Just got to the Ocean Institute in South Orange County. We were there for SIMA’s “Sales & Marketing”Boot Camp.  It was a pretty day out, so parking my pirate ship was tough but I squeezed into a spot. Hope I don’t get a ticket.   Anyhow Doug Palladini from Vans and now pres. of SIMA delivered the opening address.

Next up, Michael Wood from TRU. TRU is a market research and consulting firm for the youth. He did a great job and reading the little bio on him I saw he has been quoted in NY Times, Business Week, CNN, Wall Street Journal and much more.. Now he made this busted blog… Nice one Michael and thank you for the solid info… Check them out at tru-insight.com.

Then Transworld Biz boss, Rob Campbell came up to moderate our four panelists. Tom Holbrook from Quiksilver, Jeff Moore from Vans, Greg “GO” Osthus of Atwater, and some handsome youngbuck from Hurley by the name of Mark Weber. All to talk about navigating our current changing climate. I would say this was a very inspiring panel. These guys have a wide array of industry knowledge. A couple tidbits I’ll share are as follows:

• You’re reps are feeling isolated out there so provide them with support and motivation to keep momentum.
• Build and or focus on product that best represents the DNA of the brand and sell items to retailers that will properly follow suit.
• Retailers are focusing on margin more than ever.

Mark mentioned the consumer’s mindset is to look for a deal out there right now. So true.  We can all agree we are in the same game. I have never looked at the price of eggs and milk until end of last year. EL Prez Palladini came back up for a bit to share the 2008 SIMA Retail Distribution Study Results. If you are not yet a SIMA member sign up. Then email http://www.jennifer@SIMA.com for some solid info.

Some good news from this though. There are 4900 Surf / Skate shops. Of the shops surveyed footwear is up from 06 to 08 and softgoods are just about flat. Not bad!! Another thing that stuck out for me was the importance of Skateboards within these shops. food for thought…

One thing I want to get off my chest. The new dates are locked for SIMA in Cabo. Send/ fax or drive your registrations to SIMA like today. I want us all to come off the tradeshow craze and just shy of the holidays, we go down and celebrate the good life of Baker and just posse up for a good end of the year goodbye to a silly 09. DO IT!! Lets surf…  See you at ASR then Cabo.  Thank you ASR for getting me there.  Thank you SIMA for a great job and solid insight to chew on for a bit.  Thank you Flanny for your duck-tail.

-Jim Shubin
ASRbiz.com
ClassAtASR.com

Check out live tweets from boot camp via ASR’s Leanne Milliken aka @HurricaneLeezy

The Posse. Love, live, learning.

During the break. Is this where they filmed night at the museum?

Flanny’s new thong ishh. love it.

The Panelists killing it..

SIMA’s Executive Director Sean Smith (wow what a year he’s had) and Leanne Milliken, Nielsen Group / ASR’s retail group marketing manager post Boot Camp. Hey guys this girl is rad. FYI.

Shit.. i got a parking ticket! sticking out from the curb again..

random pic- This is a pic from 5 or 6 years ago at the ooolllld SIMA offices. I was at Ezekiel at the time and for Cinco De Mayo I paid for a 6 person Mariachi Band to roll with me around town. A few mags, and few companies , etc. Well, this is when we blasted through the doors of SIMA. I was never reimbursed for these expenses.. ha.