The Forecast Calls for Pain

\ Leave a Comment \ by
photo: Jeremy Swanson

photo: Jeremy Swanson

Media FAM checklist

  • 17 miles of ski touring and descending
  • 8,000 feet of vertical gain
  • Top elevation 12,392 feet
  • 70+ mph wind gusts
  • Zero visibility
  • Waist deep powder
  • 160 cm skis
  • 2 buckle boots
  • 6+ hours of racing

Press trips or media “FAMS” are a tried and true PR tactic. The concept is pretty simple: invite journalists to experience your hotel/restaurant/product first-hand so they can write about it. Generally speaking, journalists are pretty pampered on FAM trips, enjoying extravagant meals, five-star accommodations and more. At Backbone, we host well over a dozen FAM trips every year, often travelling to exotic locations to go skiing in Iceland, canyoneering in the Grand Canyon, kayaking in the San Juans, rafting the Middle Fork, or surfing in Costa Rica. In fact, right now, we’re hosting a trip in Patagonia with Eddie Bauer.

But this past weekend we tried a different FAM trip concept: make them suffer.

As you may have heard, ski mountaineering, or SkiMo is exploding in popularity.  Our client La Sportiva is one of the brands helping to drive the sport, sponsoring some of the world’s top skimo racers and races. They make some of the lightest, most innovative skimo gear on the market, including the nearly $3,000 carbon fiber Stratos Cube boot.

To showcase La Sportiva’s skimo line, we decided to invite a small group of journalists to try the gear in the environment for which it’s intended—a race. It just so happens that we have one of the country’s biggest and best skimo races right here in our backyard, the Audi Power of Four.

We tricked coerced lied to persuaded journalists from Outside, Skiing, Gear Patrol and Gear Junkie to come up and stay at the new Wildwood Snowmass on Thursday, take a day to shake down their gear on Friday, and then enter the race on Saturday.

The conditions on race morning were epic. It had snowed most of the night, it continued to dump snow all day and the wind on top of Highlands Bowl was howling with gusts over 70 mph (or was it 90? The number gets bigger every time I hear another racer talk about the race).

Anyway, I’ll let the pro storytellers share their own race day tales, but I can tell you this was the most memorable FAM trip most of our group had ever experienced.

Read Gear Junkie Sean McCoy’s account here.  And the boys from Skiing shared their thoughts on the race here with a photo gallery here.

As for me, I was happy to run support for the race, grabbing videos of the media teams where I could and having my little 7-year-old friend Ella push whiskey on the unsuspecting racers.




Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Trip Reports \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Authenticity. Is it for real?

\ Leave a Comment \ by

willywonkaAuthenticity is a word that’s bandied about in marketing circles all the time. In the outdoor industry, brands large and small zealously remind us how authentic they are. At Backbone, all of our clients use the word authentic to describe themselves. It’s even one of the four guiding values for our agency (advocacy, growth and well-being are the other three if you were wondering).

But what does authentic really mean? And more importantly, how valuable is authenticity to a brand?

Last week, the New York Times published an interesting story about The North Face that ultimately posed the question: can a brand appeal to the masses and still maintain its authenticity? Or as the writer wonders, “how did The North Face manage to pull off that marketing miracle?”

In the story, Todd Spaletto, president at TNF says, “I think a big mistake other brands make when they find a wide variety of different consumers like their product is that they try to change the way they position their brand. We have never done that.”

While every brand that we represent at Backbone wants to grow, like Spaletto they all recognize how vitally important it is to stay true to their roots and remain authentic to their core customers.

Case in point: I just returned from the Chaco sales meeting in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Chaco was founded 25 years ago down the road from Carbondale in Paonia. In 2008, Wolverine Worldwide acquired the brand. Their shoes are no longer made in Colorado, but the quality of the product is  better than ever and now they’re backed by an ironclad warranty.

So the company ownership is different from where it started and most of the manufacturing is now overseas. Does that make Chaco less authentic?

I don’t think so. Every single person I met at Chaco was passionate about the brand and their customers. They know they have a special bond with their community of Chaconians–they celebrate it and protect it fiercely. I know because I saw tears of pride on several faces as a slideshow of customer-submitted photos scrolled across the big screen during the opening session of the sales meeting.

