Off the Grid

If this is true ...

2008-12-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

... as AdAge reports, then what are we going to do when all the newspapers, TV networks and magazines go out of business, as the so-called “digital influencers” predict will happen?

Maybe everyone will just go outside?

'Digital Influencers' Get Info from Magazines, TV First
MS&L Survey Shows Traditional Media Still Matters
By Michael Bush Published: December 15, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Those all-important "digital influencers" actually get their information from magazines, newspapers, TV and radio.

That's according to an MS&L survey whose results will be released tomorrow. The study, developed by MS&L's influencer-marketing unit IM, reveals that some 84% of digital influencers go online to find out more about something only after first reading about it in magazines and newspapers or hearing about it on TV or the radio.

Renee Wilson, deputy managing director of MS&L New York and director of the IM MS&L practice, said the study reveals that traditional media sources are shaping opinions in the rapidly evolving digital-media landscape.

What it means"Everybody wants to talk about how it's all about digital and we certainly believe that it is the future," Ms. Wilson said. "But traditional media still has the capability to spark word-of-mouth." And for marketers, it highlights the fact that influencer-marketing campaigns can't only be digital-based efforts. "[These] campaigns [have] to leverage both traditional and online tools to connect with consumers," she said.

Link to the full article: http://adage.com/article?article_id=133289

Green Piece

2008-11-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

A recent study by Yahoo! found that while 77% of consumers describe themselves as "Green,"actively living their lives conscious of their health and environment, and 57% say they have made a green purchase in the past six months, not all green consumers can be expected to behave alike.

Yahoo! researchers, for example, break green consumers into four main groups, and though nothing is revolutionary in the findings, the percentage breakdowns seem pretty reasonable when compared to most of the research and anecdotal evidence we have seen.

So here are the breakdowns per the recent Yahoo! study:

Deeply Committed:

23% of market... early-adopters of green who are looking to make a long-term impact
Mostly adults (35+)
Skew female
More educated
Higher percent live in metropolitan areas
Respond most to the "positively impact the environment" message.

Trendy:

24% of market... trend-setters who are motivated to be green to look cool
Younger (18-34)
More ethnically diverse
Respond to messages about "everybody else is doing it," newest technology, cool/hip.

Practical:

13% of market... motivated to be green by immediate benefits such as saving money or improving health
Skew a bit older (45+)
More with children
Over-index in rural areas.

Passive:

17% of market, recognize green as important but place the responsibility more on others than themselves
Younger adults (25-34)
More women with kids
Respond to messages about providing a better life for their family.

Other:

The other 23% of the market says they don't care about the environment, or they say they care, but they don't take any action.

Interesting take on social media marketing ...

2008-11-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook

Advertisers Shouldn't 'Hijack' Conversations, but Applications Hold Promise

By Jack Neff Published: November 17, 2008

CINCINNATI (AdAge.com) -- Social networks may never find the ad dollars they're hunting for because they don't really have a right to them, said Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., at a Nov. 15 forum on digital media.

In a talk to the Digital Non-Conference, a program by Cincinnati's Digital Hub Initiative presented by the Ad Club of Cincinnati and attended by about 190 people, Mr. McConnell pointed to the drumbeat of complaints about social networks being unable to monetize their sites.

"I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser," he said. "What in heaven's name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?"

'Who said this is media?'He went on to apply a similar standard to the broader world of consumer-generated media. "I think when we call it 'consumer-generated media,' we're being predatory," he said. "Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren't trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. ... We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it."

While it's not a company policy, but rather a personal preference, Mr. McConnell said, "I really don't want to buy any more banner ads on Facebook."

That's not to say he believes P&G should end all involvement with Facebook. He cited Facebook applications as a potentially valuable vehicle for advertisers, one in which they can create an environment that's favorable for their brands and consumers alike.

Uncomfortable about targeting But while he appreciates the power of targeting afforded by Facebook, Mr. McConnell said, it also makes him uncomfortable.

