In The News

Cloud 9 Living named to Inc. 5000

- Inc. Magazine (September 2012) For the third year in a row Cloud 9 Living was part of Inc. Magazine's fastest growing private companies in the U.S. with a 3-year growth rate of 92%. Click to read more

Cloud 9 Living LLC Named to Mercury 100 for Fourth Straight Year

- PR Web (July 17, 2012) "Experience Gift Company Cloud 9 Living Ranked #26 on 2012 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in Boulder and Broomfield Counties." Click to read more

Father's Day Gift Guide: 12 Perfect Gifts for Every Type of Dad

- Discovery Channel (June, 2012) "If Dad has more toys than the average 5 year-old, more clothes than the pages of GQ, and more gadgets than a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, you're not going to give him more stuff. Instead, give him the experience of a lifetime." Click to read more

Gifts for the 2012 High School Graduate

- Huffington Post (June 8, 2012) In an effort to save parents the stress of shopping and college-bound graduates the disappointment of lackluster loot, the team at Huffington Post made their recommendations for the top gifts for the graduating class of 2012, and Cloud 9 Living experience gifts made the cut. Click to read more

Great Gifts for the Great Outdoors

- SheKnows.com (June 4, 2012) Cloud 9 Living gifts were featured as part of She Knows' Father's Day recommendations, highlighting experiences ranging from scuba diving to golf stay-and-play packages. Click to read more

This Year, Give Mom a Dog Fight - Forget the Flowers, Innovative Brands are Putting an Experiential Spin on Mother's Day

- Ad Week (April 30, 2012) "Taking hands-on to the next level is a company called Cloud 9 Living which is advertising a range of 'experiential' Mother's Day packages, including bull-riding lessons, a Cardio Strip Tease Dance Package and something called 'Fighter Pilot for a Day'..." Click to read more

Valentine's Day Gifts for Guys

- The Today Show (2/1/2012) Amy Schlinger, editor at Shape Magazine, appeared on the Today Show to give her take on this year's hottest Valentine's Day gifts for men. Experience Gifts from Cloud 9 Living made the cut and were one of her top picks.

Valentine's Day Gifts for Men

- Shape Magazine (February, 2012) Cloud 9 Living experience gifts were featured as part of Shape Magazine's Valentine's Day gift recommendations as a way to give the man in your life a Valentine's Day gift to truly get his heart pumping.

Experiences - The Gifts That Keep on Giving

- Los Angeles Times (December 24, 2011) "With Christmas Day looming, shoppers are running to malls to pick up sweaters for the siblings, slippers for Dad and a pair of earrings for Mom. But some are opting for a different kind of present altogether: experiential gifts. Click to read more

Ultimate Family Travel

- The Travel Channel (10/20/2011) The crew from the Travel Channel visited Cloud 9 Living headquarters in Boulder, Colorado for an interview about what types of unforgettable experiences Cloud 9 Living has to offer families. The crew then documented a family enjoying our America's Cup Sailing experience on beautiful San Diego Bay.

Experiential Gift Industry Poised for Strong Holiday Season

- Globe Newswire (10/20/2011) One industry anticipating substantial growth this Holiday season is the burgeoning "Experiential Gift" industry. Click to read more

Cloud 9 Living Named to Inc. 5000

- Inc. Magazine (September 2011) Cloud 9 Living for the 2nd year in a row was among Inc. Magazine's fastest growing private companies in the US with a 3-year growth of 111%. Click to read more

Cloud 9 Living Named to Mercury 100 for Third Straight Year

- Cloud 9 Living (5/23/11) Cloud 9 Living, the Boulder-based provider of Experience Gifts across the United States, finished 17th on the list of companies with annual revenues greater than $2 million, reporting a 65.16% 2 year growth between 2008 and 2010. Click to read more

5 Adventure Trips in the Northeast

- Newsday Magazine (4/28/2011) Cloud 9 Living's Drive a Stock Car experience at Pocono Raceway was featured as one of the must-do weekend adventures in the Northeast. Click to read more

New Gift Card Trend Swaps Stuff for 'Social Capital'

- Advertising Age (3/28/2011) Advertising Age magazine examines the growing trend among consumers towards giving "experiential gift cards" from companies like Cloud 9 Living due to their creativity and the flexibility they offer gift recipients. Click to read more

