YOURCLIMBING.COM EVENT PARTNERSHIP

New River Rendezvous - West Virginia - May 18-20, 2007.

www.yourclimbing.com/newriverrendezvous

The Rendezvous takes place annually, attracting climbers mostly from the Eastern U.S., but also from throughout the country and overseas. The weekend-long event is free to attend, with costs supported by sponsors and cash donations from attendees.

Although one of the top climbing festivals in the country, the Rendezvous typically does not get much coverage by mainstream media. In the weeks following the 2007 event, a search on Google News turned up only a few stories even mentioning the festival (which attracted a capacity crowd of more than a thousand people).

The Rendezvous Grassroots Channel on YourClimbing.com provided the most extensive coverage of the festival -- by the participants themselves. Meanwhile, mainstream media virtually ignored the popular event.

The Opportunity

Grassroots Channel content embedded in the New River Rendezvous website (Click to enlarge)

Rendezvous organizers recognized that if media outlets wouldn't adequately cover their event, there was an opportunity to get coverage themselves online. Event attendees bring digital cameras and video cams to the Rendezvous, and they have plenty of stories to tell about their weekend of fun.

They just need to be enticed to share.

By partnering with YourClimbing.com and creating a Rendezvous Grassroots Channel, event organizers got extensive coverage -- and were provided with a digital archive of the weekend's festivities, which became a powerful marketing tool.

The Program

Here's how the Grassroots Channel program worked:

• YourClimbing.com:
  • Created a Rendezvous Grassroots Channel and announced it to the YourClimbing community.
  • Recruited 5 "correspondents" from the YourClimbing.com membership who were planning to attend the Rendezvous. These people received a pair of Chaco sandals and a YourClimbing.com t-shirt in exchange for blogging about the event and shooting photos and/or video.
  • Prepared several contests -- best blog entry, best photo, best video -- for anyone posting to the Grassroots Channel (including the correspondents). Prizes were donated by La Sportiva, Mountain Hardware, Osprey Packs and Patagonia.
  • Selected contest winners, after the festival.
• New River Rendezvous:
  • Sent out e-mail announcements to its mailing list.
  • Assisted YourClimbing.com in finding sponsors for the contests.
  • Handed out flyers promoting the Grassroots Channel at the event, as well as YourClimbing.com bumper stickers.
  • Announced the Grassroots Channel from the stage during the event.

Results

Pre-event. The 5 YourClimbing correspondents were asked to blog about the event in advance of it. Most did so, and also posted photos and videos from last year's Rendezvous.

During event. Because of the remote location of this event, posting activity during the weekend of the festival was scant. (For events where Internet access is available on-site, posting typically occurs during the event.)

Post-event. Submissions from Rendezvous attendees flowed onto the Grassroots Channel during the 2 weeks after the event. Correspondents and other festival attendees posted:

• 64 photos
• 2 videos
• 12 blog items

From the Event Organizer

Rendezvous media guy Jay Young

Jay Young, PR/media manager: "Imagine my warm fuzzy feeling as contributions from five folks with five unique perspectives on our little Rendezvous landed on YourClimbing.com from all sides. Photos, videos, stories -- content virtually poured in! Our grassroots reporters were just attendees with a little Internet access and a fistful of enthusiasm each, but you'd'a thought they were gunning for Pulitzers. It was a media coordinator's dream come true.

"I think that once you guys build a big user base, this will be a pretty powerful site. I think also that we're with you for next year, too. I'm pretty psyched on the energy coming from you guys."

Get a Grassroots Channel for YOUR Event

Want this kind of enthusiastic participant coverage of your competition or event?

Please contact Yann Ropars, director of business development, at 303-543-7810 or yann@enthusiastgroup.com