Backbone’s Annual Showroom Returns to New York City
Backbone hosted its annual showroom event in New York City on May 9, 2024. With more than 130 members of the media in attendance and 17 Backbone and rygr brands sharing the latest gear and brand news, this was one of our most successful events to date.
The Backbone NYC Showroom is an opportunity to foster in-person connections, share ideas, and uncover earned media opportunities. Highlights from this year’s event included:
IRL Bonding
Editorial media are inundated with hundreds of pitches each day. The Backbone NYC Showroom presented a casual and fun environment for pitching, and better yet, relationship building.
Engaging Product Demonstrations
Attending brands pulled out all the stops to dazzle media, activations included:
Pendleton Whisky offered samples and featured roping demonstrations from the #2 best tie-down roper in the world, Ty Harris.
Ooni Pizza Ovens ambassador Serhan Ayhan, owner of Next Level Pizza, dished out 200 slices of pizza.
Thule set-up and tore down its new Outset product, the first hitch-mounted tent on the market, nearly 100 times (coming soon).
Smartwool collected old socks for recycling as part of its Second Cut Program.
A Logistical Feat
The event went off without a hitch. Participating brands shipped almost two hundred boxes for 43 event staffers (a mix of Backbone, rygr, and attending brand representatives) to set up. After the event, tear-down took only 75 minutes—teamwork makes the dream work!
Swag Bags
Backbone and rygr brands weren’t shy when it came to giving media products to test for coverage consideration. This year’s goodie bags included products from Aventon, Coop Sleep Goods, FullWell, Gerber, icebreaker, Klean Kanteen, Ooni Pizza Ovens, Orvis, Outdoor Afro, Pendleton Whisky, Smartwool, Thule, UAG, Wiley X, and YETI.
See what some of our team members had to say about it:
“After years of hearing about the showroom from my colleagues, this was the first year I had feet on the ground during the event and I was thoroughly impressed! We had over 90 conversations at the YETI booth and already have pending coverage as a direct result of the showroom. Not only do media get to touch and hold the products we’re pitching, but my team and our client contact were able to build in valuable time to talk about upcoming initiatives while we were together. This event is a no-brainer to attend for many reasons!” - Max Krapff, YETI account representative
“The NYC Showroom is one of the hardest working events we put on at Backbone. We pride ourselves on our creative pitching abilities and converting earned media coverage, but you can’t beat educating people about the nuances and intricacies of making pizza while eating pizza made in an Ooni Pizza Oven.” - Lizzie Strazza, Ooni account representative
“Attending the NYC Showroom is an invaluable experience for brands such as Turtle Fur to build real-life connections with key lifestyle and mainstream media. The fabrics in Turtle Fur’s first-ever spring / summer collection are sustainable, unique, and soft on the skin so it was helpful for media to touch and feel the products in person, especially as Turtle Fur is expanding into new seasons and categories.” - Sarah Owen, Turtle Fur account representative
Don’t just take it from us. See what our clients had to say about it:
“The Backbone Showroom is the perfect event to get your brand and newest products in front of New York’s top media titles. Thule has been attending this event for nearly a decade and the combination of great brands in a casual atmosphere makes for an informal yet effective format.” - Chris Ritchie, Thule
“The Backbone PR event was a great experience, meeting with the press in person so they can touch, feel, and experience such a tactile product as ours was totally worth it. It was great to also finally meet the people who have been writing about us in person. The team at Backbone made sure everything ran smoothly, and most importantly we had a lot of fun.” - Kevin Chon, Coop Co-Founder
"The NYC showroom was a great event for us. It gave us the opportunity to connect with hard-to-reach journalists in a really condensed and authentic setting. The event also allowed us to work in a market that we aren’t as well known in and grow our brand awareness in an important market." - Kelly Muededonck, Smartwool
"Being able to see lots of key media in one location in one day is always beneficial. It's also really good to meet respective people from the other Backbone brand portfolio, great to make connections on both a personal level and for potential partnerships." - Ash Williams, Gerber
If you’re interested in learning more about the Backbone New York City Showroom, please reach out to info@backbone.media.
