THE Cub Report, Version 07.11.2010
The Silverstone F1 Grand Prix aired this morning on Fox, and while there wasn’t a lot of passing, there was plenty of drama. Watching on-road rc cars race is boring to me, but I can watch the F1 guys all day long. Congrats to the old man Mark Webber for taking home the win with his Red Bull.
Speaking of 1:1 racing, the Traxxas TORC series comes to Chicagoland Raceway on August 25th and 26th. If you’ve never seen these trucks race in real life before, they are spectacular! Traxxas will also be holding rc racing at the event, and of course the BigSquidRC crew will provide full coverage.
The 26th annual iHobby Expo is quickly approaching, but there is a problem. Not very many manufactures have signed up yet for booths. Sales are down across the board within our industry the last couple years, so it’s tempting to save some bucks and skip the show. And yes, show coverage should be featured more prominently in the print rags (and other sources) than it has been the last few years. But, I really feel that supporting the show is worth every penny. The consumers proved last year by showing up in record numbers that they are supporting our hobby. If manufactures want consumers to keep excited about our hobby, it sure helps if they show excitement towards the trade shows themselves. When manufactures don’t attend, it just tells the public that they don’t care about the hobby, and if the manufactures themselves don’t care, why should the consumers? There are a lot of incredibly passionate people in our industry, people ridiculously passionate about the products they produce, hell, I talk to them every day. That passion should extend to bringing their products to iHobby to display to the entire industry and consumers.
The biggest reason I look forward to the show is simply getting the hell out of Dodge City for a few days. The weather in Chicago typically sucks around iHobby time, but I’ll take Chicago any day over staring at the same 4 walls that surround me at “real” work. I also look forward to iHobby so I can get some real world feedback, not only the products that I am associated with, but also on our competitors products. Lastly, I look forward to it because it’s the one time of year that I can get some face time with all the major movers and shakers within the industry. We could argue all day about the effectiveness of trade shows, but would you argue with the three most successful marketing departments in our industry? The three biggest names in our hobby, Hobbico, Traxxas, and Horizon support the show, and I can assure you they know what they are doing, and they would not be there if it wasn’t advantageous to them.
I am also involved in another industry. Recently their trade rag, their equivalent to our “Model Retailer“, went out of business. And not only that, but because of lack of manufacture attendance, they also lost their largest trade show. Their trade show was busting all records just 3 years ago, and now it’s simply gone, a tremendous, far reaching loss to that industry. People don’t realize how important some things are till they are gone, I’d hate to see those things happen to rc.
You only get out of something what you put into it. Don’t support the show, and you won’t get anything out of it. Half a$$ it and get half a$$ results. Put in maximum effort, and you’ll have your best show ever. Btw, I don’t believe that putting in maximum effort means cutting the biggest check, it means being smart with your dollars (and your time on the show floor!!!). I’ve seen guys in tiny a$$ booths with just a 4×8 table and a little sign make 7 digit deals at the show, and seen big companies spend well into the 6 digits and go home tired, pissed off, and with little to show for their time, money and effort. Yes, having a good iHobby show takes effort, but the only things in life truly worth doing are the hard ones.
Till next week, support your INDUSTRY/Hobby, support your local hobby shops, and get out to your favorite tracks and bash spots!
YOUR Cub Reporter
