So our friends at Reebok have take some bold steps recently in their online marketing/advertising efforts.
They moved the bar even a little hire this week in promoting their new EasyTones, a line of "rocker bottom" shoes. This is beyond an "emerging" category for shoe-sellers as brands like MBT, Shape Ups (Skechers) and others are gaining market share more and more every month.
This category is appealing to the fitness crowd as it allows people to get in better shape by simple wearing their shoes to do the everyday things they are already doing (walking to the coffee shop).
Of course paired with a better diet and more exercise you can see even better resus, but that isn't the point of this post. I have some thoughts on the recent appoach by Reebok but I am wondering what others feel about it as well. Hopefully this will open up some dialouge and I can see if my thougths on this are in line with others, take a look at two of their recent videos.
Here is the video that has been "leaked" it was on TMZ and then Jimmy Kimmel last night, but Reebok and Chuck have confirmed it wasn't a "peeping Tom," but part of their efforts.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Observations From the Road
So last week I had the oppirtunity to spend 30 hours behind the wheel of my Honda Pilot while driving more than 1,800 miles in three days and crossing through three states.This gave me a lot of time to think and observe and take mental notes. I am sharing some of my observations from behind the wheel in this entry, in no particular order they are:
Passing through Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas it is no wonder why/how Wal-Mart is the world's largest company, seemed to be a store every other exit along the Interstate.
It had been more than 10 years since I had driven through this part of the country and there are a lot more wind-farms than ever before, a sure sign of the future no doubt.
How did people used to travel without satelite radio and navigation systems?
The Spectrum on Serius XM is one of the best channels to listen to.
If I ever buy a ranch it will be somewhere in California not any of the states I drove through last week.
Tulsa wasn't nearly as cool as I remembered it in college.
Like wind farms, there are a lot more Indian casinos dotting the landscape now than there was 10 years ago.
It is a good idea to not stay in a Motel 6 that was built more than 5 years ago!
Outside of the Las Vegas strip, Bass Pro Shop's Outdoor World in Springfield, MO. has to be some of the best people watching in North America.
Nothing beats sleeping in your own bed after driving 30 hours over the course of 53 hours on the clock. (Total miles driven 1,805).
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Marketing of Jamie McMurray (Your 2010 Daytona 500 Champion)
Full disclosure note: I write this as a) a huge NASCAR fan and b) as someone with personal (albeit limited and in the past) ties to Jamie McMurray.
This piece won't be a a recap to last night's exciting finish to the Dayonta 500, nor will it be a "get to know Jamie McMurray" piece or tidbits about the driver, although I would be more than qualified to write about any of this.
Instead I am going to focus on the marketing of Jamie McMurray that is in store for the next week on the immediate side and in the coming year(s)on the branding/advertising side.
There are some valuable lessons to learn from a pure marketing standpoint and I think this is a great case study to start monitoring now and with my professional and personal background I think I can gleam some interesting light onto it.
As mentioned above I first got exposed to Jamie McMurray in 1998 when I was the sports editor for a small newspaper in southern Missouri (the Lebanon Daily Record). Jamie (in his early 20s then) had done the unthinkable and dethroned longtime track champion Larry Phillips at the famed Lebanon I-44 Speedway. Phillips not only had rung up nearly 20 track championships he was also a 7-time NASCAR Weekly Racing Series national champion. This meant he had no only won his local track title but had gone up against other track champions and beat them (either in computer rankings or in limited heads-up races). When a young kid (McMurray) had done this it certainly got every one's attention on the national racing circuit.
Fast forward to now and McMurray wins NASCAR's biggest race in the Daytona 500. Because of my "ties" to Jamie I have followed all the steps of his career from Lebanon to ARCA to Trucks to Busch and now to the Cup series.
Jamie most recently drove for Roush Racing one of the premier teams on the circuit. Problem was Jamie wasn't one of the teams "premiere" drivers. New NASCAR rules limiting the number of cars on a team made Jamie the odd-man out at Roush during the off season. He was able to reunite with his first Cup owner in Chip Ganassi who had a car and a sponsor needing a driver. Jamie slid into the Bass Pro Shops car perfectly.
