When a great group of creative people end up all together in the same cool place, we like to get them together for a little POV.
Steve’s Guitars provided the setting
Ian Anderson, Mary Anne Potts, Mike Douglas, Mavis Fitzgerald, Sarah Hubbard and Nate Simmons
Seven years ago, the Backbone POV series was conceived by former Powder magazine editor/Aspen Snowmass/K2 Snowboarding/Backbone Media and now SmartWool marketing maestro, Steve Metcalf.
Steve Metcalf, earlier this spring under the bright lights of Outside TV in NYC
This year during the 5 Point Film Festival we organized a group of influencers, athletes, brand managers, artists, writers and filmmakers. The lively discussion was centered around Inspiration, Creativity and Cause—pretty big topics to cover, but a room full of smart people to tackle them.
Auden Schendler always has insight buried in humor
Special thanks to the panel of Niko Jager from the European Outdoor Film Festival, Brian Emerson from Outside Television, Alexandra Fuller creative director from Struck, and Travis Rummel of Felt Soul Media and director of 5 Point award winning film Damnation. Also thanks to those attending including marketing teams from Aspen Snowmass, Ski.com, Black Diamond, Salomon, First Descents, Outdoor Research, Big Agnes, and influencers Brendan Leonard, Fitz Cahall, Anson Fogel, Skip Armstrong, Mary Anne Potts, Lou Dawson, Michael Kennedy, Beda Calhoun, James Mills, Mike Douglas, among others.
Panelists Niko, Brian, Alex and Travis
In addtion to 5Point, Backbone recently traveled to the left coast for the Sea Otter Classic. Sea Otter marks the official start of the spring cycling season with POC on site to debut their new Octal helmet and the AVIP road cycling apparel line. ICEdot also had a busy festival as their emergency notification system continues to make inroads in the cycling world.
POC and ICEdot @ Sea Otter
A few weeks ago on the other coast, Backbone was in NYC for our bi-annual showroom where we showcased new products from Eddie Bauer, SmartWool, Polartec, La Sportiva, Horny Toad, Trimble Outdoors, Stio, Oliberte´, Thule, First Descents, and Chaco.
April was a busy month, but to boil it down: the best recipe is great brands, with innovative stories and products with the right people in the room.
Here is another snippet from AIM’s Jon Dorn taken from Backbone’s Big Idea Day.
Jon speaks to the relevance of channel-specific content curation and growth of satellite technology in terms of remote (really truly remote) location journalism.
If you get mesmerized by Jon’s sunglasses tan it is because he rode his bike from Steamboat Springs to the SLC Summer OR Market with the SmartWool crew.
The SmartWool ride is a great annual event. This year’s riders including Mark Satkiewicz, Lance Armstrong, H Mavis Fitzgerald, Steve Rendle from VF, OIA’s I Ling Thompson, writer Aaron Bible, SmartWool’s Steve Metcalf, Andy Clurman and Eric Zinczenko from Active Interest Media, , Elizabeth Averbeck from SNEWS and journalist Ben Cramer.
Cool event, terrific crew and a reminder that relationships and working with exceptional people is at the heart of active lifestyle biz.
A good friend told me the other day that we should share more insight into the gory details of what we do here at Backbone. He had a good point. At times we are misunderstood.
“So you guys just write press releases and send out product?”
Umm, not exactly.
Heavy boxes and light bikes
We started Backbone 16 years ago as a social experiment to see if we could create a company that provided skilled professionals an environment that blended their outdoor lifestyle with challenging, engaging work.
We strive to deliver best-in-class results in public relations, media planning, social strategy and branded content. Our roots are in the active lifestyle segment—outdoor, snowsports, hunting and fishing, travel, nutrition and beer; and we proudly represent a portfolio of over 50 brands large and small. We work with brands in which we believe, we partner with people we respect and we seek out clients that will push us to be a better agency. Yet beyond these overarching themes, it is the more tactical stuff that makes Backbone work.
So what are some of the nuts and bolts? Here are four mundane daily tasks (at the risk of sounding boring) and four more progressive trends we’re following (at the risk of sounding buzz-wordy).
