Advantage : MOJO for Integrated Content 09/29/2009
 I'm all for ringing the bell on this one. Called it actually almost a month ago where consumers are going to start seeing more and more integrated content inside ad positions. Why all the fuss? It's called click-stream personalization. As an advertiser, you spend all this money to gain mind share and then the path the customer needs to follow in order to engage your outdoor brand is...well....it's a pain in the ass. Case in point that solved this issue is a recent campaign coming through from Land Rover. Cool ad spot, and then some bling on the back end with an XML feed that integrates with the dealership API. In english this means users can interact with the ad unit and find out where the local landeee Store can be found.  While finding a Land Rover store may not be on the top of the list for your average outdoor enthusiast, finding that niche product for camping or hiking that makes anyone a hero is on the list. And you know what? When you brand with us and then that person has to: - Click on the ad .5 - 3% of the time - Land on your company page and stay there -Find your dealer locator -Type in their zip -Look to see which local store carries the goods What you'll find is that quite a few folks drop off during the process. So by having the zip locator inside the ad, we can take care of all of that for you. One more thing. That top ad with Land Rover? It costs $2,000 to develop and around $2.50 CPM just to run it. The bottom ad I am showing ( which by the way an outdoor brand has already signed up for a Q4 launch) is free. We take care of the whole thing and you only pay for the placement. Soup to nuts....we understand your market. We in fact use store locators often and in fact, we buy online when we can ( 3x as much as Joe Public ) or we shop in stores so we can see your merchandise live and respect the stiching ( 1.5x as much as Joe Public). Add Comment This lunch is free... 09/24/2009
Came across this earlier and for a lot of outdoor brands I thought the topic was a good fit. For many out there, the decision has already been made to pull from print and dedicate over to online. Branding and engagement is key. Learn from the pro's: How to Run High Performance Branding Campaigns Wednesday, October 7 @ 1pm EDT, 10am PDT FREE Webcast | Register now! In this webinar, learn how marketers like Kimberly-Clark, Blockbuster, Gold’s Gym, NewEgg, Coldwater Creek and eFax achieved branding goals while increasing ROI by:
Good buzz from Cloudveil Mountain Works 09/18/2009
You know you have arrived when your ad campaign gets press in the New York Times. The team at Cloudveil did just that, working with TDA out of Boulder. A solid read on how to think outside the box and really make an impact with your ad budget: September 14, 2009 Campaign Spotlight Saying ‘I’m Sorry’ With Tongue Firmly in Cheek By STUART ELLIOTT At a time when many public figures who ought to say “I’m sorry” offer at best non-apology apologies, a marketer of sportswear for dedicated outdoors enthusiasts is offering a cheeky alternative. Cloudveil Mountain Works, which sells apparel to people ardent about skiing, climbing or fishing in the mountains, is presenting its customers a chance to order apology merchandise -- gifts to give to those they have angered, offended or disappointed by spending so much time skiing, climbing or fishing in the mountains. The twist in the print, online and social media campaign, now getting under way, is that the merchandise is not from Cloudveil but from other companies. The Cloudveil agency, TDA Advertising and Design in Boulder, Colo., arranged cross-promotions with three online marketers -- 1-800-Flowers, Zazzle and Kool Dog Kafe -- to provide Cloudveil customers with ways to express how sorry they may be that their priorities are more outdoor- than indoor-oriented. The offers are made with a tongue-in-cheek tone, but they are real; consumers can order the appeasement gifts on sections of the Cloudveil Web site . To keep the humorous tone going, the campaign pretends to play down the actual products that Cloudveil sells. They appear in bottom corners of the print ads under a headline typically used for the softest of soft sells: “You might also like.” One print ad offers ski-aholics the chance to apologize with the “Fresh-powder-made-me-miss-lunch-with-your-parents” bouquet for $39.99. “Nothing says ‘Sorry,’ ‘I’m so sorry,’ ‘No, I really mean it’ better than the Fresh-powder-made-me-miss-lunch-with-your-parents bouquet,” reads a description on a section of the Cloudveil Web site (cloudveil.com/powder). Fulfillment of the order will be made by 1-800-Flowers. “With the perfect combination of color and flair,” the description goes on, “this stunning arrangement will surely draw attention away from your beaming smile that resulted from an amazing day on the slopes.” At the bottom left corner of the ad is an actual Cloudveil product, the RZ Series RPK jacket. A second print ad gives fishers the opportunity to make amends with the “Sorry-I-missed-the-meeting-because-of-the-stonefly-hatch” coffee mug, which reads, “No. 1 boss.” (Trout love to bite at stoneflies – at least, that is what Google tells me.) The mug, which costs $12.99, “is the sincerest microwave-safe apology on the market,” reads a