Backbone Voted Top 100 Best Places to Work

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In the most recent issue of Outside, Backbone is listed as one of top 100 Best Places to Work alongside a few of our clients: Boa Technology, SmartWool, Horny Toad, and New Belgium Brewery. Here is what they had to say: view on outsidemag.com

Location: Carbondale, Colorado
Number of Employees: 31
Digs: Large open work spaces and a huge gear room stocked from floor to ceiling with the latest outdoor products from the 40-odd brands Backbone represents.
Culture: If you’re an elite skier, mountain-biker, climber, backpacker, runner, or fly-fisherman, but don’t quite have the inclination to go pro (and live a dirtbag existence), chances are you’ll fit right in. More often than not you’ll find employees working in running clothes or a bike kit after just returning for a lunchtime run or ride. Backbone has a standing rule that employees can ski (or cycle or fish) in the morning as long as they return to the office by mid-day to get their work done. And as media representatives for many of the most recognizable brands in the outdoor industry, employees also have access to outdoor gear that everyone is encouraged to demo (product research).
Sweet Perks: Yearly all-staff charges (Backbone staffers don’t “retreat”) —camping in the summer and backcountry skiing in the winter. Plus, there’s a kegerator stocked with New Belgium beer (one of the brands they represent) and a fleet of New Belgium cruisers to get around town.

We are thrilled to be a part of the roundup, and yes there are some incredible athletes under the Backbone roof, but working here is about way more than free gear and lunchtime bike rides. I polled the staff on their favorite things about Backbone on and off the clock. I created a bar graph to sum up the top responses.

That about sums it up. :-)

Beyond the obvious, our team had some more serious recommendations for why you should work here.
1) CLIENTS– My college professor used to say “A lemon is a lemon- no amount of glitter will help.” Nothing is better than good product. We are lucky to have clients who are constantly innovating and pushing the limits of what is available in the industry. They keep us on our toes, give us great stories to tell, and become friends off the clock as well. When you are talking about your clients every day, all day, this makes all the difference.
2) CROSS POLLINATION--(no not like that..) We manage social, PR, and media for our clients as well as doing a large amount of marketing consulting, and a range of other assorted consulting so there is always something new to learn to strengthen your personal skill set and mix things up.
3) BACKUP– There is always someone to cover you if clients need help and you are out of the office, on vacation, etc. so you can relax, turn your phone off and know that things are being handled.
4) GOOF FACTOR– some offices are serious and we are very serious about our work. We work our asses off in fact, but when you’re cranking on work and a bit stressed, this is one of the funniest groups of people you could hope to share an office with.
5) PROPS– We work hard and people notice- there are lots of high fives both inside and outside of our office for our hard-earned successes. Backbone generates over 2.5 billion impressions annually for our clients, we buy over $20 million in advertising annually, we have run over 30 social campaigns this year, and we manage a unique suite of services for over 50 industry leading brands in the active lifestyle, hook and bullet, travel, and beer markets. We are very proud of the reputation that we have built and stand behind the work that we do.

Thanks so much to Outside for recognizing us in this issue, we are going to go drink some Fat Tire, and play some ping pong to celebrate.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Interesting Read, Outdoor Industry News, Social Media

In the House: Ashley from Orbitz

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We have lots of fun folks stopping in and out of the Backbone offices these days- our clients, their athletes, our media partners, friends, family, dogs, and a few randoms who are lost and looking for the yoga studio down the street. Our door is always open!

This week, Ashley O’Neill from Orbitz stopped by to see us and meet with our media team about Orbitz’s new design/layout and capabilities. Since we manage more than a handful of premier destinations these days, this is key info. Thanks for coming to see us in person, Ashley!

Posted in: Client News, Videos

New Belgium Brewing Unveils Conceptual Asheville Site Plan

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From: Bryan Simpson- New Belgium Brewery.

FORT COLLINS, CO, July 26, 2012 – New Belgium Brewing executives unveiled conceptual drawings for their new brewing facility to a packed house in Asheville yesterday. The drawings included a “liquid center” tasting room, a 200-barrel brewhouse, malt building, packaging hall and cellar space. A warehouse facility will be built offsite, equipped with the help of Industrial Auction Hub services. Executives wanted Asheville residents to see the plan first and have an opportunity to offer feedback.

“There will be impact but we will work hard to make it right,” said New Belgium CEO Kim Jordan. “We could have built on a lot of sites but we wanted to be on a livable, walkable site. This site will be a challenge, but we are up for that challenge.”

The new facility will have to be elevated above the 100-year flood zone along the French Broad River. Buildings and material from the old Asheville stockyard will be recycled during deconstruction this fall with heavy demolition being done November thru December and ground-breaking in January.