1. Communicate – Duh? Right? We talk to our clients aiming to provide the best customer experience using media as a channel. This is an everyday process. With the media we’re pitching targeted, newsworthy and relevant stories that will appeal to their readers. With clients, we’re creating strategies, developing tactics and crafting stories. Regardless of the recipient, we work to keep our communication professional, succinct and on point.
Carbon oars, a proto ski, boxes to ship and a crash pad couch
2. Action– Every client asks us to THINK BIG, but to get those dream editorial placements or launch an innovative media program it takes a daily grind. Pick your favorite quote: “A goal without a plan is just a wish,” Antoine de Saint-Exupery or Jay-Z: “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business… man.”
Action, everyday. We pack lots of boxes. We chase down the UPS truck to ship product. We build action plans and then we execute them. We create content and we share it. We put a ton of stock in the blocking and tackling of daily tasks, making sure we have a list and we’re performing against it to achieve our goals.
3. Incubate – This one is a tough one–but we encourage people to get away from their computers and think. We have a ‘quiet’ conference room with overstuffed couches where our team can collaborate. Even better, we urge people to get out and exercise–ride their bikes, run, hike, to process and think.
A view beyond the espresso machine and keg – into the comfy conference room
4. Measure– building the media side of our business has made our PR work much stronger. Why? Media is metric driven. It’s acronym central. But looking at your KPI’s to maximize your ROI and CTR’s has helped us challenge subjective and intuitive rationale to become more defined and objective with our PR strategy and measurement.
So to get just a little more buzz-worthy–here are four more progressive themes we’re focused on:
1. Channel segmentation – social media is becoming a more complex matrix. The Facebook lemming effect days are over; brands and influencers have to win their followers with true value proposition. Instagram just added video. Zuckerberg tours Samsung. Vine integrated into the marketing for the upcoming Monsters University film. Within each channel there are sub strata that need to managed individually but that ladder up into the overall brand ID.
2. Frequency and relevancy – in all marketing the frequency and relevancy is critcal. These metrics have always been primary to a paid media plan but now we’re using them to evaluate our PR strategies as well.
3. PTAT – people talking about this – (sorry I couldn’t resist at least one of these). PTAT is a metric derived from Facebook that tracks engagement and thus quantifies WOM (word of mouth). Good article here in terms of how it is measured.
4. Endgame – perhaps the most common mistake we see consistently is the loss of focus on the absolute goals that pertain to a business. Disciplined systems help counter the fast paced nature of business as does a dogmatic adherence to the endgame. The common mistake is to campaign instead of sustain. Beware of the trend to make a big splash and move on.
The last example here comes from our friend Jason Kintzler at PitchEngine. He was researching a brand by spending time on their site. Wanting more he went to their Instagram feed. After a quick run through their photostream he knew everything he needed by seeing what the brand’s users had posted.
The takeaway is that a new school social media channel gave him what he needed more effectively than the traditional model. Through imagery he clearly understood the brand he was reviewing was better represented by its consumers than by the brand itself.
May means change. As the weather warms up we’re switching from spring backcountry skiing to cycling, rock climbing, paddling, fly fishing and running–moving seamlessly from alpine snow to swollen rivers, sticky dirt and dry rock. (Of course, Ajax just announced they’re reopening for skiing this weekend.)
May at Backbone is bringing lots of change as well. Joining the media team are Page Kelley, who comes to us from Mindshare in Chicago, and Amanda Boyle from a little company called Google. Katie Wolitarsky is migrating from our Jackson office to our Denver locale at Battery 621 and Erik Wardell joins us full-time in Carbondale.
For example, we kicked off our work with RiverRestoration by piggybacking a White House-embargoed release about a new Urban Waters designation for Grand Rapids, Michigan. We timed our own release to post on the wire just as the White House news hit and as a result we landed coverage for our client in outlets ranging from CNBC, to Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg Business and the Washington Post.
Backbone also has been active on an unbranded content experiment with Camp 4 Collective called “Pause.” What started as a conversation over breakfast with Nate, Greg, Anson and Renan has has taken shape over the last two months.