description on another section of the Web site (cloudveil.com/stonefly). The order will be fulfilled by zazzle.com. “Field-tested with 11 ounces of liquid, your boss is sure to forgive your absence while sipping on his or her favorite workplace beverage,” the description continues, adding that the mug is “also available in stein or frosted-glass version for post-work happy hour enjoyment.” At the bottom of that ad is another real Cloudveil clothing item, the SR Series 8X Pro jacket. In the third ad, climbers are provided a way to assuage the guilt they feel from ignoring their pets, by ordering the “Sorry-I-went-climbing-again-instead-of-taking-you-for-a-walk” dog treats. Because “man’s best friend gets mad too,” reads a description on another section of the Cloudveil Web site (cloudveil.com/sorry), the dog bones, at $5.99 from kooldogkafe.com, are “the perfect cross-species apology gift.” The treats are “specially designed knowing that canines forget negligence best when distracted with real chicken, peanut butter and BBQ flavor,” the description concludes. The actual Cloudveil product at the bottom of that ad is the JH Series Serendipity jacket. The print ads will appear in magazines like Drake, Outside and Powder. The budget for the campaign is estimated at $200,000 to $300,000. No money is changing hands between Cloudveil and the three online marketers, which get to keep the revenue from whatever merchandise sales are generated by the campaign. Plans call for the merchandise to arrive with “sorry” cards bearing the Cloudveil brand name. The campaign is an example of a popular trend on Madison Avenue known as cross-marketing, or co-branding. The idea is that one (brand) plus one (brand) equals three, amplifying the power of well-known names to help ads break through the clutter. The concept began with products like Betty Crocker cake mixes that use Hershey chocolate or Post Raisin Bran cereal that uses Sun-Maid raisins. The tie-ins are called out prominently on the product packages. It has since been expanded to ad campaigns, among them a 2002 commercial for Chevrolet that featured the Maytag repairman, to promote the dependability of the Chevrolet Impala, and a current commercial for Sprint that shows football players drinking — and their coach being drenched with — Gatorade. The campaign for Cloudveil is “funny, inspired and irreverent,” says Stephen Sullivan, president at Cloudveil in Jackson, Wyo., a division of Spyder Active Sports, “and it’s perfectly tied through” in that “you can actually order the flowers, dog biscuits or mug.” “It was really cool these outside vendors are willing to participate,” he adds. Another reason Mr. Sullivan praises the campaign is because it is in keeping with the Cloudveil brand’s DNA of celebrating what he calls “the mountain culture.” TDA’s most recent campaign for Cloudveil before this, from 2006, took a different tack to illustrate the priorities of devotees of mountain sports. One ad showed a man in a Cloudveil jacket carrying a tray in a restaurant, loaded with saltine crackers, ketchup, relish and a glass of water — or, in other words, spending on lunch is far less important than spending on mountain pursuits. The new campaign “continues on with our effort under the tag line ‘Inspired mountain apparel,’ ” Mr. Sullivan says, and costs less than the previous campaign. “It’s a tight year,” he adds. The genesis of the campaign is the mindset of Cloudveil customers. Jonathan Schoenberg, partner and creative director at TDA, describes them as “hard-core” aficionados of mountain sports along with those “who used to live the life.” They are people who “abuse etiquette in pursuit of recreation,” says Mr. Schoenberg, who is also a creative director on the Cloudveil account, and they may have “lost a job or a girlfriend or boyfriend” in their quest for fulfillment outdoors. The apology merchandise recognizes that “whatever things we enjoy, when they lead to tardiness with a spouse or employer, become problematic,” says Mr. Schoenberg, “and there are excuses we have to make.” He concedes he was once among those ranks, in that “I used to fly-fish 150 days a year when I first moved to Colorado,” he says. “I’m curious how many people will use” the Web site to order the merchandise, Mr. Schoenberg says, adding that he believes “a lot will check it out to see if it’s real” and then say: “Can I really send flowers? Alright, that’s pretty cool. I might stay out an extra day.’ ” In considering online merchants that could take part in the campaign, Mr. Schoenberg says that 1-800-Flowers is “a natural” because the company is “the big player” in ordering floral gifts. Zazzle was included, he adds, because the agency has worked with that company before. “We had a little bit of a harder time finding” a supplier for the pet gifts, Mr. Schoenberg says, before discovering Kool Dog Kafe. Why did the agency want to include merchandise to apologize to non-humans? “Because every mountain town has a ton of dogs,” Mr. Schoenberg replies. Chris Arvay, chief marketing officer at Kool Dog Kafe in Rio Rancho, N.M., a unit of KDK Enterprises, says his company is “excited” about the cross-promotion. “I’ve always been an advocate of partnerships,” he adds, “positioning your business with the right people in the right places.” In