A couple of months ago I remember talking to an up and coming marketing manager about branding.  We were knee deep in ironing out a media buy when he says to me, "....why don't I just slap this up on Google Media?"  Of course, for a struggling brand, this is not a bad option.  But the one part that always amazes me is when larger companies do this without a care in the world as to who they are sharing the bed with.

A key part to branding on the web is having some control over where your ads are placed.  This is the first part (think closed network, above the fold).  The second question every major brand should be asking is, "...great, I'm on board.  Now who else will be running in my rotation?"

Not an issue for print.  You get your slot.  Not so with digital media.  Unless you buy enough impressions, someone ELSE is rotating in your position.  So what happens if you are a cutting edge brand ( think Patagonia ) and you are sharing your space with a media buy from GM.....or BP.....or Pizza Hut.  You get the point.  If you are serious about your brand, you should be serious about who you are rolling with online.  Here is an example I pulled off of BNQT:

So here on the main landing page for a "lifestyle video and young male portal" you have three players.  Converse holds down the skin, Mountain Dew grabs the leaderboard and PlanetEarth hangs out in the ATF Square.  All of these players get "it"  I could easily see a guy, aged 16, drinking a Dew, wearing his PlanetEarth Hoodie and rockin' Converse shoes.  All three play well together and its obvious that the team behind the BNQT also gets how important it is to preserve brand identity on their content ( speaking of which, I need to give these guys a call, I like their style).

So the next time someone tells you to buy on an open network, Google or some rag that is just scraping by, remember that because its cheap you may be sharing your branding "Joe's Tasty Chicken".  And that my friend is something to be avoided.

Funny thing about North Face.  Many outdoor marketers may not realize this, but TNF really drives a lot of cool innovations for online marketing and often these innovations have a trickle down effect on the market.  Over the last three years, I've seen this consistently where TNF drives a new concept online and then the other players join suit.

In this case, TNF is ramping up their efforts at Geo-Fencing.  The technology comes from Placecast as is quite compelling.  Target your outdoor enthusiast with a text based ad when they are "near" a store that carries your product.  The end user has to opt in to have this enabled, and if they are lucky they score a coupon or a textual call to action to get them inside the store.  Ahhhh....hear that?  Like a cool glass of water after hiking all day in the hot sun.  The ever so illusive "last mile" in online marketing so many out there strive for.

Link to the article that goes into the details is found here:

North Face Embraces Mobile Ads – Location-finding technology provided by LOC-AID

For brands with a limited footprint in the retail front, using something like this could certainly drive more sales, more happy retailers and a more engaged consumer.  Excellent use of technology and innovation from North Face.

Yeah I'll admit its odd to fall out of your chair when you see a new outdoor campaign on the net, but this one was more than an eye opener. 

I've been following Life is Good now for a couple of years.  They are local to our shop, actually just down the road.  So it always peeks my interest when not only do I see the "first" example of digital media from them in the wild, but a GEO target no less.  No idea if this was generated in house or who controlled the media spend.

The ad has been splashed in a nice sample of websites in around the Boston area, mostly on event publishers.  I've only seen it a couple of times, but its worthy of some comments.

First off, if you've ever been to the Life is Good site, you have a good understanding how their brand is reflected in the overall design of the site.  The same pastels that color their shirts dictates the design.  The font is super branded.  KEEN is also good at doing this type of work.  Keeping you brand in mind when you are designing your creative is key.  So, for Life is Good I'd give them an A- on this.

Here is where it gets interesting.  I've never been a huge fan of the font they use, so in this case when they have an astonishing amount of text in their ad, the font really takes over.  Take a look.  At first glance of this skyscraper ( 160x600 pixels ) right off the bat you know its Life is Good.  But that is where it ends.  There is so much text on this, your eye has a hard time focusing on what is important.  Remember, as an outdoor brand you have less than a second to draw a person to your ad as they scroll the content on the page.  Comparing the design to their landing page, it really is missing the bold graphic, young people / dark blurry background we've all come to expect from their branding.  So on contextual design, I'd give it a B.

Now for the message.  If you've been a reader here for a while, this is the BIGGIE.  The "Call to Action"  Every digital ad needs one.  And with this one, there are no less than three.  First, learn about the event.  Then they squeeze in a teaser for a free gift, then on top of that another call to action to join the fund raising effort. 

I'm scoring this with a C.  With our testing, this could have been avoided.  And the solution isn't rocket science.  The main focus is the date and location of the event.  That IS the call to action.  What they should have done is have three different ads designed, and then used some variate testing to see which had the highest CTR in a test control. 

