COMPANY: Rodale Sports Group
AGENCY: Alissa Neil PR
TIMELINE: Spring 2005
Ah, the great outdoors. Rock climbing. Hiking. Backcountry cooking. All in the middle of...Manhattan?
In a stunt that helped garner major media play, Backpacker teamed with New York City officials last spring to turn the city into "the world's largest urban adventure
park," as organizers termed it. Officially dubbed "Adventures NYC," the two-day event used the city's natural resources to demonstrate Backpacker's brand promise of an
"accessible outdoors."
"The idea was to show urban dwellers that outdoor adventure is as close as their doorstep," says Chris Brienza, executive director of publicity for the Rodale Sports Group
(New York City), which distributes Backpacker, Runner's World, Bicycling and other sports-related pubs.
Supported by an undisclosed budget, events kicked off May 22 with a gear expo in Union Square Park. Manufacturers showed off their wares, co-sponsor Eastern Mountain Sports
(EMS) offered rock-climbing instruction, and Backpacker editors and guests taught fitness, Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation and other courses.
The big push came on June 4, when some 10,000 people took part in a range of citywide activities: fitness classes in Central Park, kayaking in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx and
a 10-kilometer race on Staten Island.
While the Rodale PR shop was the driving force, this was one of those projects that could not have happened without certain strategic partnerships, chief among these being the
support of the New York City Parks and Recreation Department.
"Backpacker's partnership with the NYC Parks Department really helped," says Alissa Neil, whose Alissa Neil PR in New York City helped implement some aspects of
the Adventure NYC program. "Having a showcase area in Central Park and having the [Parks Department] commissioner kick off the event, those things really added credibility to the
event. It elevates the whole thing, validating it as a significant event for New York City."
That validation, in turn, commanded attention of all the likely media outlets, thanks to a multi-tiered pitching effort among the sponsors. The various PR leads agreed among
themselves that the Parks Department would hit the local media, including major TV, radio and local papers like the Brooklyn Eagle and the Staten Island Advance.
"They are pretty plugged into those desks. Those outlets listen to what they have to say and, because of their ongoing regular relationships with those outlets, they asked to take
the leads of most notifications and advisories," Brienza says.
Backpaker along with sponsors Subaru and EMS took aim at the more specialized media outlets such as Metro Sports, Urban Climber and S News -
an outdoor industry pub at snewsnet.com. Brienza invited reporters to visit the events and to stop by the Central Park staging ground.
The sponsors also chased high-profile mainstream media like the 24-hour TV news station NY-1, eventually convincing reporter Roger Clark to scale the 40-foot rock-climbing wall. "I think
we got them because it was so different from other things they see," Brienza says. "It's not every day you get to go rock climbing in the middle of New York City."
Other sports pubs might have shied away from a Backpacker-sponsored program - why promote the competition, after all? - but, in fact, many showed an interest. The
involvement of such national government bodies as USA Climbing gave the event legitimacy, while the range of activities gave it broad appeal.
Logistics proved to be an issue at times, especially when it came to the EMS bus. This promotional vehicle comes complete with a built-in, 23-ft.-tall, hydraulically raised
climbing wall that lifts off the rear. The wall can hold two climbers on more than six routes. It's cool, and everybody wants to play with it.
"The bus does events all up and down the East Coast, and it gets booked heavily," Brienza says. In order to pull off a live shot at 5 a.m. in Central Park prior to a press
conference, "there were a lot of calls back and forth to EMS, just to make sure we could get the bus down from Newport, R.I., in time for all of this to happen," he adds.
Teamwork prevailed. The bus rolled in, rocks were climbed, photos were taken and the press was conferenced. The net result was a sweep of media hits broad enough to reach the
masses and specific enough to touch those already in the know. Hits included broadcast stories on NY-1 as well as on the local ABC and NBC affiliates along with
articles in such publications as S News, Urban Climber, Metro Sports, Media Week and PR News sister publication Media Industry News
(min).
Brienza says things should go even more smoothly if the magazine decides to try a repeat performance because, prior to the first event, some editors had problems visualizing
the story of New York City as an outdoor playground. "You will often find editors who need a frame of reference. They need to see video of a previous event," he says. With such
footage now firmly in hand, coverage of any future efforts will be as easy as falling off a rock wall.
Contacts: Chris Brienza, 212.808.1358, [email protected]; Alissa Neil, 212.431.4411, [email protected]
Coaxing Editors Into The Great Outdoors
Here's a challenge: Tell a story about nature, the outdoors, camping etc., while standing in the middle of Metropolis. Chris Brienza, executive director of publicity for the
Rodale Sports Group, offers these ideas for selling an "outdoors" pitch to an urban market:
- "The incongruity of outdoors coverage in an urban area can be a challenge, but it can also be your biggest advantage," he says. Play up the odd-couple aspect. "The fact
that the topic is so different from the norm can and should be worked in your favor," he adds. - Identify strong visual elements that can exercise a special tug on urban editors who are not used to aiming their lenses toward the trees.
- Control the weather or - if you can't - get the best data you can during scheduling. Watch emerging weather patterns if you have any last-minute flexibility, then hope the
rain gods are on your side.