Holiday Gift Guide

- The Nate Berkus Show (12/22/2010) Cloud 9 Living was featured on The Nate Berkus Show in this year's Holiday gift guide. Click to see the online Holiday gift guide

2010 Holiday Gift Guide

- Miami Herald, Jaweed Kaleem (11/26/10) Cloud 9 Living was featured as one of the Miami Herald's Creative Gift Ideas for 2010. Click to read more

For The Clients: Corporate Gift Giving 2010

- CNBC.com (November 2010) Cloud 9 Living's Experience Gift Certificates were selected as one of the top holiday corporate gifts to give to clients by CNBC.com. Click to read more

Best Chicago Gifts for Him

- CBS Chicago (10/3/2010) CBS Channel 2 in Chicago featured Cloud 9 Living's Nascar Driving Experience as a top gift pick for men. Click to read more

Cloud 9 Living Named to Inc. 500

- Inc. Magazine (September 2010) Cloud 9 Living was ranked the 468th fastest growing private company in the US by Inc. Magazine with a 3-year growth of 642%. Click to read more

Los Angeles Dinner Cruises

- USA Today Travel Tips (May 2010) USA Today featured Cloud 9 Living's dinner cruises in Los Angeles in a piece published focusing on exceptional dinner cruises in the LA area. Click to read more

Floating a Challenge to Gift Giving Boredom

- Challenger Brand News (2/9/2010) Cloud 9 Living was chosen by Challenger Brands News as a company "challenging the status quo" and trying to change the world of gift giving. Click here for the article. Click to read more

Creative Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

- The Today Show (2/8/2010) Gift giving guru Roby Spizman highlighted Cloud 9 Living and our Golf Lesson With a PGA® Pro experience as a great Valentine's Day gift idea. Click Here for the video clip. Click to watch the video

Passage to Adventure

- The Daily Grommet (12/14/2009) Some might be seeking clarity, others might be seeking g-force. No matter the mission, Cloud 9 Living has an experience to match. Co-founder Adam Michaels and the team at Cloud 9 Living have done the legwork to find 1,700 activities across the U.S. that make for unforgettable gifts. Click to read more

Cloud 9 Named 2^nd Fastest Growing Company in Boulder County

- The Mercury 100 (5/29/2009) Cloud 9 Living took 2nd place in the Boulder County Business Report's annual ranking of the fastest growing companies in Boulder County. Click here for the article. Click to read more

With budgets tighter than ever, couples are requesting wedding gifts they actually need

- New York Daily News, Meredith Blake (11/9/2008) In the same vein as the honeymoon registry comes the aspirational registry, "for people who aren't into objects and are more about experiences," says Krecke... Click to read more

A Gift Website That Makes Fantasies Come True

- Spire.com, Suzanne Aaronson (November 2008) Cloud 9 is exactly where you'll be if you receive a present from this fabulous online company. More dream factory than mere gift store, Cloud 9 Living offers a collection of over 1,700 spectacular experiences-some of the once-in-a-lifetime genre-any of which will create an unforgettable memory to savor forever. Click to read more

High Octane Incentives

- Corporate Meetings & Incentives, Jeanne O'Brien Coffey (September 2008) High energy winners crave incentive trips that defy gravity, or take them 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. Here are some adrenaline pumping adventures for the thrill seeking crowd. Click to read more

Products in Profile: All That's New and Innovative

- Premium Products & Incentives (July/August 2008) As one of the leading experience rewards companies in the United States, Cloud 9 Living offers companies access to an unparalleled portfolio of more than 1,700 unique and affordable experiences throughout the country. Starting at $50 and ranging from dinner cruises , urban scavenger hunts and cooking classes to stock car racing, sailing lessons and hot air balloon rides, Cloud 9 has something for every taste and every budget.

NBC4 New York

- Weekend Today (7/5/2008) Cloud 9 Living was featured as a great wedding gift idea. Click to watch video

NBC 5 Chicago

- News Today (5/22/2008) Cloud 9 Living was featured as a unique Father's Day gift. Click to watch video

Adventures For Mom

- Parade Magazine, Alison Takeda, Jonathan Witherspoon and Joanna Prisco (5/4/2008) Another site for great unexpected gifts is cloud9living.com. Surprise her with an aroma stone massage, surfing lessons or a gondola cruise.

