking about the industry, that's, you know, that's what, that's who it's for. So they're not paying for this, by the way. This isn't sponsored content. I just feel like it's a really good event.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:20:48.600 - 00:20:50.080
Yeah. You really like this event?
Colin True
00:20:50.200 - 00:20:51.280
It's a great event.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:20:51.400 - 00:20:56.784
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's great for you to go as media too when you've been there so many times on the other side.
Colin True
00:20:56.872 - 00:21:02.660
I know maybe I'm just a little bit like the freshman in college right now, like wide eyed and you know, like, oh, this is so cool.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:21:03.560 - 00:21:06.380
Whereas me, me and Sean McCoy have been hit over the head for this stuff.
Colin True
00:21:06.420 - 00:21:08.748
You guys are like, fuck this, we've done these and we've done this enough.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:21:08.884 - 00:22:03.370
No, but I, I, I'd say the one bad Thing, not bad thing. But the one disadvantage of the show is that it is only some very highly curated brands. The brands for the rep agencies that are there.
What you're missing out that you'd get in these bigger shows. And even if you get, you know, you know, maybe a connect or something, maybe not as much there too.
What you're really missing out on is the weird little brands, you know, or the brands who are coming into the industry tangentially and all that stuff who aren't there. You know, that used to get those big shows which was the big advantage. You know, like. And sometimes those brands were kooky.
Like I think I talk about that. Like at SIA there was this famous brand, one show called Kicker Fucker Chicken who was a crazy ass Japanese snowboard bling brand. Right. But.
But you also had a chance to see these, you know, small brands, small companies. And that's really important too. And it's too bad the show doesn't have more just a weird little OD events there.
Colin True
00:22:03.910 - 00:22:27.998
That's a really good point. How do. And maybe there to kind of get off my, you know, my fanboy of this event. Like how.
Because that, that is obviously what we like to talk about even on this show a lot. Right. Is the, those are the, that's the future of the industry.
And while it is good to sit here and like look at the folks who sort of like are the 80 of the industry and understand that and you can learn a lot from that. How do you create a space for that? And that's logistically tough with this event. Right. Because it's a permanent showroom. Mostly our sales rep. Yeah.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:22:28.014 - 00:22:28.750
It's just not what it is.
Colin True
00:22:28.790 - 00:22:32.878
Yeah, but that would be the challenge. So to put it. The. Organize the organizers.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:22:32.894 - 00:22:33.038
Yeah.
Colin True
00:22:33.054 - 00:22:42.750
How do you get some, some cool little brands in here to kind of like get them and maybe we'll get an email that says well we already do that. No one's taking advantage of it so we'll find out. But. But no, it's a good point because.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:22:42.790 - 00:22:45.598
Like those are usually Chicken could be there. I'd be psyched there.
Colin True
00:22:45.654 - 00:23:03.736
Dude, kicking chicken. Let's go. Come back, we need you. No, but it's a good point. I mean like to your.
As you cover things and looking for things to write about or talk about, you know you're going to write more about Kicker Chicken than you are Mountain Hardware. Right? It's like enough people are writing about Mountain Hardware. I love you Mountain Hardware, but you know what I mean?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:23:03.808 - 00:23:04.152
Yeah.
Colin True
00:23:04.216 - 00:23:08.424
And it's but mostly kicker chicken. Like, that's the best.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:23:08.592 - 00:23:11.944
Did we just drop more F bombs on the show than's ever been done before?
Colin True
00:23:12.112 - 00:23:21.080
Probably not. Housman's pretty rough. All right, man. Hey, what's going on over on Open Container? What's. What's, what's on?
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:23:21.120 - 00:24:05.712
What's coming up? I'm really psyched. I think episodes we're gonna have coming out real soon here.
I'm going to be talking to Steven Casmiro, who everyone knows from Adventure Journal. We're going to be talking about what's going on in outdoor media and also the big public lands question. So I'm really excited to connect with him.
I've known him for a long time. Consider him a guide and mentor in this career that I've gone on, too. So I'm excited about that.
We've also we're going to be talking with a woman named Greta Morgan, musician, who lost her voice to spasmodic dysphonia and then found healing out in the wilderness. And she's got a book coming out called the Lost Voice. Going to be really interesting to talk to. Who else do we have coming up? My old boss next week?
Colin True
00:24:05.736 - 00:24:07.984
We got father daughter combo, I believe.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:24:08.072 - 00:24:38.970
Oh, we've got. Yes. We've got Mike and Talking Football.
We've got Mike Carey, former NFL referee, and his daughter Danica, who started Serious Innovation, which is a really cool company.
And we haven't talked to a lot of companies necessarily on Open Container, but I love that we're talking to them because of the collaborative process that Mike uses to run the company.
And it's a really cool collaborative process that he sort of got from his experience playing football and thinking as a real team the way a football team does, which is cool.
Colin True
00:24:39.550 - 00:24:43.334
Right on, man. All right, well, thanks for good seeing you this week, obviously.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:24:43.382 - 00:25:03.004
Yeah, it was awesome to see. Great to see you guys there and great to be on here, talk about this. Love talking about these kind of things.
And I'd say one more great thing about the show was how to self promote is Rock Fight, how popular it is becoming and how, you know, people want to talk about the podcast and being on it and what they've heard on it.
Colin True
00:25:03.172 - 00:25:12.284
Yeah, there was definitely an air of every meeting of like, well, you know, we don't want to get our ass kicked afterwards on your show. So, like. No, it's fine. Tell us what you have going on.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:25:12.372 - 00:25:17.020
Yeah. Because you're doing it, right? Yeah. Did we kick anyone's ass in the show? I think we were pretty kind I'm overly kind, maybe.
Colin True
00:25:17.100 - 00:25:19.500
Anyway. Hey, man, go get some up on the hill.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:25:19.580 - 00:25:21.160
I'm going to get some for sure.
Colin True
00:25:22.160 - 00:25:22.872
Thanks, Doug.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:25:22.936 - 00:25:23.980
Ciao. Bye.
Colin True
00:25:24.400 - 00:26:06.732
All right, that's the show. It's a quick one today. Like I said. Just got back in town. Want to get you that update. Thanks to Doug Schnitzpot for hopping on.
Make sure you are following and listening to Open Container Doug's podcast. It's amazing. You can find it on whatever podcast app you're listening to right now. We want your emails, we want your feedback.
Send them to myrockflightgmail.com. what's on your mind? What do you want us to talk about? What don't you like that we talked about? What did you really like that we talked about?
Maybe if you reach out, I'll write back to you and offer to send you a sticker. That's possible. It's happened before. The Rock Flight's a production of Rock Fight llc. Production? It's fine. I'm Colin True. Thanks for listening.
And here to take us out and kick off your weekend is Chris Demaikz and he's here to sing the Rock Fight Fight song. We'll see you next time, Rock fighters.
Chris DeMakes
00:26:06.796 - 00:27:06.346
Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock bike. Rock Bike.
Welcome to the Rock bike Where we speak our truth slay sacred cows and sometimes agree to disagree.
We talk about human powered outdoor activities and big bites about topics that we find interesting like pop culture, music, the latest movie reviews, ideas that aim for the this is where we speak our truth. This is where we speak our truth. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Welcome to the Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Welcome to the Rock flight.
Rock flight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Welcome to the Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight. Rock fight.
Doug Schnitzspahn
00:27:06.498 - 00:27:07.090
Rock fight.