Supconnect Brand Of The Year: Retailers Have Spoken

SAN DIEGO, California - For the past couple of months the 6th Annual Supconnect Editor's Choice Awards presented by Turtle Bay and in partnership with the AWSI has created a lot of buzz in the industry. The Supconnect Awards is unique in that it awards not only athletes of the SUP Industry but also gear, writers and brands, all of which who work hard to further push the sport and make it better each and every year.

Brand of the Year is one of the most sought after awards for the folks in the industry, and rightfully so, and here's why: Supconnect goes through an extremely rigorous process in selecting the winners. Supconnect consults and takes in feedback from their advisory board, whose board members are made up of those who are passionately involved in the sport of standup paddling and who have a unique take on the sport. Supconnect takes into account the over 40,000 interactions with the Awards from fans and consumers, the editorial board at Supconnect meets continuously and reports their feedback but, most importantly, Supconnect also has extensive feedback and contact with retailers throughout the industry by way of emailing back and forth, personal phone calls with retailers and meeting in person at trade shows and demos to get a sense of how retailers feel about the brands. Retailers in a sense are the Trump Card in deciding what brand will be chosen as the Supconnect Brand of the Year.

See the nominees for 2015 Supconnect Brand of the Year here.

Retailers are in such a unique position where they are what you could consider the "middle man" between the brand and the consumer. Retailers work directly with the consumer, know what they want, hear their feedback as well as work directly with the brands when it comes to putting in orders, customer service and so on. When speaking with the retailers and asking them for their feedback on who deserved to be Brand of the Year, Supconnect told the retailers to consider the quality of products from the brand, who is awesome to work with, and what customers prefer and are looking for. With that in mind, the retailers have spoken and have helped Supconnect choose the 2015 Brand of the Year.

The 2015 Supconnect Brand of the Year, as well as Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, and Grom of the Year, will all be announced this Friday, September 11, at the Surf Expo in Orlando, Florida at 6pm in room S310. For more information and details on the Awards Party, click here.

About the Supconnect Awards

The Supconnect Awards started in 2010 as a way of recognizing individuals that made exceptional contributions to the sport. As such, it’s the world’s first and original awards in the stand up paddle industry. Unlike most awards, winners are not chosen strictly on athletic performance and results. The ultimate objective of the Supconnect Awards is to help to create positive icons for the youth in order to increase the longevity of the sport for generations to come. And what’s more, it also aims at recognizing exceptional brands, products, and shops that help raise the bar in their field, serving as blueprints of excellence for others to follow. In that light, do not expect the usual run-of-the-mill winners. Nominees and winners, at least we hope, capture the all-inclusive culture of the sport, with friendly smiles and awe-inspiring stories and, yes, performances.