Furthermore, with Wolverine’s investment, last year the brand launched MyChacos.com, allowing customers to completely customize their sandals. The MyChacos sandals are sourced and made in the USA. It’s been wildly popular.

Chaco continues to make great product designed and supported by passionate people who believe in the brand. To me, that’s the very definition of authenticity. Like TNF, Chaco proves that a brand can grow and reach new markets, without sacrificing authenticity.

The Times article hits the nail on the head in this quote:

“They [TNF] are really authenticated by their relationship with climbers and people who camp in frigid weather,” said Marie Driscoll, an apparel industry analyst. “So in New York City, people think, if such-and-such athlete is willing to trust this on the hills of Latin America, I’m willing to pay a little more for the brand.” She added: “With sports apparel, unlike fashion apparel, there’s not the same negativity that big is the enemy of cool. It means we’re part of the same clique or team.”

Posted in: Interesting Read

5 Things We Learned at the GoPro Mountain Games

\ Leave a Comment \ by

It’s taken a few days to adjust back to reality after a hugely successful and high tempo-ed GoPro Mountain Games in Vail. Looking back, this was easily the biggest and best Mountain Games in the event’s 12-year history.

The crew from Backbone spent four days hosting and supporting media at the event, working with some of our old friends (looking at you Regenold, Metzler, Pattillo, Sturtz, Dwyer, Buchanan, Carberry, Blevins, Krogh, Rogers, Martindell, Ellison, Clark) as well as lots of new ones. One of the highlights of the weekend was hanging out with former NFL player and TV host Dhani Jones, who was in town to shoot for SpikeTV’s Playbook 360. Dhani is an incredibly nice guy and we had a blast showing him around the event. Kara helped Dhani with his fly-fishing.

Timmy O’Neil explained the World Cup Bouldering comp to him

He went nom nom nom on some Honey Stinger Waffles

And we even got him to go rafting (and subsequently go swimming) with our friend Seth from the US National Whitewater Rafting team.

We can’t wait to see the episode he shot at the Mountain Games when it airs in July.

Anyway, here are five things we learned this weekend.

1. GoPro is much more than a camera company.

Adding GoPro as the title sponsor clearly elevated the event to a new level. GoPro is a cultural phenomenon, and the company’s influence was clearly on display in Vail. Everywhere you turned someone was wearing a GoPro. Even the dogs got in on the action.

2. Slacklining is the real deal.

What started as a downtime activity for climbers at Camp 4 in Yosemite, has grown into full blown sport—a fascinating mix of balance, strength and gymnastics, set to a decidedly Euro techno-dance beat. We decided to get our gymnastic mats from https://www.fit2bmom.com/gymnastics-mats/tumbling/. The World Slackline Championships during the GoPro Games were a crowd favorite, drawing thousands to cheer on the skinny-jeans wearing kids bouncing and flipping on a “trickline.”

3. The kids are all right.

A 12-year-old won the women’s kayak freestyle competition. A 14-year-old won the slackline championships, a 20-year-old won the mountain bike XC and a 21-year-old won the slopestyle comp. The future generation of adventure sports athletes is here.

Kids were everywhere this weekend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the GoPro Mountain Games is the most family-friendly event in the country. From the kids mud run, to a kids mountain bike race, to kayak, SUP and zip-line demos, the Mountain Games caters to kids of all ages. By Sunday afternoon, my kids were so exhausted they could barely stand.

4. Josiah Middaugh is the man.

Seven-years in a row he’s won the Ultimate Mountain Challenge. That’s an amazing feat of consistency. I’m biased because he’s a friend and an incredibly nice guy, but I think Josiah is the strongest all around athlete in the country, bar none.

5. For four days every year, the GoPro Mountain Games is the center of the outdoor universe. The Gear Junkie summed it up nicely. If you haven’t been, you’re missing out.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Client News \ Tagged: , , ,

Hot time in the city

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Ahh, spring. Sunny skies, warm temps, birds chirping, flowers blooming. Except of course in Colorado, where it seemingly snowed the entire month of April and well into May.

Thus, a trip to New York City for our semi-annual media showroom, with the promise of warmer weather, good food and a little urban culture, was a welcome opportunity for the Backbone team.

