2011 ICAST OSI Booth

The ICAST 2011 Showin Las Vegas last week was Backwater Paddle Company’s (BPC) first venture into the fishing sports marketing arena.  Our national distributor, Outdoor Specialty Innovations (OSI),invited me to attend as their guest.  Ron Baskett, OSI’s main man, and his crew helped soften the sensory overload by providing a booth chair  for me  to observe how the game is played.   I had to mention “chair” for the simple fact I spent a lot of time holding it to the floor, as I just blown my knee out earlier in the week.   Being in Las Vegas and confined to a chair was not the experience I had in mind for this road trip! 

Mind you, my full intentions in coming to Las Vegas was for the ICAST Trade Show experience.  I had to see and feel the atmosphere of an event of this magnitude.  Next week Backwater Paddle Company will be sponsoring our own booth (Booth MZ-163) at the Outdoor Retailer Show (OR) in Salt Lake City, Utah.  What a wake up call the trip to Las Vegas has been!

So being semi-incapicitated, I was forced to slow down, watch, learn and observe the tactics being displayed to posture your product before the respective buyers.  The atmosphere is electric.  You cannot imagine the scope of this venue.   It takes a couple of hours to saunter by and visit each booth throughout the venue.  Quite frankly, I’m not sure that I even saw every booth displaying their wares?  It was that massive.

The dollars budgeted for the displays alone by some of these well entrenched and major sporting goods companies is mind blowing.   Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent to provide the most attractive, ginormous and eye catching display possible.  Think Eagle Claw, Daiwa, Shimano, Rapala, Zebco all laying it all out for their buyers.  In this business, you do not get a second chance to make a first impression!!

So coming back to Florida was a bit titillating.  Now I had to face reality and the scope of the upcoming OR Trade Show.   Suddenly it was not just new ideas on how to market our product, but realizing how small BPC really is!   Now it becomes…how do we maximize our exposure without going bankrupt…basically, getting more bang for our buck.  Again, realizing that simply stretching our 3 x 5 BPC logo banner between two stanchions is not going to cut it! 

As we prepare for the upcoming Outdoor Retail Show in Salt Lake City next week, it is Backwater Paddle Company’s time to step off the porch, get down into the yard and run with the big dogs.  With great anticipation and some trepidation, we are hoping to make our mark in the paddle sports industry. 

At the ICAST Show we met, and will be networking with, some of the more experienced sporting goods manufacturers in establishing industry contacts for Backwater Paddles future growth.  As we work on a time frame for the introduction of our new Piranha-X hand paddle, these new contacts will be instrumental in achieving our goals. 

Now I sit here blogging, patiently waiting for my $2000 pop-up display to arrive here in Florida.  After observing the “minimum standard” of displays at the ICAST Show, we had to bite the bullet and not be the odd man out for the upcoming OR Show.  This short time frame between the events is all we had to work with in providing a unique and eye catching display. 

Actually, the graphics are what we hope to be the attention grabber.  This pop-up display is 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide, and collapses down into a shipping container.  My main man, Terry Griffin at Colossal Signs in Cocoa Beach, tightened up the graphics for the display.

So again, we wait patiently for the display to be sent from Rhode Island for our inspection and trial set up prior to sending it on to Salt Lake City.  How tight is the schedule you ask…the display is supposed to arrive August 2nd and we are on the plane August 3rd.

Panicking…not yet.

Backwater Paddle Company Logo

Backwater Paddle Company, home of the patented Predator and Piranha Kayak Fishing Hand Paddles, is attending two of the major industry retail trade shows within the next couple of weeks.

Backwater Paddle Company will be represented at the ICAST Show 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada July 13^th – 16^th by our distributor, Outdoor Specialty Innovations.   Easy2HookUSA at booth 1060, will feature the Backwater Paddle Company line as well as the other outdoor retail lines represented by Outdoor Specialty Innovations.

Backwater Paddle Company will be represented at the Outdoor Retail Summer Show 2011 in Salt Lake City, Utah this August 3^rd – 6^th at booth MZ-1630.   Our national distributor, Outdoor Specialty Innovations, will be available alongside for more outdoor product representation.

We encourage all paddle and outdoor sport sales reps and vendors to stop by our booths, introduce themselves, exchange stories and place orders.

See you in Las Vegas next week, and in Salt Lake City next month! 

Paddle on my friends!!

Waiting in the grass!

Looking AWESOME!!  Just recently had the Backwater Paddle Company Truck wrapped.  Terry Griffith from Colossal Signs of Cocoa Beach, Florida designed and attached the wrap over a couple of day period.

I have been so busy, that I finally just got some time to head down to the St Johns River and take some pics.  The early morning sun and the St Johns River watershed provided the lighting and backdrop.

 If you haven’t noticed…the two sides are wrapped differently.  The passenger side is the Piranha and the drivers side the Predator model.

 I can’t believe all the attention the Backwater Paddle Truck wrap draws.   As a matter of fact, I have to get used to everyone staring at me while driving down the road!  No I have to consciously drive the truck in “normal” (foot out of the throttle) mode because all the attention it draws!!

The Backwater Paddle Company Truck is making the rounds throughout the southeast tournament trails.  Hope to see you one day.  Paddle on my friends!!

