It’s no secret that mobile is shaking things up for consumer brands. The proliferation of tablets and smartphones is fundamentally changing the way that consumers behave and search for information. The implications for brands are enormous.

We spent some time digging into the mobile world and identified a few trends that brands, marketers, advertisers, PR pros, and even web designers should be aware of. Check it out:

Three important take-aways:

• Mobile has incredible scale: Nearly 50% of the U.S. population expected to be mobile internet users by 2015
• Speed and convenience are the main drivers of mobile activity. Is your mobile presence optimized to be fast and easily accessible from a phone? Is the user experience seamless and consistent across a desktop, tablet and phone?
• Mobile search is a key part of buyers’ decision making and buying process

Since people rarely ask we figured we’d just tell. After all we are in the business of story telling.
15 years ago, on the verge of starting a company with little more than an idea and some energy, Backbone needed a logo.

Being Colorado based and being that the continental divide is right out our backdoor we started playing with the idea of the using a stylized version of the continental divide – the backbone of the Rocky mountains – as our symbol.

Pretty simple really. Take the state of Colorado and smooth out the edges of the divide – and voila’

Whoever said the nike swoosh was a steal at $35…

So when SmartWool approached us for help launching its new PhD product line, we were thrilled to take on the challenge. It was an incredible opportunity to leverage its enthusiastic fan base and drive foot traffic to promotions occurring at over 130 retailers across the country (see map below).

In fact, the PhD launch campaign that Backbone/SmartWool ran through Facebook was such a success that Facebook wrote a case study on it. Take a closer look at the awesome work:

A big thanks to SmartWool for making great products and giving us this opportunity!

In the early days of New Belgium Brewing, an Airstream trailer affectionally called the Abbey was commissioned to travel the country to educate and ultimately convert people to New Belgium beers. In a time before social media, the whimsical and majestic Abbey was an excellent way to amplify word-of-mouth advertising and create buzz around the brand. Today the Abbey sits as a center piece at the New Belgium Brewery dedicated to teaching the history of the beer factory.

As a nod to the history of New Belgium Brewing and the progressive nature of live streaming and amplifying word-of-mouth content, Backbone and New Belgium worked together to create the BeerStream.

The BeerStream is a live video feed that allows New Belgium’s Facebook fans to engage in real time with New Belgium hosts, Michael Bussmann and Matty Smooth. Monthly BeerStreams feature virtual beer tastings, details on new beers, events, culture and more. BeerStream allows New Belgium to bring the personality of the brewers and the brewery to their fans while encouraging them to take part in the tasting by purchasing a beer and following along – essentially driving an online action (virtual beer tasting) into offline activation (purchasing a beer and following along). The New Belgium BeerStream has gained momentum each month with an increase in viewership and engagement.
Stay tuned for our next BeerStream in February – grab a beer and join in the fun.
Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/nbbstream

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.

The first example is with MIPS.

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.

At Backbone we like snow.

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.

How should brands leverage social media? We’re faced with this question daily — it is without a doubt one of the most common themes across nearly every industry. This fall, Backbone Media helped Eddie Bauer run a successful Facebook campaign that serves as an excellent example of how to harness the power of social.

Eddie Bauer had two overarching goals: To increase the audience for brand content (via more Facebook fans and email list subscribers) and boost fan engagement with the brand – and by extension, viral and social brand exposure.

To accomplish these goals, Backbone facilitated a partnership between Eddie Bauer and the Sun Valley Resort to create the “Epic Sun Valley Giveaway,” a co-branded Facebook sweepstakes application. Our friends over at Black Dog Digital designed and developed the application, and contest prizes included a head-to-toe ski setup from Eddie Bauer, two 2-day lift tickets and a two night stay in Sun Valley . The app ran from October 15 through November 1, 2012 and was supported with a combination of organic content and several forms of paid Facebook advertising.

The result? In just two weeks, we saw a 47% increase in the Eddie Bauer fan base – over 36,650 new fans. Their email list grew by 6,824 email addresses, and the number of people talking about Eddie Bauer increased to over 46,579 – a 1,236% increase (measured by # of shared stories about the EB page). Larger fan base? More emails? Engagement with the brand? Check, check and check.

Why does this matter? For starters, the Millennial generation typically values social recommendations above all else. In a recent study, 84% said that social opinions influence their purchasing decisions. When fans engage with the brand – liking, sharing and commenting on Eddiue Bauer content – their friends register those implicit social recommendations. With larger fan base, this becomes even more interesting: Eddie Bauer can now connect with the friends of their fans, increasing the total reach of their Facebook page content to over 8.4 million people.

Social media is exciting arena that allows brands to give massive scale to word of mouth marketing. From SmartWool’s Strip to your SmartWool and Fanalog apps, to New Belgium’s Shift campaign, and dozen of others in between, we’re excited about the work we’ve done this year, and can’t wait to see how the medium evolves in 2013.