Outdoor retailer Eastern Mountain Sports this past weekend created and executed the Nor’Easter outdoor festival a three-day event featuring mountain climbing conservation and live music.

“We have sponsored other events but this is the first time we created a concept and executed the event ” Scott Barrett cmo of EMS told Buzz. “Climbing is our heritage and we wanted to create an event to celebrate mountain sports and the beauty of mountain life.”

Office Depot will be a co-primary sponsor of Tony Stewart’s No. 14 Chevrolet Impala SS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series vehicle along with Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice starting in 2009. His car will have a new color scheme to reflect the partnerships.

The retailer is currently a NASCAR sponsor and sponsors driver Carl Edwards in a deal that ends this season.

"IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME."  Hold up creepy voice in the background building it is simply not enough anymore. With building costs rising companies are thinking up ways to build booths that will increase ROI rather than burn a hole in their pockets. Add in environmental concerns and there are plenty of reasons to consider hybrid exhibits—a mix of elements from an existing booth combined with some new and rented materials.

EVENT MARKETERS have heard all the myths. Events can’t generate the revenue needed to cover their costs. Events are just for brand building maybe product launches—output investments that don’t contribute much to the bottom line. But what if one of the toughest money making models—nonprofits—could find significant fundraising success in the form of an event program? Nonprofits base their reputation on keeping overhead percentages as low as possible so if they can find success through events who can’t?

Who she is: Litzow is charged with ensuring that SAP’s 3 000-plus annual events offer a consistent brand and customer experience throughout the world. Those events range from large customer conferences such as Sapphire which in May attracted 15 000 attendees in Orlando and another 10 000 in Berlin to Tech Ed conferences for developers and technical audiences that will take place later this year and smaller trade shows and seminars.