Fishing with Predator Kayak Fishing Hand Paddle

Paddle sports, particularly kayak fishing, are the fastest growing water sport today.  Kayaking, canoeing and rafting are now destination activities.   With all the green and eco friendly activities available, paddle sports have dominated the outdoor adventure scene.   Paddle sports are low impact on the environment, inexpensive, thrilling and always memorable.

Not to be left out, the fishing and sporting communities wanted in on this explosion.  Kayakers, anglers and sportsmen merged concepts and technologies.  Along with diversity came opportunity.  New specialty equipment, gear and accessories evolved.  Fishing kayaks and kayak fishing hand paddles evolved from this call to action.  

With the rapid growth of paddle sports, there has been a definitive diversification of the sport into various disciplines.  All the technological and manufacturing advancements have fueled the sudden increase in the sport.  Kayak fisherman and kayak sportsman have recently dominated the growth in the paddle sports arena. 

Kayak fishermen, also known as kayak anglers, and kayak sportsmen require specialty equipment, gear and accessories to effectively pursuit their sport.  Their fishing kayaks and fishing hand paddles are specifically designed to accommodate their dynamic environments and distinctive sporting activities. 

Kayak anglers and sportsmen have designed boats for easy access and mobility.  Many facets of their kayak design reflect accoutrements that were found only on motorized fishing vessels.  Today you can find rod holders, live wells, storage compartments, battery wells, fish finders, anchors, etc.  If they can fit a specialty fishing accessory on a twelve to fourteen foot kayak, they will try to get it on there!  They even have twin hulled, foot propelled and battery operated kayaks for the hard core anglers.

For ease of access and dismount, the anglers use a modified version of the sit on top kayak, or SOT.  SOT’s were a natural conversion platform for kayak anglers. These boats are self bailing, meaning that any water that gets in the kayak will be drained away by gravity.  Getting on and off is much easier than a sit in kayak.  Turning or sliding around to access tackle or gear behind you is a much simpler evolution.

With this approach to fishing from kayaks, came another conundrum that caused problems in the kayak angling community.  How do you paddle and fish at the same time?  Think about it.  Can you hold your fishing rod and a kayak paddle at the same time? 

Paddling your kayak and fishing at the same time became a comedy on the water.  It takes two hands to wrangle a seven foot kayak paddle, no matter how you hold it.  Throw in a fishing pole, and you soon realize you need three hands! 

Kayak fishing hand paddles evolved from pioneering anglers solving this problem with ping pong paddles, Kadema paddles, modified badminton racquets and the sort.  They could hold onto their fishing rod and with the other hand paddle their boat stealthily toward their prey. 

It soon became apparent that flailing a seven foot paddle is not conducive to shallow water, or skinny water fishing.  The fish can see you!   The best way to sneak up on your prey is to glide stealthily toward them.   While holding your fishing rod, using a little six or seven ounce fishing hand paddle to propel your kayak, about 16” long, is perfect for the task.

As you begin your foray into kayak fishing, do your research.  Peruse the internet, talk to local anglers, visit local outfitters and try various kayak platforms and fishing hand paddles.  That little effort will certainly make your fishing trip much more rewarding and memorable. 

Fish on!!

Back on the Backwater Paddles marketing process…I have ran into some really neat individuals via networking who are interested in promoting and writing articles about our unique kayak and hand paddle products.   One fellow named Paul Lebowitz, an outdoor writer and photographer, was the first individual expressing the desire to try our Predator and Piranha Kayak Fishing Hand Paddles.  I can’t thank him enough for the exposure that I’m sure he will bring to Backwater Paddles.  As a start-up paddle sports company, having a product that someone is interested in promoting is very beneficial to lending credence to your company. 

That is one of the way’s I have in trying to gain exposure with my paddle company.  Networking and  providing complimentary paddles to potential customers and industry leads is a must.   I am not saying kissing someones ass will or will not help promote your project…but I feel if you have to kiss someones ass to promote your product…it probably was not worth promoting or having the product in the first place!

Networking with the computer, part of my marketing strategy, has proven fruitful.  I cannot imagine bringing my company to where it is now without a computer!  The information found is boundless.  All you have to do is have the patince and resourcefullness to keep looking and asking.  Pretty much anything that can assist your company can be found for free or for very little costs. 

Till we meet again…if you have any information or cool sites to help market or anything else, please let me know!!  Paddle On!!

Backwater Paddles was first conceived in 2007.   That was way before I knew of blogs, facebook, twitter and SEO.  As I blog about my daily and weekly trials, I will fill you and catch you up as to how Backwater Paddles got this far. 

Of course, always feel free to contact me about questions, networking or just sharing your pain!  If you have some revolutionary paddle or marketing ideas…I am all ears!!

Tell you what…it takes all you have in resources and networking to get your company name out into the public domain.  It also helps if you have large chunks of cash!

Large chunks of cash, I don’t have.  I spent all my dollars getting to where we are today.   I am forced to be extremely resourceful and get all the marketing I can get on the cheap, or for nothing, if I can! 

2010 is the year of the paddles!  We are making our debut into the paddle sports market by introducing our Predator and Piranha Kayak Fishing Hand Paddles to the kayak angler community.  Fortunately we have got some decent attention lately due to a press release we sent out a couple of weeks ago.  That has lead to some interviews.  Now all I have to do is turn this exposure into $$$$$$$$$!

I am stil working on that, so stay tuned!