Loosely defined, Pause is a reaction to social platforms that have seemingly been overrun by branded content. Collectively, we wondered if there was still a place and demand for agnostic, beautiful imagery and video? We launched the project anonymously at first, to test its organic virality. Only just recently did Adventure Journal out us (because Cas was working on an almost identical program). Over time we plan to push Pause with targeted paid promotion, to compare results. For us, Pause is a fun, creative project, that will help us continue to explore and learn what drives people to view content.
Lastly, the month of May means sales meetings and lots of travel (click the map above to see where we’ve been). From NYC, to Santa Barbara, London, Salt Lake City, Grand Rapids, Portland, Telluride, Estes Park, Austin, Lexington, and Fresno, our team is on the road.
Spring is the best time of year in Colorado. The abundance of recreational opportunities matches the sunny outlook for new and exciting business programs, campaigns and projects. It is a great thing when you can be equally inspired by colleagues and work as well as shared experiences ski touring, cycling, paddling, running and climbing.
Full house at Steve’s Guitars
With so many heavy hitters in Carbondale for the 6th Annual 5 Point Film Fest, Backbone once again hosted a POV event; inviting a mix of filmmakers, artists, editors, creatives, brand marketers, CEOs and dirtbags to talk about trends in marketing and social platforms. There were so many different guitars there but my favorite was this metal guitar, the sound from it was amazing!
(former) Striped Mullet curbside with the Lama
Even a Christian knows you have to be Semi-Rad to get the girl
Our panel included Mary Anne Potts from National Geographic, Mark Deming, Marketing Communications for NRS, and Anson Fogel from Camp 4. The audience was stacked with the likes of Fitz Cahall, Travis Rummel, Chris Davenport, David Lama, Kelly Cordes, Michael Kennedy, Jeremy Collins, Malcolm Daly, James Mills, Brendan Leonard, Chris Kalous, Aspen Skiing’s Dave Amirault and Meredith McKee, Black Diamond’s Holly Merriman, Jonathan Thesenga, Brittany Griffith and Ryan Gellert, Christian Folk from Outdoor Research, Amanda Boyle from Google, Len Zanni and Colin Osborn from Big Agnes and Honey Stinger and folks from New Belgium, Comcast, The Timbers, Patagonia, River Restoration, Black Dog Digital, and many more.
Digi Dave and filmmaker Matt Hobbs playing Uncle Sam
Always interesting panelists Anson Fogel from Camp 4 and the elegant Mary Anne Potts
Topics covered the ongoing changes in digital media, the pivot points between social platforms, and branded versus unbranded content. Overall, it was a super fun time in a great local venue – Steve’s Guitars in Carbondale.
Fitz talking fishing
James, MK and Travis, purveyors of pure edit and creativity
A common misconception in public relations is that you can get media to cover what the media has already covered.
In other words – that a great placement will be newsworthy in other media.
Yet with the right story you can see a ripple effect. This has happened recently with a few pieces where Backbone partners have seen feature coverage that has spurred more feature coverage.
MIPS is a Swedish manufacturer of multi-directional impact systems – a safeguard in helmets that helps mitigate concussions.
A feature in December’s Popular Science written by Tom Foster, titled Helmet Wars, highlighted this technology and the reticence of major sports leagues (NFL, NHL and Lacrosse) to adopt new technologies which may greatly reduce an athletes exposure to brain injuries.
The Pop Sci feature spurred a hasty retort from Sports Illustrated online which in turn spawned a thoughtful response from the bleacher report a leading national sports blog. From there commentary ensued with the end result being MIPS establishment as a central piece in future helmet innovation discussions.
The second example is less product-centric and more causal. In this case it was concurrent media in Outside Magazine Powder Dreams by Gordy Megroz and a feature in SKI magazine written by Chris Solomon titled Utah’s Big Hook Up, both which discussed the controversial Ski Link, a proposed lift expansion by The Canyons resort that would connect the Park City resort with Big Cottonwood canyon.
Proponents of Ski Link call it a transportation solution. Opponents call it a real estate masquerade that hopes to raid well-used recreational public land for the benefit of a private company.
