Catalyst broaden brand partnerships and continues with Trek Bicycle US

Boulder, Colo., and Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Booth 71 – Bicycling’s direct marketing experts, Boulder-based Catalyst Communication, will extend the selection of products available for dealers to include in its 2009 direct marketing promotions, while continuing to work with Trek Bicycle USA, based in Waterloo, Wisc.
The move is designed to best represent the broad range of products dealers seek to promote in Catalyst’s SuperSale and Cycling Guide promotions.

Catalyst, which signed a four-year exclusive agreement with Trek in 2004, will continue to work with Trek brands and Trek retailers for 2009. However, in a return to its 1985 to 2004 practices, Catalyst will also work with non-Trek retailers and will feature a variety of OEM brands in its marketing collateral.

Derek Deubel, Trek Marketing Services Director, indicated that the decision to include other brands in Trek dealers’ promotional materials helps everyone sell product. “Catalyst has sophisticated campaigns and we realize that the better those campaigns represent the retailers, the more dealers will sell,” he said. “Like Trek’s ‘Go By Bike’ and ‘One World Two Wheels’ programs, this move seeks an increase in overall bike sales and use. Trek has been the leader in spreading the bicycle message and Catalyst is a big part of our communication toolbox.”

“Our programs, with their targeting of highly qualified prospects, are the bike industry’s most economical way of getting new people into bike stores. Trek sees that,” said Leslie Bohm, Catalyst’s CEO.

Direct mail, predicted to disappear in the Internet age, has in fact been experiencing great effectiveness in driving traffic to stores and websites. Bohm recently returned from the Multi-Channel Merchant Conference in Orlando, Fla. “The verdict is in—the web is great for responding to consumer interest, but creating demand is still best done with four-color direct mail. Pureplays (like eBay, Amazon.com, and Yahoo) now use direct mail because they can carefully measure and see the results. And of course, every major national bicycle and outdoor retailer still depends on direct mail as the main business driver,” he explained.

Catalyst’s Cycling Guide pioneered the “magalog” concept of combining non-commercial tips with product messages as a powerful traffic/sales driver for retailers. The Guides have won many prestigious awards and are customized, enabling retailers to promote key brands and services, and their local markets.

“We’ve done Catalyst promotions for decades because they keep us in front of our customers and brings in new cyclists. Direct mail is not cheap, but it’s a good value and Catalyst makes it easy,” said Jim Hoyt, owner of Richardson Bikemart in Richardson, Tex.

SuperSale 2009 will run in early spring and summer and will feature the high-turn products retailers look for in a sale. “SuperSale is the shot-in-the-arm to get consumers buying for the season. Retailers then sustain consumer’s interest with our Cycling Guide that showcases their stores all season long,” according to Bohm.

Bohm noted that dealers could look forward to greater integration of Catalyst promotions with their other marketing media. He encouraged retailers to visit the Catalyst booth during the September 2008 Interbike to learn more about the company’s expanded 2009 promotional offerings.

About Trek Bicycles
Headquartered in Waterloo, Wisc., Trek Bicycle Corporation is a global leader in bicycle design and manufacturing. From the original hand-built steel touring frames introduced in 1976 to the revolutionary OCLV carbon fiber first introduced in 1992, Trek’s passion for innovation, quality, and performance leads the industry with next-generation technology and thinking. With an unprecedented eight Tour de France titles in the last nine years, six straight 24-hour World Solo Mountain Bike Championships, and countless other professional wins, Trek enjoys a rich tradition of victory in the world’s premier cycling events. Today, with a broad range of bicycles and cycling products under the Trek, Gary Fisher, Bontrager, and Klein brand names, Trek continues to pursue new ways to bring the joy of cycling to all people.

About Catalyst Communication
Catalyst Communication is based in Boulder, Colo., and is a 14 person, 22-year-old award-winning marketing firm dedicated to helping locally based specialty merchants in cycling and outdoor retail industries work with their vendors to produce world-class direct marketing. Visit catyacom.com to find out more.

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