Gobble, gobble….tweet, tweet…Old Town Canoes & Kayaks!

IMG_1288

With the Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon and out of office replies coming in droves we decided to test the power of the social web with Old Town Canoes and Kayaks. And yes, before you ask – we do consider this work. Serious work…

Old Town, who launched its Facebook page this summer and its Twitter account last month, has been steadily building a presence on the social web and the time seemed right to test the level of consumer engagement. But how?

Here’s how it went down…simply enough…

Yesterday, Old Town held a one day promotion on Facebook and Twitter. The first person to walk (or run) into Johnson Outdoors retail stores in Racine, WI and Old Town, ME and say the word TURKEY would win an Old Town Vapor kayak of their choice.

End result, it took less than an hour for a winner in each location, Old Town got a feel for the pulse of their consumers and there are two very happy boat owners out there.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Thanksgiving Stuff(ing)

With Thanksgiving here and the Backbone crew going to visit family, bike, ski and head to Camp Woodward, I wanted to post some “stuff”.

First, wanted to give thanks to all the great brands we work with. Seriously, it is fun, humbling and inspiring to be affiliated with such great people. Busy lately, Nate is flying back from Paris and a Polartec launch today. I have been at various Sales Meetings this month and head out for more on Monday.

Ian Anderson go carting in Newport Beach

Ian Anderson go carting in Newport Beach

Just this morning is a great example of the madness. Brad (name changed to protect the not so innocent) emailed asking for bottles of the world’s greatest hot sauce. For those unfamiliar, this hot sauce is unbranded, unlabeled and locally made here in Carbondale. Google Tortilleria La Roca in Carbondale and get the map. Brad offered to break trail and give us first tracks in Little Cottonwood if we deliver the goods. Roch (name also changed) emailed asking for Honey Stinger Chews – to keep his ski testers juiced at Snowbird Tuesday.

Lastly, this curmudgeonly dude from Washington, we’ll call him Roger sent this.

Like I said fun, humbling and inspiring.

Because Facebook Said So

SNEWSView_Blog_Ban09
Michael Hodgson from Snews on the omnipotence of Facebook and how you can’t do anything these days without asking it first.

Facebook_WeddingFor more than 11 years, my wife and I have shared a home, a bedroom and countless happy moments traveling around the world together. My daughter, who was at our wedding, knows us as married. We were married by a minister, so we presume God knows we’re husband and wife. The state of California has even issued us a marriage license. And goodness knows, my wife’s parents think we’re married too. But despite the overwhelming evidence that I am, in fact, a happily married man, I just learned no one is married until Facebook says so.

It did come as somewhat of a surprise, I must tell you. There I was, updating my Facebook profile, and for relationship status, naturally, I selected “married.” I dutifully typed in my wife’s name, “Therese Iknoian” and hit “Save,” whereupon Facebook alerted me that it would have to consult my wife to confirm she actually wanted to acknowledge me as her spouse — never mind she was right by the computer when I did it. Continue Reading →

What is Social Media ROI?

This newest video Socialnomics: Social Media ROI from the crew at Socialnomics, showcases that social media can help brands achieve success on almost any marketing front.  While this video refers to specific examples of the effect social media has compared to traditional media, many pieces of social media behave so differently than anything we have ever seen, that we tend to ask, “How will this move the needle?” rather than “What’s the ROI?”.

Meet Hillary

Hillary Procknow

During a brief loss of internet at the Carbondale office, (and subsequently, the inability to do much of anything on the computer) Hillary and I were able to venture out to a local coffee shop where I got to know her better. Here’s what I learned:

Hillary was born in Wellesley, MA, and moved to Denver when she was 16.  Her favorite TV shows as a kid were the Ninja Turtles and Nickelodeon Guts— I am sure this will explain a lot as we get to know her better.  Her most embarrassing parental moment occurred one day in high school when she came home with a bunch of friends only to find her dad shirtless on the back porch with a beer in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Although Hillary was quick to explain that he was only disposing of pesky garden-eating rabbits, her friends couldn’t ignore his resemblance to the stereotypical redneck.

Hillary had a giant crush on Justin Timberlake back in the days when N’Sync was the hottest thing anyone had seen since snap bracelets. She distinctly remembers salivating over his performance at the 1999 MTV video music awards when he sang alongside Brittany Spears back in her “skinny days”. What’s happened to these stars since then is tearing up our hearts too Hillary.

As much as Hillary may have made some bad choices during her high school days­— I forgot to mention she also liked to wear body glitter to dances— we have to give her credit for her awesome skiing skillz. Last year, Hillary competed in six Big Mountain telemark skiing events. She even ventured to AK for a comp. However, whatever street cred she may have gained from this latest insight is lost when we take into consideration the fact that her favorite ski area is Mad River Glen. For some reason Hillary loves near-death experiences on gnarly East Coast ice.

Since moving to Carbondale and starting at Backbone, there have been a few things that have surprised Hillary. She was shocked, for instance, when she received an entire multi-paragraph email from JLD which he wrote while driving. Makes you wonder what else he can do behind the wheel! There was also the time when Hillary came home to smell of oven-baked apple pie. When she opened the oven to dig in, her roommate informed her that the pie was a cheap City Market buy and was only purchased to make the house smell good. Maybe you Betty Crocker types can give Hillary some advice she can pass along to her roommate so as to avoid these types of disappointing situations in the future.

In addition to killin’ it at Backbone, Hillary is also working on a website for ski fashion. The plan is to take pictures of cool ski outfits seen while hittin’ the slopes and feature them on her site. Who’s willing to bet that no matter how hard Penn tries, he will never make the cut? Just kidding Penn, we all know how fashion-forward you really are.

Alright everyone, now that you’ve gotten to know Backbone’s youngest employee a little better, I hope you’ll be able to welcome her to the office. Make sure you ask Hillary to do the worm; apparently it’s one of her talents.