The brewery is working with the city and state Departments of Transportation to make infrastructure improvements including the widening of roads, smoothing of curves and the addition of traffic signals. An off-site warehouse facility at a yet-to-be-determined location will minimize trucking traffic in the area.

The brewery will have a 700,000-barrel capacity, producing both bottled and kegged beer for distribution along the east coast. The project is slated for completion in 2015.

About New Belgium Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing Company, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, began operations in a tiny Fort Collins basement in 1991. Today, the third largest craft brewer in the U.S., New Belgium produces nine year-round beers; Fat Tire Amber Ale, Sunshine Wheat, Ranger IPA, Belgo IPA, Shift Pale Lager, Blue Paddle Pilsner, 1554 Black Ale, Abbey and Trippel, as well as a host of seasonal releases. In addition to producing world-class beers, New Belgium takes pride in being a responsible corporate role model with progressive programs such as employee ownership, open book management and a commitment to environmental stewardship. For more information, visit www.newbelgium.com.

Posted in: Client News, Design, Environment, Interesting Read

Don’t Call it a Retreat

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When I started working at Backbone over five short years ago, our bi-annual get togethers consisted of eleven of us having a small BBQ at a partner’s Carbondale home. Good food, sparkling dinner conversation (lots of jokes about how young and naive I was…) and PR State of the Union discussions.
Ahhh how times have changed.

At Backbone, the word “corporate retreat” makes us all twitch a little bit and one intern actually broke out in hives a few years back when those words were spoken. Penn told us recently that we were not allowed to call it a retreat. “We do not retreat at Backbone,” he said, “we charge.”

Well, in the past few years, and in response to a growing staff, development of new media departments and the creation of satellite offices in Jackson and Denver, we all agree that face-time, and company-wide get togethers are more important that ever to ensure a unified “charge”.

Considering our company’s addiction to the early adoption of any and all i-products, getting off the grid also becomes paramount. For a company based on a work hard, play hard philosophy, it is essential that we have at least 48 hours of un-interrupted time to share a beverage or two, hit the river and the trail together and make sure that we all spend enough time with the other 30+ members of the staff to uncover some of our finest personal skills which may never find their way into an RFP…

What we found this past week was a veritable cornucopia of freak flags, red flags, jazz choir histories, poor facial hair and haircut decisions in the mid 90’s, impressive first jobs (TCBY, Donut making), plastic baby launching talents, slow-cooking culinary prowess, glow stick dancing, remarkable fireproof-ness (accidental), SUP racing dogs, bocce ball balancing skills, a shared love of inflatables, freestyle margarita making skills and a company-wide borderline contractual agreement to only sit in the chair one may or may not have personally brought on the trip. Real resume builders.

Location: Twin Lakes, CO (which is conveniently now for sale- not sure if it hit the market before or after we were there…)
Attendance: 3 Partners, 28 staffers, 7 dogs, and one very scary plastic baby.
Takeaway: We are well positioned for another successful year as the leading agency in the active lifestyle industry, and are equally well positioned to start a traveling circus.

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Climbing, Colorado, Fishing, Musings, Trip Reports, Uncategorized

Crossing the Divide

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Walden, Colorado, population 734, has never ranked very high on my must-see list, much less so on my must-ride-my-bike-to list. But last week I did just that, and I have to say Walden is pretty darn nice, and it proved to be a perfect stop on the inaugural Tour de NorCO bike ride.

Earlier this year, Emily McCormack (the much cuter and less hairy spouse of Mike McCormack) proposed a media bike ride connecting Steamboat and Ft Collins, two communities for which she handles the PR. With our clients in Steamboat—SmartWool, Honey Stinger, Big Agnes and Boa—as well as New Belgium in Ft. Collins, we were eager to participate. Our friends at Moots in Steamboat offered to provide handcrafted titanium steeds for the group. The good folks at Iconic Adventures would handle the ride support.

After a few months of planning, the ride kicked off from the ‘Boat early on Monday morning and headed straight for Rabbit Ears pass, the first big test for the group. Almost all of the writers on the trip came from sea level and riding across the Continental Divide at 9,426 feet is no small feat. But, riding silky smooth Moots bikes, wearing Boa-equipped Specialized S-Works shoes and SmartWool PhD socks, the group cranked up the hill with ease…and then hammered on for another 40+ miles to the small town of Walden. There, our spandex-clad posse joined the only other people in town, a Forest Service wildfire crew and a group of roughnecks from Haliburton, for lunch at the the Antlers Inn. Appetites were big and the food was great.

From Walden we hopped in the Iconic van and shuttled to Devil’s Thumb Ranch near Granby. After another big, delicious meal and too few hours in the lodge’s luxurious beds, a 5am wake up call on Tuesday saw the group prepping for a big day in the saddle—across the Continental Divide again and up the highest continuous paved road in the country, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park.