These pieces in turn brought about a Saturday Night Live Point-Counterpoint style op-ed on Outside Online with Black Diamond Inc. CEO Peter Metcalf and Ski Utah’s Nathan Rafferty facing off.
Again, commentary followed and the media ripple effect led to thought, discourse and social interaction.
Of course we love to ski and ride deep powder, but equally important is the impact snow (or lack thereof) has on our business partners in the winter sports world. Brands like SmartWool, Polartec , Eddie Bauer, Black Diamond, POC, La Sportiva, and Kastle all thrive when the snow flies.
The same holds true for the destination resorts we collaborate with: Sun Valley, Snowmass, Taos, Bachelor and Telluride. Even our more summer-based brands feel the impact of a bad snow year— in terms of watershed, river flows and outdoor retailers coming off a slow winter season are less likely to submit big orders for the next season.
Protect Our Winters recently released a report in collaboration with the National Resources Defense Council that focused on the economic impact of climate change to resorts and tourism. The results are staggering—an estimated $1 billion loss and up to 27,000 fewer jobs over the last decade because of diminished snow fall patterns and the resulting changes in the outdoor habits of Americans. The story went mainstream with pick up in USA Today, New York Times (three times), Time, ESPN Freeskiing, Outside, TransWorld Business, Adventure Journal and pick up on Al Gore’s blog and twitter feed
Major television and radio coverage ensued including a FOX News Business piece with an interview of the NRDC’s Bob Deans.
Part of Backbone’s charter is to give back to the outdoor industry and our local communities. We proudly work for 1% for the Planet, Big City Mountaineers and Protect Our Winters (POW).
When one of our non-profit partners scores major international news coverage, it’s a win we’re especially excited about. Thanks to the NRDC’s Hastings Group for their exceptional efforts in driving the process and read the NRDC report for yourself here.
Fall is beautiful in Aspen. It’s the perfect time of year for cycling, climbing and fly fishing, with the anticipation of coming snowfall. It’s also an ideal time to catch up with friends.
This past weekend Backbone and POC hosted a POV event. With many industry and thought leaders in town for Aspen’s The Meeting, we themed this as a GOAT – Gathering of Artists, Athletes and Technologists. Pretty simple concept really: get the best and brightest together in a room and let it go from there.
Dirk Collins, Megan Beck from Acumen Fund and Alex Hillinger
The basic concept of GOAT comes from Good Chemistry’s Alex Hillinger and One Eyed Bird’s Dirk Collins. What looks like an odd mix of action sports heroes, artists and tech geeks actually makes sense when you put them all in a room together.
Robert Scoble, Nicole Birkhold from Freeskier and 1% Ambassador/creative master Chase Jarvis
How Jeremy Jones, Dav, Griffin Post or Todd Ligare look at a steep face in AK is different than how you or I do. They think, “hit the knoll throw a 3, land on the ramp and big drop over the ‘schrund.” I think, “I want my Mommy.”
TGR’s Todd Jones, POW’s Jeremy Jones and Brad Fayfield
Point being, what they see as interesting and relevant is not perceived by the common eye. The same holds true when Chase Jarvis or Todd Jones looks at imagery, or Robert Scoble or Gary Arndt think about emerging trends in digital media.
POC’s Jarka Duba, Chris and Jesse Davenport and Ultralite’s Bill Emerson
So, we got our GOAT on! What industry you hailed from mattered not. Just that you want to meet others and talk about what you are seeing.
Amanda Boyle from Google, TWS Mike Lewis and Greg ‘the sweater’ Wright
The takeaway is to beware of the status quo and observe mainstream events with an eye to draw forth the micro trends and changes that are occurring. These increments are the precursors to future trends and breakthroughs.
Afternoon ride with Pete McBride, Fielding Miller, Jarka Duba, Brian O’Neill, Jeremy and Tiffany Jones, Todd Herrick, Dirk Collins, Chris Davenport, Laura Patten, Travis McClain and Penn and Kir Newhard
PR is like baseball. Hours of semi mundane fundamentals that truly make up the strength of a team and then some rare and overly exciting moments that determine success or failure. At Backbone we are diligent about the fundamental and executional aspects of our job. We do our research, watch and listen, focusing on the fundamentals, all the while waiting for a chance to come up big in extra innings. It is that extra effort that makes the difference.
