I get a lot of newsletters throughout the day regarding media plans, targeting and the latest and greatest.  One came over yesterday that really hit the nail on the head regarding the role of the "enthusiast" and the general online community.

The outdoor space is a little different.  There are general brands who brand online, and for them finding a deep pocket of "enthusiasts" can be tough ( when have you seen a micro-site devoted to Dove Soap?).  Outdoor folks are different, and its interesting to me how this author points out some thoughts that we've known all along.

I'll put a link to the article at the end, but in a nutshell : In order to brand online, you need to be inside the commnuities who are using your brand, and then reach the ones who are going to tell as many people as possible about how cool they think your product is.

Top Ideas from the Article:

1. The 1% Rule
2. The 2-4X Rule
3. The New Media/New Pipes Rule
4. The Martha Stewart Rule
5. The Power of "Weak Links" Rule
6. The Feed the Fire Rule
7. The More Things Change Rule
8. Horse Before the Cart Rule
9. The PR Pitfalls Rule
10. The Customer-Service Rule

10 Essential Rules for Brands in Social Media

I used to hate BMW with a passion.  Not sure when it started, but I know it was a long time ago. Oh wait...I know.  It was in high school when my but was taking the bus all the way through senior high and the one kid in school who annoyed me the most had a BMW his parents passed down to him.

Then over the years, I learned a little more about the brand and my admiration for the brand increased (I also grew up). They had that cool show with the car making art, the designs get better....you get the idea.  Visit their web site and these folks have a very over the top passion about design and cars.  I respect passion.

Outdoor brands also have a story to tell and I'm sure your customers aren't out there already holding a grudge against you.  It may be a piece of gear that nobody has.  It may be a type of jacket that just breaks down all the rules.  I know from walking the halls at OR that the brands have cool stuff, they have passion and by far, they have little resources for marketing the message.

So take a look at what BMW did.  Their motorcylces have insane acceleration, and they took this idea to the next level.  Pop a video on You Tube and it goes viral.  1,000,000 new views.  I'm sure there is an outdoor brand who could do something like this.  You just need to think outside the box and touch a nerve with consumers you want to get in front of.

[I watched this video twice, so really they only got 999,999,999 uniques!

Given that I work in the New England area, I have the opportunity to meet with plenty of interesting shoe companies.  What is it about Maine, NH and MA with all these cool brands ( Converse, Timberland, New Balance....even the Anti Shoe is coming to Portsmouth)?

So this morning I met with the team behind the Xterra Footwear brand.  From their site:



-We are a mix of humankind's beastly gut instinct and nature's cold shoulder of indifference. We are complex harmony. We are complete simplicity. We are beautiful machines. We are as big as mountains. We are as small as sand. We are friends with death. We are life.

Needless to say I liked their style.  But more importantly, as usual, the team understood online media.  Like on a scale of 1-10, I'd give them an 8.5 ( my parents were teachers so I don't just hand out all 10's ).  Rather than having me explain the whole online world to them, for the last 3 years this has been their world.  Why?

Because they are an early growth company, working through PR reviews, ramping up production and really do not need a $50,000 media buy to focus on branding.  But what they do need, the Outdoor Channel will deliver in spades. 

So I have a toolkit I keep in my head about the most efficient ways for new brands to break into new markets without breaking the bank.  Xterra signed up for every one of them.  They also understood the difference between slick online media and engaging promotions that pull deep inside our pool of Super Active and Elite Outdoor enthusiasts.

Everything is still under wraps for now, but give it a few weeks and watch what happens to their brand when I put their product on 45 of the most popular outdoor websites and expose them to 2.7 million unqiue outdoor enthusiasts.  I'm also goign to put them in areas where they have a "hunch" new Trail Runners are hanging out and for those buys they will be the only trail running brand on the entire site.  Thinking outside the box, New England style.

Yeah...they lit the match.  They are also going to be early with this media buy and place themselves in front of two other brands who are delaying their Spring Campaigns around trail running shoes to the fall. 

Do you hear that sucking sound?  That is the market share now moving to Xterra because they know a good thing when they see it and know that timing is everything.