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.

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

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?

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.

In the case of Denny's Super Bowl campaign, apparently a lot.  Imagine my joy upon seeing this go live, ultra hot wings in one hand, craft micro brew in another.  I already had a 1AM breakfast in mind, so the timing was great.  

So....like everyone else on the planet I pulled out the phone and starting searching for the Denny's in my area.  WOW.  What the heck happened?  You can lead a horse to water but someone dropped the ball.  Great write up here:

Denny's Super Bowl Fumble

With all the ads for outdoor brands that come across my desk, I was really surprised to see that the problem moves up the food chain as well.  In the case with Denny's, here is a national brand, large ad budget, agency involvement and they made the classic mistake of not thinking ahead for all the engagement paths "soon to be" customers would take upon seeing their campaign.

For us its the same.  Gear locators, store locators, event locators.  I can't tell you how many times I see a branding campaign come through where the outdoor brand isn't doing enough to link the store locator to the campaign?  The fact that Denny's screwed this up does lessen the bite, but with them it's a breakfast.  A consumer meal.  Impulse.  You've had one egg you've had them all. 

With outdoor gear, the staying power of a correct follow-on engagement at the consumer level is more lasting.  With some of the gear and clothing out there, we're talking about a few years.  So the potential risk for messing this up, IMO, is greater.  This is why it pays to ask, upfront, for all your media campaigns the following:

- Would a Geo-Targeted campaign better achieve our objectives?
- Does the online network or publisher offer frequency caps?
- What is the call to action on the web banner and how many different ways can a consumer reach us on the web?  Is the message consistent across all fronts?
- What would happen to my ROI if I just focused on markets where I have a retail footprint, instead of targeting the entire nation with a more branded message?

BTW, I missed the breakfast today.  I had big plans to get up early and hit a location on the way to work, but it was so out of the way and in an area I've never been that even with a map I didn't want to bother.  Had toast and coffee instead.

Yes indeed, it's about that time.  Winter OR.  Seriously...this event for me is like better than eating bacon.  I love all the gear and the vibe is always super jazzed.

Not sure if you remember, but last show I ran a little contest where everyone I met with dropped a card into my BailyWorks bag and then three winners were chosen for some swag -- in this case 100,000 unique impressions on our media sites = 100,000 eyeballs for your brand whenever you want to use them.

For this seasons Winter OR show I'm going to make it easier.  Spot me, spot the bag, tap me on the shoulder and say, "...Hello MOJO..." and you win.  I'm going to take the first 5 Companies that spot me.  So here it is:

100,000 Unique Impressions on our Outdoor Channel
Ad size of either 728x90 or 160x600
Frequency Capped at 3/24
Run time from the show through the end of year
You can geo-target as needed
Prior winners are not eligable
Approx media value on this is $850. 00
Only one winner per company

So good luck happy hunting and I hope to run into you at the show.

It's been a while since I've posted!  I'll say this....there are a ton of advertisers coming out of the woodwork this holiday season and many of them are hitting the ground running.

For our first campaign ever with Petzl, take a look at how they integrated a call to action with Flash and drive incredible interest to their contest.  Congrats to Petzl for picking us to help with this campaign: