The Rock Fight: Outdoor Industry & Adventure Sports Commentary

Today we run down some of the top stories happening in the outdoors for the week ending March 17, 2023 (Happy St. Patricks Day!).

Want to have a news story featured in a future episode? Send your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Get ready...the vacation is over!

Let's head to Montana (or was it Idaho?) as we take a rafting trip with the best actress of all time as our guide, do our best to survive Evil Kevin Bacon and head down THE RIVER WILD!

Do the outdoorsy elements make the movie better? Is this even a good movie? Listen to find out if THE RIVER WILD gets THE ROCK FIGHT stamp of approval, or if it will be erased from all human consciousness.

Do you have a movie you'd like to see featured on a future episode? Send your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Dan Cortese.

We need you.

We need you more than ever.

Because MTV Sports has to come back.

Agree? Disagree? Do you know Dan Cortese? Please make an introduction so we can have him on the podcast! Send your Dan Cortese introduction, comments, suggestions and introductions to the legend himself to [email protected].

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

The office used to be a super vanilla topic. In 2023? It's a discourse mainstay.

Work from home. Return to Office. That Zoom should have been an email. There's a lot to unpack.

For outdoor brands a cool office space has been integral to being a cool place to work. But we now know there are different ways to do things and a lot to evaluate and change.

Today's guest is Lisa Slagle who is the founder/owner of WHEELIE a creative agency out of Crested Butte and she has seen it all. She has taken the office space path and has also gone remote. Those experiences have given her a unique purview into modern workplace culture. And that purview has shaped some very specific opinions on that topic...FIVE BIG ONES in fact!

What are your thoughts on the modern workplace culture in the outdoor industry? Send your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

Follow WHEELIE on Instagram @wheeliecollective or check out their work on their website www.wheeliecreative.com.

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

When the outdoor brand Rab launched their new adventure cycling lineup Cinder a few weeks ago, they did what most outdoor brands do: promoted the new line by touting the technical abilities of the materials the line contains.

The problem with that is all of those abilities have existed in some form for a very long time.

Outdoor apparel brands need to move on from technical proficiency as the primary way they market their products, but that's hard to do because the backbone of the outdoor industry has been built on product innovation and it's a 50 year old playbook.

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT, Adventure Journal's Justin Housman makes his Monday morning stop on the show to dig into a complicated topic and to try and break the circle of bullshit that continues to plague the way outdoor brands bring new products to market.

If you're in product, marketing or a leader at Rab or any other outdoor apparel brand we want to hear from you! Reach out by dropping a note to [email protected].

Cotton Kills: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c58ba55f-9be1-421b-9a39-7699bf56589d

Subscribe to Adventure Journal and get more Housman in your life: www.adventure-journal.com

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT...

It's time to celebrate the 95th annual Academy Awards by handing out Oscars for the most outdoorsy part of each of the 10 Best Picture Nominees and then choosing the best outdoorsy movie of the year.

Be sure to stick around to the end of the episode (c'mon, this show is like 13 minutes long, do you really have something better to do?) to hear Colin's prediction for who will win Best Picture for real on Sunday night.

Want to make fun of Colin when his prediction is proven to be horribly wrong? Of course you do! Send your comments and suggestions (or even your own Oscars predictions) to [email protected].

Please follow or subscribe and leave a rating or review wherever you get your podcasts.

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Any good fight has multiple rounds and lots of rocks thrown. And today, Adam Jaber from the OUT OF COLLECTIVE is here to return fire on the third hot take ever posited on THE ROCK FIGHT, the notion that Mountain Bike Suspension is largely pointless.

Adam thinks that there's a real reason that mountain bike suspension exists. So we're allowing him a rebuttal.

Who's the ultimate winner here? You! Because you get to listen to these two chuckleheads chuck rocks at each other.

Have your own opinion or want to pick a fight with THE ROCK FIGHT? Send your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

See all that Adam has going on by heading over to www.outofpodcast.com.

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

You know what's an awesome place to lay your head at night? Your own bed.

Agree? Disagree? Want to pick a fight with THE ROCK FIGHT? Email your comments and suggestions to [email protected].

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

Trade Shows. If you work in Customer Service, Sales, Marketing, Product Development, Operations...it doesn't really matter, you've likely been to a trade show.

For the Outdoor Industry, historically the biggest trade show has been OUTDOOR RETAILER. But after years of dominance things for this twice annual nexus event is changing drastically. And with the emergence of events like THE BIG GEAR SHOW and calls to integrate consumers, the landscape of trade events itself is changing.

To get an idea of what is going on and what to expect, Kenji Haroutunian joins THE ROCK FIGHT to help sort through it. Kenji is the former show runner of Outdoor Retailer and current show runner of The Big Gear Show so he knows a thing or two about this topic.

Want to share your industry trade show thoughts or impressions? Send your feedback to [email protected].

To learn more about what Kenji is up to head over to www.thebiggearshow.com

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.

When Eddie Bauer announced it was ending Guide Built, the legacy program of it's 2009 First Ascent program, it got the wheels turning: What value do outdoor athletes and ambassadors truly bring to the products that these brands make? Is the outdoor athlete team an antiquated notion?

Today on THE ROCK FIGHT Colin welcomes back Adventure Journal's Justin Housman to dig into the ins and outs of how athletes and ambassadors are deployed and if at the end of the day their presence really matters to the consumers of outdoor brands.

Are you a current or former outdoor athlete or ambassador? We want to hear from you on this topic! Reach out to the show at [email protected].

Want to pick a fight with THE ROCK FIGHT? Send your comments and suggestions also, to [email protected]

Want more Housman in your life? Head over to www.adventure-journal.com and subscribe today!

THE ROCK FIGHT is a production of Rock Fight, LLC.