Here’s a quick summary of three extra innings/projects that we have been affiliated with recently that span video, print and digital.
Teresa Kellett from Sprint and Dom Sagolla from Chaotic Moon were recently featured on Fast Company’s 30 Second MBA. We all met at the GOAT, a Gathering of Artists, Athletes and Technologists in Jackson over the last few years. Fun to see their opinions on the culture of creativity.
Peter Metcalf from Black Diamond Inc. sent us an early holiday present: Utah’s Wasatch Range: Four Season Refuge. For anyone who has climbed, hiked or skied in the Wasatch this book conveys the vital nature this patchwork of public and private land has on the Greater Salt Lake area. Published by Utah based photographer Howie Garber with articles from Mayor Ralph Becker, Brooke Willams, Representative Jim Matheson and Andrew McLean, the book combines thoughtful essays on the delicate balance of the central Wasatch and the perils of loving a place to death. Don’t be fooled by the stellar wildlife photography and germane coffee table feel; a close read of the content prompted Snowbird to refuse to sell the book at their resort even though it is in the heart of Little Cottonwood canyon.
Howie Garber’s book Utah’s Wasatch Range: Four Season Refuge
With the USA Pro Cycling Challenge rolling through Aspen, Something Independent partnered with Whole Foods to interview Backbone on a Local’s Take on race day. Check it out! And congrats to Tejay who took home the stage at Crested Butte on Tuesday!
People ask us all the time “What exactly does Backbone do?”
It’s a legit question, as we offer custom services for each of the 35+ brands we represent with work far reaching beyond our PR, social/digital and media focus.
Looking beyond our defined scope of services we range from researching media plans and markets to creative concept and execution/management of branded experiences in FB and mobile apps. We build partnerships and help coordinate events, like the Sylvan Sport/Jordan Romero tour and participate in them when time allows as evidenced here at the recent Teva Mountain Games. Kudos to Ian Anderson and Sage Williams (Greg’s 10-year old daughter) for competing in the Bouldering Comp.
Ian takes Silver in between penning PRs (press releases not personal records)
We recently worked with Teton Gravity Research to launch the Co-Lab a $100K open source video contest, launched apps providing triple digit percentage gain in engagement for Ocean Kayak, SmartWool, New Belgium/Pandora, Redington and Snowmass/Instagram and as always kept the press flowing with releases and news from SNOCRU, Black Diamond, Eddie Bauer, MIPS, Big Agnes, La Sportiva, Horny Toad and others.
And coverage? Yes, blocking and tackling is what we do everyday – right after crossfit workouts and before mid-day bike rides, travel to NYC showrooms, sales meetings and R&D. Whether Inc., Oprah or Outside – it’s all in a days work.
BD athlete Angel Collinson in Outside Mag
So, “Who is Backbone?” No doubt, Backbone is defined by the acumen and quality of the people we hire. We’re proud to announce a number of new hires. Danielle Grivalsky comes to Backbone with previous experience from MRI, and as the Research Director from Men’s and Women’s Health (Rodale) for 12 years. Danielle will integrate with the media team bolstering research and planning.
Mike Shea joins the PR team from Ripple Media, an industry leader in on-mountain resort advertising. Mike is wicked fast on a bike and part of the shaved legs men’s club at Backbone. James Logan and Brian Kinslow, interns, are fulfilling critical support to our entire crew and working on ongoing research projects.
New business continues to roll in on the media side via collaboration with agencies such as Hammerquist on Taos, and on the PR side work with MIPS Sweden AB, brain protection systems, Avalanche Ranch and Crystal River Meats a Carbondale based healthier and more sustainable food source. Say what? No, we are not going all Zuck on you here – and only eating what we kill with our bare hands. Simply put, Crystal River Meats is all about serving the local economy and putting food on the table while respecting uncompromising land stewardship. It is a great local story that scales as Crystal River supplies meats to local restaurants, regional farmer’s markets, Whole Foods and Vitamin Cottage.
With more exciting news waiting in the wings, we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled programming now.
