Media Coverage Report #7

REI Employee Paralyzed Riding Faulty REI Brand Bicycle - Levi Pulkkinen / Feb 19th
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/REI-employee-I-was-paralyzed-riding-faulty-6090902.php

This article spotlights a former REI information technology employee named James Osborne. Osborne was riding on his REI brand bike five years ago when it fell a part beneath him, paralyzing him for life.

This could be a potential crisis for REI. If not handled correctly, REI could have a bad name not only with their products but with the way they deal with individuals with disabilities.

National Park Service to Give Fourth Graders Free Admission - Michele Richinick / Feb 20
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/national-park-service-give-fourth-graders-free-admission

This article explains President Obama's new mission to grant 4th graders free admission to over 2,000 national parks services over the U.S. This initiative is called the "Every Kid In A Park" initiative.

This could be useful to REI because our client may want to start branding to a new audience - parents and kids. With the ability to get kids into parks easier, parents may be more keen to take family vacations because it will be costing them less. This could inform REI's future campaigns.

USC Ski and Snowboard soars in Redbull Competition - Malorie McCall / Feb 23rd
http://dailytrojan.com/2015/02/23/usc-ski-and-snowboard-soars-in-red-bull-competition/

This article describes a ski and snowboard competition which pits eight collegians against each other in an extreme snow sport competition.

This could be a potential opportunity for REI to team up with redbull. A large audience for REI's consumers are college students interested in extreme sports such as included in the festival Red Bull is putting on here.

5 Months of Appelachain Trail Challenges, Changes Hiker - Dessisilava Yonkova / Feb 23rd
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2015/02/23/5-months-on-appalachian-trail-challenges-changes-man/23912429/

This article published by USA today spotlights a hiker's experience hiking the Applachian Trail for five months. The spotlight includes his trial and tribulations, including his worse point of survival to the highlights of the trail.

This could potentially be an opportunity for REI. REI could consider teaming up with someone to do a spotlight on a hiking trip, and include product placement with REI's brand or brands that are affiliated with REI.

National Parks Services Map Shows The Loudest and Quietest Places in the US - Natasha Geiling / Feb 23
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/national-park-service-map-shows-loudest-quietest-places-us-180954372/?no-ist

This article is a spotlight of the National Parks Service's recent distribution of a map that shows the loudest and quietest places in the US. The map represents 1.5 million hours of sound data collected from 546 parks.

This could be a potential opportunity for REI to expand their locations. Based on this map, REI could potentally evaluate where to target their products or even their new stores. It could be useful for REI to inform their employees where their audiences are going to hike.