We loaded up our pockets with chews, gels and waffles from Honey Stinger and then started the ride right from the visitor center at the park entrance, which included a brief lecture from a park ranger (ride single file, watch out for moose). Once again, the group did not fail to impress as everyone climbed almost 5,000 feet to a summit of 12,183 feet. There were cheers (and a few tears) at the top and then we all bombed down to lunch on the other side of the pass.

Cristina Goyanes all smiles, making it look easy at 12,000 feet

Rachel Sturtz strikes a pose near the summit of Trail Ridge Road

Chris Solomon unpacked his suitcase of courage, rode on the rivet and danced on the pedals to the top of the pass.

Smiles at the summit

Larry Olmsted, Ian, Christopher Solomon and Kari Bodnarchuk

From there, I headed home in the Moots Sprinter van while the journalists continued on to “Fort Fun” where plenty of New Belgium beers awaited them. The planning for next year’s ride has already begun.

The indefatigable Cathy Wiedemer from Moots

Posted in: Backbone Adventures, Biking \ Tagged: , , , ,

Backbone Grows into the Tourism Industry

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Backbone Media started over 14 years ago as a small agency of skiers and climbers representing the premium gear brands we used and loved in the outdoors. While that attitude is still at our core, Backbone has come a long way as an agency. We have increased the sophistication of our PR services, added a media planning and buying department and developed a full suite of social media capabilities. We have also expanded our client base to include broader active lifestyle brands like New Belgium Brewing and Eddie Bauer, technology clients like iOmounts, as well as  several non-profit organizations, including Big City Mountaineers, the Roaring Fork Conservancy and 1% For the Planet.

In recent years, Backbone has also expanded into destination PR and marketing, utilizing the talents of our team members who have years of experience working with Vail, Aspen Skiing Company, Banff and more. We began in our own backyard with Snowmass Village. Tasked with improving Snomass’ social media presence to engage both new and returning visitors, we developed a voice unique to Snowmass and launched a series of interactive Facebook applications including a recent Instagram promotion.  We’re also on the verge of launching a market research study to understand the who, what, when and why of Snowmass tourism in order to help the town more effectively attract and retain visitors.

Last fall, we expanded our work in Snowmass with the new Westin Snowmass Resort and the Wildwood Snowmass hotel, new properties opening in late 2012. In our constant effort to promote collaborative opportunities between our clients, we recently hosted a party with the Westin, Wildwood and New Belgium, which has plans to open a Ranger Station bar adjacent to the Westin as well as a New Belgium-themed bar inside the Wildwood.

We also handle the media for Telluride, Sun Valley Resort, Mount Bachelor Resort and Taos Ski Valley. We customize our work for each client, but the extensive research we’ve done in this space has paid dividends for all our resort clients.

Sun Valley’s Winter 2011-2012 Travelocity campaign is one of our most successful to date. The ads generated 162,390 click-throughs, resulting in a 90 percent increase in hotel sales, 350 percent increase in package bookings, and 146 percent year-over-year revenue increase. During the three-month campaign, Travelocity recorded $342,596 in bookings for Sun Valley. 

Our tourism client roster extends beyond the mountain community as well. In a PR partnership that began late last year, we’ve helped to promote Catalina Island as a reemerging tourism destination. We focused on several specific audiences: local Californians who may have overlooked the island for short weekend getaways; an affluent nationwide audience for longer stays; and an outdoor audience with events like the Gran Fondo Mountain Bike Race and the Catalina Eco Marathon. We’ve seen great results in just a few months, with coverage in the LA Times, CBS News, the Chicago Tribune, and Runner’s World. We’re not taking all the credit, but Catalina is reporting busy summer bookings

Life at Backbone becomes even busier with each new project, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re excited by our growth into the tourism industry and the ambitious goals of our clients. As the lines traditionally associated with PR and media buying/planning continue to blur, it’s difficult to be certain about where the next few years will take us. We plan to stick to our tried and true recipe: exceed expectations with outstanding services and an authentic representation of our clients’ ideals.

Posted in: Client News, Interesting Read, Social Media, Tourism, Uncategorized

Kara Armano in Fly Rod & Reel

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When she’s not tearing up Carbondale on a mountain bike or charging through a CrossFit workout, you’re likely to find our resident fly fishing expert Kara Armano out on the water. She’s graced the pages of the Verteblog before, and she is still making waves across the industry this summer. She competed in the Teva Mountain Games, joined the boys from Outside on the Gunnison, and was most recently profiled in the Summer issue of Fly Rod & Reel.

Kara Armano in "Fishy Jobs," a profile of great fly fishing industry jobs

 

Posted in: Uncategorized

Who is Backbone Media?

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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.

See you out there.

Posted in: Client News, Interesting Read, Outdoor Industry News, Social Media, Technology