this case, “it makes sense to partner up” with Cloudveil, Mr. Arvay says, because “to some degree, their customers who have dogs, or who have friends with dogs, would be our customers.” “The climber who is leaving the wife behind, leaving the boss behind,” he adds, is also likely to be “leaving the dog behind,” too. To take full advantage of the co-branding, Mr. Arvay says, “anyone who comes from the Cloudveil site to our site will come to a special landing page.” Kool Dog Kafe also plans to talk about the campaign on Twitter, he adds . Cloudveil also has plans to extend the campaign into social media like Facebook, Mr. Sullivan says, as he and Suzie Hultman, senior marketing manager, work with TDA; Friend2Friend in Palo Alto, Calif.; and Backbone Media in Waltham, Mass. Quickie on the last mile 09/16/2009
A day in the life of the outdoor enthusiast: Wake up early, grab a bran muffin, go walk the dog and then ride your bike to work. Once at work, read through all your emails and then spend the remainder of the day researching outdoor gear online. Well....not exactly. But the trend we are seeing is that outdoor junkies just love to research the heck out of gear. The time these folks are spending on our sites is going up....not down. But at the same time, while their minds wander around the 10,000+ products we have listed, some of them are still chosing to make the purchase at a real store. Most often reason for this? Demo the gear, try it on, or touch it. I call this the last mile, since 90% of the purchase decision can be made with research on the web. For some products, it is key to know how your customers feel about an end to end solution online. If the cycle breaks down halfway through, then you better have your retail channel ready with the remaining information / seleciton needed to close the sale. Cool article from SportsOneSource here that goes over this, more of the study will be available at the end of the month: Report: Retailers Have Opportunity to Convert Web Shoppers In-Store Posted: 9/14/2009 Dick's Sporting Goods' recent move to take more control of its Internet sales and The Finish Line's recent decision to structure its Web business as a separate unit are just two recent examples of how retailers see the Internet selling opportunity as a more mature business proposition. Based on the survey feedback compiled in the most recent Where America Shops report, retailers should pay very clear attention to how consumers are using their Web sites for research and purchasing. ... Whether they are purchasing online as much or not, consumers are certainly researching products on retailers' Web sites. Of those that had researched products online, 62% ended up purchasing the product in-store. On the other hand, 34% of respondents shopped for a product in a store and then purchased it online. Of those shoppers, 58% said the reason they opted for the online purchase was due to Price, while 27% cited Convenience and 13% said Selection. The overall number of people making purchases online has clearly increased, with 54% of adult respondents reporting they have made a purchase at one of the measured Internet retailers in the past year. Last year, 45% of respondents mentioned purchasing online. I have to admit on this one, its actually a little bit scary how much a web publisher knows about its audience. When I came on board a year ago, I thought a lot of the "science" behind finding the right advertiser with the right message for our members would be in my control. It is...but not to the large extent I thought it was. This all stems from the tiny little fact that hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent on advertising and the companies behind these campaigns can get pretty detailed on exactly "who" they want to target. So just like the old wizard behind the velvet curtain in Wizard of Oz, enter Comscore. This is the team with the method with the money with the mojo hitting the streets and finding out who it is that visits web sites and what makes them tick. The main blogger over there, Andrew Lipsman (great first name on this chap), has this to say about the process: "Media Metrix 360 brings together the two primary datasets in online metrics - panel measurement, which provides a 360 degree view of the behavior of a sample of persons; and, site-centric server data, which provides a “census” view of activity for a given web entity. The panel data provides person-level insights like demographics, time spent, engagement, and cross-site duplication (which are necessary for buyers and sellers of advertising to disentangle total ad impressions into reach versus frequency.) The server data provides a census of all activity occurring at the website’s servers - every server call" Given the tremendous amount of effort Comscore put into building this data, I thought it would be fun to run a complete demo profile through their service on the "Outdoor Enthusiast" Some of this is common sense....some is pretty cool....some is just down right odd and scary:
So this is what the world thinks about the outdoor enthusiast. What would be cool would be to take this info over to Leisure Trends and see how it compares with their data. |   "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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