My First Arnold - By Dave Varhol

Last week, the Sportika team traveled to Columbus, Ohio for the 2012 Arnold Sports Festival and what a week it was! The Arnold Classic weekend consisted of a four –day all ages sports exhibition with activities like: Bodybuilding, weightlifting, boxing, gymnastics, fencing and tons more.

The event marked not only a great place for people of all ages to showcase their skills in their respective sport, but as a great common ground for companies in the Sports Nutrition Industry to build their relationships with other businesses in the Industry. Sportika was no exception. Our Sales team had the opportunity to spend valuable time with new and existing customers, and our Marketing team was able to work with our brands to discuss ways that we can better serve them to give them more of an online presence.

My time was mostly spent battling with the huge crowds inside the expo center for photos and video to document our trip, and believe me it was packed! Having never been to an expo like this before, I was amazed to see all of the brands I have been working with since I started here at Sportika, in all their glory. Each booth had several representatives available to talk about all of the new products, a ton of samples for customers to try, athletes signing autographs, and Arnold himself even made his way around to check out the booth’s this year (heavily guarded, of course)!

Our Marketing Manager, Matt and I were able to shoot some really great interviews with some really big brands in today’s industry like: MuscleTech, Gaspari Nutrition, Nutrex, Labrada, Grenade, and Universal Nutrition. Hearing what these guys had to say really put things into perspective for me at The Arnold. Most of the owners of these Sports Nutrition companies were at some point in their lives champion Bodybuilders and these guys live and breathe the products that they sell. As tried and true athletes themselves, they have worked hard to sculpt their bodies into what they are today and they stand by their brands 100%.

The Arnold Classic 2012 was an action packed weekend for all of us, and proved to be a real eye-opening experience for me as a newcomer to the industry. Ripped athletes who most people like myself have only seen in magazines or on the Internet were there in the flesh representing their brands and it turns out they are actually all pretty nice guys! I quickly learned that there is more to a show like this than who has the biggest muscles or best spray tan, its all about building relationships with our brands and customers. Since we are an international company, making sure we put a face to a name is very important for Sportika and our overseas customers. 

Check out the entire photo gallery from the event here!