Twice a year, we host a showroom in NYC. It’s a chance to meet with some of the country’s leading media and share the latest and greatest products and stories from our clients.

This spring, we were in a new, larger event space, with 13 brands participating. During the seven hours of our showroom, we saw 70 writers, editors, freelancers, bloggers, producers and publishers representing titles from the New York Times to SELF, Esquire, Conde Nast Traveler, Oprah and many, many more.

In addition to connecting with the New York media scene, we enjoyed beautiful weather, a great meal at the Spice Market and a healthy dose of city culture before we headed back to the mountains (where thankfully, spring seems to finally have sprung).

Check out some pics from the event below.

Backbone’s Mike Shea with Jeanine Pesce from This is Range and Matt Peterson from Big Shot bikes

Molly from Eddie Bauer with Mary Anne Potts from National Geographic Adventure

Corey from Sperry Top-Sider with Susan Matthews from Popular Science

Molly from SmartWool with Dan Tower of Gifts.com and Mavis

The Newton Running Dream Team: Newton co-founder Danny Abshire, Elinor from Backbone and Kara Henry from Newton

 

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Client News, Design \ Tagged: , ,

Mixing it up in NYC

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Pro riders Jeremy Jones and Forrest Shearer with US Water Polo team members Jessica Steffens, and Heather Petri

Question:  What do pistachios, water polo, Jeremy Jones, Olympic medalists, fashion models and Mt. Everest climbers have in common?

Answer:  Backbone Media.

A couple weeks ago we hosted our semi-annual showroom in NYC. It was our most eclectic event to date, and definitely the most fun.

Participating brands included SmartWool, Jones Snowboards, Black Diamond, Polartec, Eddie Bauer, POC, Klean Kanteen, REVO, Gerber Legendary Blades, Horny Toad, Glamourpuss NYC, MIPS and American Pistachio Growers. A diverse mix for sure.

Scott Rolfson shows off the latest from Klean Kanteen

In addition to exhibiting brands, we also had a myriad of special guests at the event. Team USA Water Polo gold medalists Heather Petri and Jessica Steffens represented pistachios along with USC director of nutrition, Becci Twombley. Snowboard pioneers Chris Klug and Jeremy Jones were on hand promoting the new TGR movie Further and the Chris Klug Foundation, respectively. Glamourpuss had a Ford model at their booth. Eddie Bauer brought professional mountain guide Melissa Arnot, who just became the first woman to summit Everest four times.

Guide Melissa Arnot and Molly McWhinnie from Eddie Bauer show off the latest apparel and gear to Dan Tower.

Joe Brown from Gizmodo with Fielding and Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug

Like our diverse portfolio of clients, most of the guests at our showroom came from very different places. But in addition to attending our event, they all had something else in common—they all have a story to tell–just like the brands we represent. So, it was awesome to watch water polo players interact with big mountain snowboarders. Or one of the country’s leading nutritionists connecting with one of the country’s best alpinists. And it was certainly fun watching some of the guys trying to connect with the fashion model.

When you add in over 50 journalists who attended the showroom, you get a super successful event. That’s a story worth telling.

Thanks to all who helped make the event happen and everyone who attended.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, NY Times

Peddling Pedals (a product launch case study)

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Measuring the value of PR is one of the biggest challenges in our industry. There are countless books, articles and seminars on the subject. At Backbone we’ve worked hard to develop PR metrics that we can report to our clients to show ROI. But sometimes talking about PR hits, impressions, ad equivalency and share of voice gets a little…dull.

This past week at the Interbike tradeshow we got to see the power of PR first-hand, in all its glitzy Vegas glory.

A few months ago we were approached by some of our longtime friends and riding buddies from the Roaring Fork Valley. Bill Emerson (a masters racer who regularly rides our legs off) and Neal Beidleman (an aerospace engineer/badass alpinist) had a new product they wanted to show us. It was a road cycling pedal, but it looked like it was missing half its hardware—namely the pedal platform. All that was left was a spindle with a spring-loaded barrel to secure the cleat.