Now to the point of this whole piece. Last week, after the Bud Shootout, I searched for Jamie's new web site. It wasn't up but the team had redirected the URL to his driver info page within the Ganassi team page. That was a good move I thought. I found it odd that Jamie hadn't been tweeting much either, as I was following him on Twitter. His Facebook page had gone silent as well.On Monday when I came into the office his web page was indeed updated and live (with a message about a "full launch coming soon," I thought this was worthy of props to the team that had it going. On that page were links to social media pages (Facebook and Twitter) which indeed weren't the ones I was following previously.
As I write this entry Jamie is en route to New York City for what will be a media blitz there (I know this because of his update on Twitter). I figured this would be a great case study in how Jamie will be marketed, presented, branded, and how his sponsors and partners will leverage him in the future.
Things to look for down the road and things learned from the past week:
1) He has resources to keep his online presence current as was proven with his web site being updated just hours after his big win.
2) I predict the interactive channel will play a huge part in how Jamie is marketed in the next year.
3) The story of Jamie and the raw emotions he wears on his sleeve are a marketers dream. In a world full of flash and glitz endorsers this is a guy you want on your brand.
4) Social media brings with it challenges for celebrities and sports figures. If they move from team to team, or management group to management group, they should think about how to transition their social media content (Twitter and Facebook) as well. I wonder how many other fans didn't know Jamie's Facebook and Twitter account had changed like I didn't?
5) The digital channel is all about engagement and if companies don't have the resources to truly engage their fans/followers on social media networks then they are missing the entire point.
I am excited to see what lies ahead for Jamie McMurray both on the track and off it. Seeing his rise from local track champion to Daytona 500 champ has been a fun ride for me as a fan and observer, I can only imagine how much of a blast it has been, and will continue to be, for Jamie himself.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Super Bowl Commercials
So in case you missed any of the Super Bowl commercials (or like me were at a huge party that made it hard to catch all of them), I am putting them up here in no order.
Volskwagen Punch Buggy - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Megan Fox Motorola Bathtub - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Etrade Babies New Girlfriend - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Bud Light Gets Auto-Tuned - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Betty White Mud Football - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Brett Favre 2020 MVP Commercial - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Hyundai Sonata Paint Commercial - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Volskwagen Punch Buggy - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Megan Fox Motorola Bathtub - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Etrade Babies New Girlfriend - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Emerald Nuts and Pop Secret - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Bud Light Gets Auto-Tuned - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Betty White Mud Football - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Brett Favre 2020 MVP Commercial - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Hyundai Sonata Paint Commercial - Watch more Big Game Bonanza
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
St. Pat's Day 2010
The time is almost upon us for the 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day festivities at Cottleville.
You can download all the forms you need for the race and the parade and get all the information and maps by going to the event's website, here.
In the meantime, check out the short slide show above form last year.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
TWIS: Super Bowl Addition
The latest installment of This Week In Sports: So it is officially Super Bowl week. I am writing this actually on "Media Day" of the Super Bowl. I attended one of these in my previous life and I can tell you that was enough for me. The event has been relagated to a shide show for comedy bits and freak shows while the real "journalist" are pushed to the back players have to endure hours of mindless questions.
But enough about that.
It his funny how your presctive on the Super Bowl changes when you don't have a horse in the race, as I do this year. My Rams are dreadful (and hav been for a few years now) and the Cardinals flamed out in the second round of the playoffs. I am sure there are millions of fans like me, but the interesting thing about this year's Super Bowl is that both teams are "good stories."
The Colts are lead by a quarterback in Payton Manning who does all the right things and says all the right stuff. He isn't a show boater nor a "me first" player. The fact that appears at least once on nearly every commercial break in the fall gives him added awarness among casual fans who will be watching the game.
The Saints carrying the revivial of one of America's greatest cities on their shoulders. A population decimated by Katrina and stil trying to rebuild, can now take joy from a simple game by rooting for their team on the big stage of the Super Bowl.
Both these story lines are good ones and make it hard for impartial fans like me to root "against" anyone or either team. I am hopeful for a good game and will be happy for whoever is holding the trophy come Sunday night. In the meantime I will have fun watching the commercials (eventhough I have seen nearly all of them already) and betting on both the outcome of the game and the crazy side bets (more on those later this week) that go along with it and only seem to pop-up on Super Bowl Sunday.
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