SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA (BRAIN) Monday July 16 2012 5:50 AM MT—Interbike is reaching out to tbe BMX industry with several new features at this fall's expo in Las Vegas.
The show will again designate a special section of the floor plan for BMX-only products called the BMX Zone. Additionally, partnerships have been formed with industry leaders for educational seminars, a brand-neutral freestyle BMX history area within the BMX Zone, and a new alliance with the Ride BMX NORA Cup Awards will be launched.
Interbike formed a BMX advisory panel earlier this year.
“BMX has such an important history within our industry, and with the category making its second appearance at the Olympics this year, the sport is growing,” said Pat Hus, Interbike’s managing director.
“We wanted to get the leaders in the segment together to help us understand what we as a business can do to help them get the most out of their experience at Interbike. We’ve had some great discussions since forming the advisory panel, and with their guidance I’m confident that we’re moving in the right direction.”
The advisory panel consists of executives from a cross section of the sport, including Dave Wooten of Stolen BMX, Joe Hawk of Haro Bikes, Bernie Doll of QBP, Robert Morales of Cult and several more.
The BMX Zone will be located in the upstairs show area and will showcase companies from all categories within BMX.
QBP will also sponsor and present educational seminars designed to help retailers learn more about the category and the new opportunities that exist within the segment.
“QBP has a tradition of partnering with dealers to help their businesses grow through educational opportunities,” said Glenn Dussl, QBP’s BMX sales manager. “With BMX being an enigmatic topic for many dealers we want to make this category easier to integrate into their stores and show that there is money to be made. We’ll have two seminars at Interbike this year with different levels of concepts and strategies to help dealers expose the BMX potential in their community.”
The Generations of Freestyle area will show off historical assets from many companies within the freestyle community and will serve as a meeting place for autograph sessions. The area, sponsored by Interbike in association with Haro Bikes, is being designed by industry veteran Mark Losey. Losey has worked heavily in the media-side of BMX (Vital BMX, Ride BMX, BMX Plus!), and is currently the US BMX Freestyle Manager for Nike.
Those interested in sharing items with the Generations of Freestyle display should email Losey at marklosey@gmail.com.
Interbike is also a new sponsor of the Ride BMX NORA Cup BMX Awards. TransWorld Ride BMX Magazine has previously held its invitation-only awards ceremony in Las Vegas during the same week as Interbike, but the two companies have never formally worked together. The 2012 Ride BMX NORA Cup Awards will be held in the Venetian Hotel & Casino in The Venetian Showroom on Thursday, September 20.
