Tackle Trade World - October 2023

FEATURE
PacBak
PACBAK MAKES
THE MOST OF ICAST
OPPORTUNITY
It’s been little over a year since his life and the life of his company, PacBak, took a
trajectory that he never saw coming. Founder and chief innovation officer Brian
McKinnon said he and his team are still up in the clouds from winning ‘Best of Show’
in the 2022 ICAST New Product Showcase.
By John Mazurkiewicz
Since that July 22nd, 2022 day
when the PacBak P88-MK cooler
bested more than 900 entries
to take that ICAST honour,
McKinnon and crew have not stopped.
They had so much work to do.
McKinnon explains that PacBak
showed up in Orlando in July 2022 with
a dream. It had three prototype products
to show in a 10x10 booth, and took
advantage of the ICAST ‘On The Water’
event to kick things off.
He’s glad he did. There was instant
interest in the PacBak P88-MK cooler
in the July heat and humidity of Florida,
and that interest continued on the show
floor throughout the next three days.
First came winning the ‘Best in Category’
award. Then came ‘Best of Show’ on
Thursday. And what came next, says
McKinnon, was absolutely life-changing.
DARING TO DREAM
Already having invested every dime
he had in the company and his dream,
McKinnon said the ICAST award
brought instant credibility to PacBak.
“We obviously didn’t expect any of this,
and it forced us to keep our focus on
what we needed to do and not overextend
ourselves or lose our entrepreneurial
spirit,” he explained.
“The win and subsequent exposure
opened up doors to needed investors,
including being the first Alaskan start-up
company to receive financial assistance
from a native Alaskan corporation. That’s
historical in the state’s business history.”
While manufacturing operations were
in place, PacBak needed help with various
operations for the business including
warehousing, distribution, and beyond.
With all those efforts being worked on,
the staff also had to follow up on the sales
opportunities that came out of the show
54 www.tackletradeworld.com
Brian McKinnon and his PacBak team surprised
everyone by winning the ICAST 2022 Best of
Show award for their cooler.
and the tons of media exposure generated
from the win.
Not only did the product interest
the tackle industry but news about
the company and its cooler was also
discovered by the camping and overland
adventure travel markets, adding
opportunities and contacts to the crew’s
‘to-do’ list.
GOING BIG
Through all of this – and as McKinnon
says there’s still a new development almost
every day – the company established
business relationships with the likes Big
Rock Sports and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s
and shipped its first bulk order of the P88-
MK coolers in early May.
He’s ecstatic that both the Bass Pro
Shop and Cabela’s stores in Anchorage
are selling the product, and he said he’s
receiving great assistance from the Big
Rock sales reps with the fishing, hunting,
and camping retailers they call on.
For ICAST ’23, McKinnon said the
main mission at the show was to say
thanks to the industry for their newfound
success.
“What amazed most last year at ICAST
and from what I’ve learned about the
fishing industry since then is how open
and helpful people can be. The ‘Best of
Show’ win was the key to that, where it
seemed that so many wanted us to succeed
that they did what they could to help us
make that happen.”
Within the PacBak booth this
year, ICAST show goers saw its new
promotional truck camper – a Toyota
Tundra 1794 Edition TDR four-wheel
truck rigged out specially for adventure
travel.
When the show ended, McKinnon
began a year-long quest to travel coast-tocoast
while running the business from the
road, stopping at dealers to talk business
and fishing when the opportunity presents
itself. He has plans on being at the Big
Rock Sports dealer shows later this year in
Orlando and in Nashville in 2024, possibly
the SHOT Show, and other events when
possible.
He’ll fly back to Alaska if needed, then
back to the truck camper with his final
destination being ICAST ’24.
McKinnon says PacBak has plans for
more innovative products to be introduced
there. And who knows, he and the PacBak
crew may again be up in the clouds.
PACBAK
pacbak.com
The triumphant team returned for ICAST 2023
and now has big plans for other events as it
responds to demand.