Their end result may be a factor of limited budget for the design, or its possible the media buy did not allow for multiple ad units to be rotated through the same position.  Like I've said earlier, I've only seen the skyscraper, so there could be a leaderboard or small rectangle out there somewhere.

Score ::

Matched branding with Digital Creative : A-
Contect : B
Call to Action : C

What can I say?  It's been too long since my last post, there is new stuff to talk about, the oil spill is (almost) over and some of us....are thinking about the upcoming snow season.

Where have I been?  Out.  In the wild.  Deep in the woods.  Hiking so much its insane, camping, using all sorts of new gear, kayaking, surfing, kitesurfing and the newest venture is being more into mountain biking.  I've traveled up to Acadia, down to Bethany Beach, DE, the GUNKS, Seabrook Beach and even a short stay in Cape May New Jersey.  But what does that have to do with online media for outdoor enthusiasts?

Using the gear.  Living it.  For all of you marketing managers out there, this is me standing on a soap box and getting the word out.  Working 8-6 M-F in an office does nothing for understanding your customer.  I've had so many in depth conversations with consumers, from the "guy living in a van" and mountain biking the state parks, to the newly minted internet millionaire surfing his brains out on the shores of the Cape.

The conversations are a bonus, but its seeing the gear in action and seeing how people are using the new technology that matters most.  Which.....brings me to something special I've been sharing with a few select clients   Chitika. These guys are charging forward with a simple interface that has allowed some of my customers to see a 3x increase in CTR for their branded online media.  The price is right, the technology is sound and for now, the company IMO is still off the radar. 

Peck around their site and tell me what you think.  And if you are thinking about the fall or winter media spend ( as you should be ) give me a call and I can go over some ideas.

For once it would be nice to know that I am not the only one who can toss and turn at night, frustrated that I can not fall asleep, and the reason why is internet pricing.   If anyone out there loses sleep over pricing for your outdoor brand, please let me know!

Reason being is one of the partners from my old days at Powerline Sports reached out to me once he heard that I was back on the job market.  And it was the same old same old.  He was getting crushed by internet retailers beating him on price when he was there offering support for kitesurfing brands.  Here is what drove me absolutely insane when I owned a retail boardsports store:

Consumers have no clue that retail is a luxury.  Stores these days exist for one reason and that is to help consumers get questions answered, try on product and then once they know exactly what they want, off to Backcountry.com or some other internet retailer the consumer goes to get the lowest cheapest low cost shipping deal on the planet.

Here is an example.  My neighbor pops over yesterday to show off his new Kayland hiking shoes.  I am in love with this brand.  And for years, they have been super hard to find despite some outstanding awards-

"Kayland’s Zephyr hiking boot was honored as a recipient of a 2009 Backpacker Editors’ Choice Award. The women’s Convert hiking boot was bestowed the Women’s Adventure Editor’s Choice Award and, most recently, the Vertigo Light was named Outside Magazine’s Gear of the Year award in the hiking boot category"

So my buddy is dialed in about how awesome Kayland is, but I have to say it.  He is a total 100% penny pincher.  But to the point of being ridiculous about it.  He had spent the last month, traveling around the state, trying to find the shoes, trying different styles, getting the sizing right, and asking a million questions ( he went into this with me in great detail).  I think it is the hunt for the product that gets him so jazzed. 

And in the end, once he had his style down and sizing, and after wasting considerable time with retailers, he went online.  For another hunt.  The hunt on price.  A sale, a coupon, free shipping, a gift basket.  Can someone please give this guy an award or something because he is now a buyer?  Seriously, you can see how this makes me crazy.  Consumers act as if local retail support means nothing.  And yet, brands and local retailers have yet to figure out a way to correct this problem.

Here is where I have some love for brands who can walk the line with retail and the internet:

• Do not just give lip service to retailers that you will be very firm regarding MSRP.  If I find your product on EBAY or discounted in season, no dice for carrying your product.
  
• Be like Burton.  They figured this out a while back and I think have one of the most harsh attitudes towards selling their top of the line snowboards online.  They have done an excellent job at this, even going one stellar step forward by only offering some "premium" boards in key top producing retail shops.  You can't find some of their boards anywhere except in the retail channel.
• Brands need to back up co-op advertising more.  Use it.  Leverage it.  Geo-Target the co-op digital for that local store willing to pinch in for a large open to buy
• Retail loyalty programs work.  Retailers need to step up and use them more.  Get a punch card and stamp it each time a consumer spends $25 in the shop.  Once they have 5 stamps, they get a coupon for $25 off their next purchase of $50 or more.  Simple.

Any other ideas out there on how to keep the consumer in the store?  I'd love to hear from you.