Loyalty Points That Buy A Night With Travolta

- The Wall Street Journal, Tamara Audi (12/27/2007) InterContinental has teamed up with a company called Cloud 9 Living to, among other things, offer its members the chance to fly an Italian-built fighter plane through simulated aerial combat (475,000 points) and swim with great white sharks 200 miles off the coast of Mexico (100,000 points). Click to read more

CNBC

- High Net Worth, hosted by Tyler Mathisen (12/10/2007) Cloud 9 Living, and founders Adam Michaels and John Augst, were featured on a holiday gift giving segment that showcased our Dig This!, Weightless Flight and Fighter Pilot for a Day experiences.

Gifts That Go On Thrilling

- St. Petersburg Times, Christina Rexrode (12/11/07) Adam Michaels hunts down gifts for the person who has everything. Everything, that is, except the opportunity to drive a dog sled, ride a bull, or take care of a bee colony… "We try to find things for every taste," Michaels said. "The person who doesn't want to jump in a fighter plane can have a hot stone massage or take a cooking class."

For the People Who Really DO Have Everything

- Boulder Daily Camera, Kate Mishara (12/7/07) Rather than spending hours searching for more stuff, many holiday gift-givers are choosing to give experiences as presents…Cloud 9 living is a Web site dedicated to the experience gift. Based in Boulder, the site offers over 1,600 experiences in 43 cities across the country. Gifts range from riding shotgun in a stock car to dinner cruises and Pilates lessons…"It was incredible," said Wyatt. "And the best part is I will never forget it. I would so much rather have a memory that will last a lifetime, than a sweater that I might wear three or four times." Click to read more

Holiday Gift Guide

- Readers Digest (12/07)

Holiday Gift Guide

- USA Today (11/28/07) "An experiential holiday Christmas gift can have much more intense and lasting impact on the recipient..."

Gifts on a Budget

- NBC's The Today Show (11/27/07) "Cloud 9 living is a wonderful way to give a personal gift to somebody who would never buy it for themselves."

Holiday Gift Guide

- Entrepreneur.com (11/07)

The Season's Hot New Gift: An Experience to Remember

- Miami Herald, Glenn Garvin (11/25/07) This holiday season, the hottest gift under the tree is a shot of pure adrenaline. It's easy to wrap, and there's something for every pocketbook, if not necessarily every EKG readout."

Put them on Cloud 9

- Seatow lifeline Magazine (Winter 2007) "Looking to give the gift of a lifetime? Take a look at Cloud 9 living where you can give the love of your life an experience he or she will never forget. Send them sailing aboard an America's Cup IACC yacht, to a fly fishing school or diving with (or without) great white sharks. Can't decide? Give them a gift certificate to choose their own adventure. Each experience comes beautifully wrapped in Cloud 9's signature gift pack."

Rewards to Remember

- Human Resource Executive Magazine, Carol Patton (8/31/2007) "As president of a Fortune 300 company, Craig DeRoy makes key decisions that steer his organization into profitable waters. But on one Thursday afternoon last March, DeRoy found himself at the helm of a very different kind of boat. "It was exciting for everybody to be out on the water, to be on boats that were so sophisticated," says DeRoy. The experience was arranged through Cloud 9 living, a company that offers experiential rewards to corporations nationwide."

Valentine's Day Gifts: He Shops, She Shops

- Wall Street Journal, Alan Murray and Laura Landro, (2/5/2007) "Any other day of the year, an ugly sweater or a cheap-looking pair of earrings is just further evidence of your poorly developed shopping skills. On Valentine's Day, it becomes a "symbol of our relationship." Get it wrong, and it may be your last… Cloud 9 living will come into your home and prepare a gourmet meal, with matched wines."

The Outside 100

, The Years Most Important People, Ideas, Trends and Gear - Outside Magazine (12/06) "#31 - Cloud 9 living. "Launched nationwide in September, the company offers everything from driving a dog sled to diving with great white sharks"

Presents that are Outside the Box -

Los Angeles Times, Alana Semuels (12/25/2006) "Instead of sweaters, toasters and paperweights, many adults will be receiving surfing lessons, parachute jumps, spa visits, gourmet meals and exotic vacations as gifts this year. Cloud 9 was founded to accommodate what Adam Michaels (CEO) saw in this country as "an overall shift in society from wanting material possessions to wanting life experiences."