Bill Emerson (right) shows Mike Shea (left) and Max Taam an early prototype of the Ultralite pedals

Like any good curmudgeonly cyclist would be, we were skeptical. Are they easy to get in and out of? Can you walk in them? Do they have float? (Yes, yes and yes.)  At 112 grams, the pedal system is less than half the weight of the next lightest system on the market. But how did they ride?

Bill, Mike and Max out product testing

In a word: buttery.

We were sold and psyched to help Bill and Neal launch their new company, Ultralite Sports. We planned a PR launch strategy that would maximize exposure for the pedals in all the key vertical cycling and triathlon media outlets in an effort to drive as much interest and excitement as possible for Ultralite going into Interbike. We sent pre-production pedals to the most influential writers and spent a day in Boulder meeting with everyone from Velo, to Cycling News, to Bicycling.

On the day our PR embargo lifted, there was a feeding frenzy. Velo and Bike Radar engaged in a virtual battle to write about the pedals first. Bike Rumor, Red Kite Prayer and the Gear Junkie quickly followed suit. The Ultralite website blew up with traffic. The cycling forums were abuzz about the pedals.

All the initial coverage of the pedals was awesome, but the question still remained if it would it amount to anything for the guys at Ultralite.

A few minutes into day one of Interbike and the answer was clear. The Ultralite booth was situated in the basement of the tradeshow, in a hard to find location. But, shortly after the show opened there was line of people waiting to see the pedals. Everyone who came by said they had read about the pedals and wanted to see them first-hand. A steady stream of traffic came to the booth throughout the show. Ultralite also had several conversations with big players in the cycling industry who expressed interest in the pedal technology. Nothing’s been solidified, but the future looks bright for our friends at Ultralite.

The crowning achievement for us came at the end of day two as were heading out the door when we literally ran into Aaron Gulley from Outside magazine. Aaron was on the way to the Ultralite booth to deliver a coveted “Gear of the Show” award, one of just five the magazine delivered.

Aaron Gulley (left) from Outside presents the GOTS award to Neal, Jamie Emerson and Bill

It was the cherry on top of a great launch for a new company. We’re proud of our successful PR efforts, but mostly we’re just psyched to be helping out our friends.

Posted in: Biking, Case Study

From snow to sea, all in a week’s work

\ Leave a Comment \ by

We’ve been firing on all cylinders recently at Backbone and alas The Verteblog has languished a bit. Last time we tuned in, Cory was waxing poetic about his virgin OR experience.  Since then, we’ve been traveling a ton from SLC, to Boulder, Beaver Creek, Winter Park, Denver, Munich, Telluride and more. Here’s a taste of what a recent week looked like for some of our PR team.

We started in Vail on Friday at the inaugural Winter Teva Mountain Games, where we were representing both the event and presenting sponsor, Eddie Bauer. We hosted an awesome group of journalists at the event, and kicked off their trip with a day of ice climbing with Apex Mountain School.

Sarah Hubbard having another tough day at the office

Apparently there's a lot of ice in America's Hat. Canadian Elinor Fish made quick work of the pitch.

The stellar guides at Apex Mountain School took great care of our group. Look them up if you ever want to try out ice climbing near Vail.

After a morning of ice climbing, there's no better way to get warmed up than wearing a fashionable one-piece suit. That's one lucky guy sandwiched between Sarah Hubbard and freelancer Rachel Sturtz

Between writing event result press releases, I managed to squeeze in a race at the Winter Teva Mountain Games. This was shot just before I lost control completely and cased it into a stack of tower pads. Definitely the most fun I've had on a bike in a long time.

Just two days after the Winter Teva Mountain Games wrapped up, Penn, Elinor, Alison (ANP) and I headed to Cali to visit Backbone’s newest client, the Santa Catalina Island Company. It was the first time any of us had visited the island and we had an amazing time learning about one of the country’s first adventure travel destinations and all the excitement the island has to offer today. Of course, we had to sample the goods first-hand…

Not a bad break from winter in the mountains

 

Crossing gaurd training day, i.e. night zipping

Elinor eyes up the first zip - the zip line at Catalina is world-class

The zip line views are hard to beat

We also took a tour through the island's interior on a bio-diesel Hummer. Almost 90% of the island is protected by a conservancy. It's spectacular and almost completely untouched.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures \ Tagged: , ,

Me and the Bee on TV

\ Leave a Comment \ by

It’s not everyday that the world’s top cyclists roll through your backyard (well, unless you count Lance, and Tejay van Gardneren who both spend a bunch of time in Aspen, oh and Danny Pate and…nevermind).

