Digital Retail Agency 05/26/2010
Here is an idea that struck me on the head this morning. Typical media planning activities for agencies who cover the outdoor market tend to focus on print and online media. We all know that outdoor enthusiasts spend a considerable time online, so in order to reach them you need to make sure your media planner has the correct sites dialed in for the engagement. While at NameMedia, through the couple hundred campaigns we ran for outdoor brands, one sticking point was that "last mile" And its a doozy. How can an outdoor brand advertise online without upsetting their brick and mortar channel? On the one hand they are driving online sales, and yet their main focus is on the open to buy dollars floating around for each pre-season from established traditional retailers. I'd like to take this concept one step further. Let's say you are a super large brand, and your media planner (located in NYC) is in charge of the mechanics behind your media buy. Lots of research, lots of planning. To me, that is like spending a ton of time in college and grad school and then applying for a job. The person interviews you and asks what real world experience you have. Case in point with the media planner. How many outdoor brands can interview the agency and ask what type ( or how many) outdoor activities does the media planner engage in? Because without this, the planning is done purely on market research. Where is the tie-in with the consumer at the retail level? I'm sure there is a ton of value on the media planning side that I am missing here. That is fine. Outdoor Mojo is no PHD. But we do have is another company called Powerline Sports. This started out as a bricks and mortar shop for kitesurfing. Over the years, the biggest keystone sales came from the softgoods and clothing. So the natural migration should be into companies like Patagonia, Life is Good, Rail Riders...etc..etc. And here is where this goes. What is the media planning from Outdoor Mojo was somehow tied into the market research behind Powerline Sports? This is to say, a media plan could be developed and then feedback and results could come from the retail side....in real time. And what if you were a small outdoor brand who couldn't afford a full license from Leisure Trends to get at this data. Like this:
Add Comment This Outdoor Guru Needs a Job! 05/26/2010
So I wake up one morning and head into my job at NameMedia like it was any other day. Almost two years to the date, where I had been in charge of marketing and sales for a group of owned and operated outdoor enthusiast sites ( Rockclimbing.com, Dropzone.com, Basejumper.com...etc...etc), they call me into HR and mention that they are reorganizing the business unit. Read : Laying off several members. You never see stuff like this coming, but as they say change is good. I'm super proud of what I accomplished at the Outdoor Channel, and now its time to hunt down my next opportunity in the outdoor market. As many of you out there know, we all love the outdoors. And we will all fight tooth and nail to make sure that we stay employed in the outdoor market. It's who we are. It is what we do when we are not working. And above all, the majority of members in the outdoor space are the kinds of folks you want to work with, or head into the mountains with. It's that simple. Living on the East Coast ( Massachusettes) presents some challenges. I'd say 80% of the jobs out there are best suited for those living in CO, UT or CA. So to give you an idea of where I am hunting, I put together a list of "target" companies where I will be sending my resume. So while I hunt down some consulting gigs in the shortshere I'd like to ask a favor from the outdoor community. If anyone knows a contact in HR, Marketing or Sales from the following companies, or even knows of a current opening with one of them let me know! Also, the list I have here is really just from some initial research. I may be missing some key players, and if so let me know so I can add them to the list. Here they are: MASSACHUSETTES 66 North US Inc. , Newburyport MA ADC FOOTWEAR, Reading MA ADVENTURE OUTFITTERS , Hadley MA Aline , Marblehead MA Alps Sportswear , Lawrence MA Avalanche Wear AV Sportswear , Lynn MA Bemis , Shirley MA Boston Vertical , Everett MA Common Soles, Wellesley, MA CITY SPORTS , Boston MA Clarks , Newton Falls MA Earth Inc , Waltham MA Essential Gear, Greenfield MA GoMotion Inc. , Wareham MA Green Market Services Company, Brockton MA IllumiNITE , Hudson MA Karhu North America , Beverly MA Marmaxx Group , Framingham MA MICHELIN FOOTWEAR , Pembroke MA New Balance Athletic Shoe, Boston MA New England Rope, Fall River MA Polartec LLC , Lawrence MA Reebok International Ltd. Canton, MA Saucony Inc. , Lexington MA Stride Rite, Lexington MA Swix Sport USA Inc , Wilmington MA The New England Surf Co, Beverly MA Tweave LLC , Norton MA Vibram USA , Concord MA MAINE 32 North , Biddeford, ME Acorn , Lewiston ME Delorme, Yarmouth, ME L.L. BEAN , Freeport ME RSN Resort TV , Portland ME Sterling Rope Co , Biddeford ME NEW HAMPSHIRE All Terrain , Sunapee NH BAILEYWORKS , Portsmouth NH BROOKSTONE , Merrimack NH Eastern Mountain Sports , Peterborough NH ECCO , Londonderry NH Eco-Mills , Portsmouth NH Golite Footwear , Portsmouth NH I.C.E., Inc. , Kingston NH Jetboil Inc. , Manchester NH Life is Good , Hudson NH MBT, Portsmouth, NH Minus 33 Merino Wool Clothing , Ashland NH NEMO Equipment Inc. , Nashua NH New England Footwear, Portsmouth NH Simply Birkenstock , New Hampton NH The Timberland Company , Stratham NH Trailtex LLC , Portsmouth NH Xterra Footwear , North Hampton NH Is this advertising Lucid? 05/24/2010