Gifts of Uncommon 'Experience'

- Dow Jones Market Watch, Stephanie I. Cohen (12/19/2006) "The companies are tapping a cultural shift that values experiences over physical gifts. This trend "certainly started with the baby boomers but also translates to what people in their early 20's want" today, said Adam Michaels, chief executive officer of Denver-based Cloud 9 living.Michaels calls experiential gifts an "emerging category" in the roughly $283 billion U.S. gift market. Cloud 9 living launched its site in May of this year."

Cloud 9 living

- Bianca D'Angelo, Rocky Mountain News (12/2/2006) "It's the holiday season and time to join the masses in search of the "perfect" gift for that special someone. You visit store after store, but nothing seems quite right. Cloud 9 living may have exactly what you're looking for."

Register for the Experience of a lifetime

- InStyle Weddings, L.L. (Winter 2006) "Sign up for horseback riding, wine tasting, hot-air-ballooning or sailing at www.cloud9living.com"

Giving the Dream -

Press of Atlantic City, Kevin Clapp (11/26/2006) "We all have dreams, things we'd do if we were king or queen for a day. Now you can get them under the Christmas tree. It's a "Fantasy Island"-like chance to shed your skin and live a higher, or at least different, life, if only for a day. While the upper limits of Cloud 9's experiences cost $100,000, the most inexpensive is $35. Of its 1,200 experiences available, 80 percent cost less than $500. More than half are less than $200. Perhaps best of all, shopping for these experiences can take place from the comfort of home. There's no mall traffic to navigate, no long lines or pushy salespeople."

Some Gifts Give life Experience

- Chicago Tribune, Sandra Jones (11/19/2006) "Welcome to the 21st century of gift-giving. Overwhelmed and overstuffed with shirts and slippers and games and gadgets, more Americans are eschewing traditional presents and giving life experiences for the holidays."

It Beats a New Tie!

-Boulder County Business Report, Barbara Hey (11/10/06) "Instead of giving your esteemed employee a poinsettia for a holiday gift, this year opt for a night-vision Hummer tour or an aerobatic glider ride. Cloud 9 living, a Boulder-based company, offers an array of "experience gifts," a more visceral delight for recipients than a predictable wrapped and ribboned "thing." Jack Collingsworth of Apple Valley, Calif., was given two Cloud 9 experiences by his parents for his 13th birthday. He and a friend were treated to a Night Vision Hummer excursion and an ATV tour through the Sonoran dessert. "The experiences were very well put-together," he says. "The guide was very knowledgeable, and he let us stargaze through a telescope on the night vision tour." His parents are very clever at coming up with great gifts for him, but the Cloud 9 adventures were a real thrill. "This was something I never would've guessed."

Bountiful Bestowals -

Estates West, Jenny Stanley (12/06) "Whether you're searching for inner beauty or have a need for speed, Cloud 9 living willquench your thirst for danger and exhilaration. From NASCAR racing, heli-skiing and bull riding to wine tasting, hydrotherapy and dancing, there's an experience to match every person. Prices for these adventures range from $35 for the luxe manicure to $100,000 for the ultimate great white shark experience."

The Perfect Gift

- Bloom Magazine (Nov/Dec 2006) "Tired of giving the same predictable Wedding, Birthday or Christmas gift year after year? Then maybe it's time you looked into the hottest new trend in gift giving - Experiences. The US gift market is valued at over $250 billion and experiential gift giving is considered by many to be the "next big thing". A leading company at the forefront of this trend is Boulder, CO based Cloud 9 living. Cloud 9 offers a remarkable range of incredible experiences ranging from the exhilarating: spending time behind the wheel of a Formula racecar or piloting a WWII fighter plane in air-to-air combat to the indulgent: a hot stone massage for two or a private wine tasting session with an expert sommelier."

Gifts Take Some Doing

- Denver Post, Julie Dunn (10/12/06) "Our goal is to enhance the overall gift giving and receiving experience," said Adam Michaels.Heather Bare, a therapist in La Jolla, Calif. redeemed the $200 'red leve' gift from her boyfriend for a snorkeling trip for two of the Southern California coast. "It was amazing" said Bare, 29. "My boyfriend and I like to do adventurous things, so I thought this was a great idea. It was hard to pick what I wanted to do."

It's Time to Show the Love

- Brilliant Results (10/06) "Why settle for ordinary rewards. Cloud 9 living is an experience gift company that opens up a whole new world of incentives with more than 1,200 extraordinary experiences that motivate, inspire and reward special employees and customers."