Anyway, a couple months ago, when the USA Pro Cycling Challenge announced the Gunnison to Aspen stage route over Independence Pass, there was little doubt where I was going to be that day. I had planned to take the day off from work and ride up to the summit of the 12,000 foot pass, but when David L’Heureux from Rodale called to see what I was doing for the race that day, I immediately invited him to join me. We lined up a sweet loaner bike from Moots for Dave and voila, I was ‘hosting media’ for the day.

We got an early start and Dave, despite a lot of, I’m from sea level…I’m recovering from an injury (that was possible because of the lawyers for DUI claims)…I don’t shave my legs sandbagging, spun his way up the Pass in impressive fashion. On a side note, I would love to thank Overland Park Domestic Battery Attorney who got me through the case. At the summit, we met up with Honey Stinger/Big Agnes owner Bill Gamber and his three grommets, as well as Buzz the Bee, in full regalia. We then spent the next couple of hours escorting Buzz around, helping him pose for pictures with the Cookie Monster, the Recycle Rabbit, a Tele Tubby, a giant chicken, girls in bikinis and guys in speedos (unfortunately). With at least 3,000 people up there, it was an awesome festival atmosphere.

In addition to ‘hosting media,’ Gamber made it clear I had another job that day. Get the Bee on TV.

When the first riders came into view, the mountaintop exploded with excitement. People were going nuts, and it made me proud to be a Coloradoan. Buzz the Bee and I stood ready to execute our carefully orchestrated plan to get him on TV. It went something like this: when the first rider gets close, RUN. Oh, and don’t fall down in front of him, despite the fact that you’ve got a bulky bee costume on with almost zero visibility and there are hundred other people around planning to do the exact same thing as you. It was my job to be Buzz’s lead out man.

In the immortal words of George Bush, Mission: Accomplished.

Not a bad day at the office.

 

 

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Biking

Expedition Impossible

\ Leave a Comment \ by

Love him or hate him, there’s little doubt television producer Mark Burnett has the golden touch when it comes to hit TV shows. On a personal note, I can say that Burnett has a significant influence over my life as well. As a teenager, my wife Sari was mesmerized by Burnett’s annual Eco Challenge, a televised race that helped popularize both adventure racing and reality TV. Glued to the series every week, Sari idolized adventure racers like Ian Adamson and Mike Kloser, who she ended up racing with years later as part of Team Nike. Indirectly, you could say Mark Burnett single-handedly got my wife into endurance racing, and she in turn got me into suffering for long periods of time on my bike (for which I’m not sure if should I thank him or curse him).

But I digress.

About six months ago we were contacted by a producer at Expedition Impossible, Mark Burnett’s latest foray into TV after successful hits like Survivor, The Apprentice and The Voice. The producer was looking for gear for the show, which aims to be a cross between Eco Challenge, The Amazing Race and Survivor. Given Burnett’s resume (and my personal connection) we were happy to oblige.

So far there have been two episodes and we’ve been pleased to see lots of great shots of competitors wearing SmartWool and Teva. If you haven’t seen the show yet, check it out. We’re rooting for our friends from Boulder, Team No Limits, with blind climber and all-around nice guy Erik Weihenmayer, to win.

Competitors' SmartWool PhD Outdoor socks drying out after a tough day of racing

Team "Mom's Army" wearing SmartWool baselayers

Team Fisherman finishes a stage wearing the Teva Gnarkosi

Team Grandpa's Warrior's finishes wearing the Teva Forge Pro

Posted in: Client News \ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Shake your Bootie

\ 1 Comment \ by

This video about Teva saving a Santa Barbara Zoo penguin’s booty with a bootie, is a great feel good story (read more here).

But, you know you’ve hit YouTube gold when your video gets remixed. It’s no Double Rainbow but be forewarned, “Penguin With a Funky Shoe” is pretty damn catchy.

Posted in: Client News, Videos