 "Page level transparency" & "Brand Safety" What does this mean to you as the brand manager for an outdoor product? Does it mean that your ad is on rice paper and the customer can see safely right through your pitch? Not exactly, but to be serious the whole internet advertising game is moving at light speed, so let's hope you are as well. Lucid Media is an interesting meta network. Translation: Place your outdoor brand ads on the net and Lucid will help you target customers based on activity type and page content. It is like having a report from an outdoor magazine ahead of time, telling you where the best page would be to match your advertisement to your customer. And let's not forget about brand safety. All this means is that when you buy online media, you can be assured that your ad for a high tech tent will not appear next to an article on "5 best ways to keep your house clean while taking care of a newborn" These meta networks are new news. Not even a year ago, to place media on the net, you first had to find the reach, then get a handle on what sites to choose that best match your target demographics. This was by far a manual process. Tons of different insertion orders and different media specs. At some point during your campaign, reports would be sent to you showing which ads performed best on which site. This all occurred after the fact. You could optimize the placement going forward, but those first few weeks were more of a test than anything else. So Lucid is here to the rescue. Or not. What they bring to the table is a very robust taxonomy of websites, broken down by activity. So while you may be used to targeting outdoor males, Lucid will help you target those males who are more into climbing and less into say disk golf. Here, let me show you:  Lucid has tons of channels. For us, we're most interested in "Sports and Recreation" For those of you with an agency, this is what the media planners are doing in order to prepare your campaign. They are finding websites with the demographics you need and then negotiating the media spend at the site level. But here is my problem with this. Actually, I have several issues. Look at the categories above. There are 21 sub categories for this channel (and hundreds of sub sub categories). So Lucid is making the assumption that you know the relative value of pitching your campaign to a group of golf lovers over a group of camping junkies. Seriously. Who knows this? Maybe you've had a long term license with Leisure Trends and know a little bit more about the types of activites your customers love to do when not using your product, but for many of the smaller outdoor brands the cost of this data is too high. That is where an experienced digital marketer can help out ( hint hint). I've built and managed hundreds of outdoor media campaigns, and I know much more about the inner workings of targeted media, and how it either matches up or bucks the trend when it comes to baseline comScore stats. Sometimes what may seem obvious on the surface isn't so obvious in the details. For instance, I recently had an outdoor brand come to me with a line of travel hammocks. They knew little about what their activities their customers liked to do, but they were sure it was light travel. The campaign was set up to run across several websites, but I knew ahead of time that outdoor fishermen and skydivers would do better than say campers. This came down to lifestyle patterns and income levels. I also helped them match up the media spend based on focused DMA markets as opposed to a national sweep. But still, I think the Lucid solution is a step in the right direction. At least you can target your customer at a high level contextual match and then refine moving forward. The guess work about CTR and ROI results has been slightly reduced ahead of time. The brand safety is nice as well. But this would need to me monitored, in real time, in order to assure your ad dollars were being used to their best potential. If anyone would like more info on this, drop me a line and I'd love to walk you through it. Getting Naked in the Outdoors 05/17/2010
 How can you not love the thought about eating granola without any clothes on? Seriously? When I first heard of this company, I was floored with all of the double entendre marketing potential. A clear bag, sustainable packaging, passion for granola, a key halo alliance with the National Arbor Day Foundation....these kids were on fire. What I love most about the marketing behind Bear Naked is that for decades, the granola market was super saturated. I mean big names, like Nature Valley. Here are two very smart young adults, living the dream in Darien CT telling their friends and family, "....hey, we just love granola and think we're on to something. Who cares if we're up against General Mills? Who are they?" And that is the point. How often does passion and nimble strategy trump the big players? Case in point, I came across a new job opening for Bear Naked ( yes, after two years with NameMedia in their Outdoor Channel I'm on the hunt for something new) for a summer position as "In-Market Tour Manager" that was cooked up in the kitchen of Onboard Entertainment. So the plan for summer? Why change what has already been working? Grab some free spirited college kids, toss them in a van, and make it their mission to hunt down every outdoor, running, water based, gym vibe so-you-think-you-are-core type of event in specific DMA's and run with it. I love their job posting: Brand Ambassador Responsibilities • Position is temporary. Approximate dates range from (May 1 – September 30, 2010) • Represent with integrity the Bear Naked brand, and accurately communicate key messages • Act as the Bear Naked Ambassador by representing the Bear Naked brand with positive and enthusiastic support for the product at all times • Research and negotiate key opportunities in market (i.e. marathons, mountain bike races, triathlons, retail partners, and everyday athlete hot spots) to enhance overall campaign, consumer experience, and increase positive exposure of the Bear Naked brand • Manage production elements as needed, i.e. permitting, routing, vehicle maintenance • Manage all aspects of on-site product sampling • Oversee and maintain all operations of the customized vehicle • Initiate and develop retail partnerships • Submit weekly recaps, reports, photos and timesheets in a timely manner • Implement social media initiatives (frequent posts on Face book, twitter, etc.) • All regional travel arrangements must be approved in advance by On Board Entertainment • May require travel outside of market I also love the fact that they are not leveraging all the "new" things (read expensive with little chance of + ROI ) with social media when their hand-to-hand combat via van style with free samples has been working all along. For some reason, Granola works in the Brand Ambassador model. Say you're at an event, someone comes by with a quick sample, it smells good, you are hungry....its an easy sell. For all the outdoor brands out there, I have to ask. What types of product are better suited to the college kid in a van model and which ones are better off under the creative control of in-house marketing or an agency? And why is it that Bear Naked can hit so much scale with this approach when there are more brands out there, with more ad budget, who can "barely" make a dent? |   "Outdoor Mojo" is my where I apply my real world passion for the outdoors with my freelance experience in digital and social media.
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