He said a subordinate of his did an experiment in which he set out to use Facebook to find a 22- to 27-year-old female P&G employee living in Cincinnati "who likes sex and Cocoa Puffs -- that was literally the target ID he asked for Facebook to find." And he found such a person.

"So the targeting is fantastic," Mr. McConnell said. "You can do really amazing things. But I'm not so sure I want to be targeted like that. ... I don't think everything every consumer says to someone else and writes down is somehow monetizable by the media industry."

... Link to rest of article

Wait a nanosecond

2008-11-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

This, as reported by Reuters, could have big implications for outdoor, as well as countless other industries ...

Link

Urgent regulation needed for nanomaterials: experts

By Michael Kahn Michael Kahn – Tue Nov 11, 7:20 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – More testing and regulation of nanomaterials used in an increasingly number of everyday products is urgently needed, experts said on Wednesday.
"...having analyzed the potential health and environmental impacts which flow from the properties of nanomaterials, we concluded that there is a plausible case for concern about some (but not all) classes of nanomaterials," the Royal Commission experts from the scientific, legal, business and medical communities wrote in a British government-funded report.

In particular the report cited tiny soccer-ball shaped carbon molecules called buckyballs that may have potential uses ranging from novel drug-delivery system to fuel cells, as well as carbon nanotubes and nanosilver.

Recent studies have found buckyballs -- short for buckministerfullerenes -- may threaten health by building up fat and have linked carbon nanotubes to potential lung cancer risk.

"We are very conscious of the extent to which knowledge about the potential health and environmental impacts of nanomaterials lags significantly behind the pace of innovation, although this could change as new scientific information arises," the study said.

Nanotechnology, the design and manipulation of materials thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair, has been hailed as a way to make strong, lightweight materials, better cosmetics and even tastier food.

Major corporations and start-ups across almost every industry invest in nanotechnology, which found its way into $147 billion worth of products in 2007, according to Lux Research.

But scientists are only just starting to look at the impact such tiny objects might have, and the British report warned existing regulations may not be able to keep up with technology.

"We are also concerned that more sophisticated later generation nanoproducts will raise issues which cannot be dealt with by treating them as chemicals or mixtures of chemicals," John Lawton, an ecologist, who chaired the report, said in a statement.

The report, to which the government must reply, also determined that there were not grounds for a blanket ban or moratorium on nanomaterials.

Specifically, it also called on the government to recognize a "degree of ignorance and uncertainty in this area" and lay out the time it will take to address these.

(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Louise Ireland and Maggie Fox)

Ernest & Sandra’s Buckskin Adventure

2008-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

As a winter sport enthusiast, it takes a lot to convince me to do an overnighter without traveling over snow. Sliding skis is easy on the joints, efficient and light on the environment. So it took me some twenty plus years to finally organize a trip to hike Buckskin Gulch, the Paria Canyon über classic on the Utah/Arizona border. During my procrastination, Congress designated Paria Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs and Coyote Buttes, wilderness area protection status. Good reasons too as those areas are amazing pieces of real estate.

We divide our planning into three areas: logistics, gear and the hike. Organizing for this trip was pretty straight forward but there are a few tips in each area that could make your trip a bit more enjoyable.

The Logistics
After some discussion on how to approach the hike, either run and gun (one day) or light and fast (day and a half), we settled on light and fast. Why rush? Going through such a wondrous area for the first time at a more leisurely pace, gives us more time for photographs. So we prepared to overnight somewhere outside of the actual gulch.

For you not familiar with narrow desert canyons or slot canyons, one must be mindful of the weather. In a tight canyon like Buckskin, there are places where the opposite walls get as close as two feet. In the event of a flash flood were rainwater runoff channels down a canyon with walls up to 500 vertical feet, chances of escape and survival are slim to none—the ultimate swirly. If thunderstorm activity has or will occur within a 50 mile radius, don’t camp down there.

The Bureau of Land Management has set-up a permit system to control access to this world famous canyoning adventure (2B V using the Canyon Rating System). You can get your permit online up to four months in advance at five dollars per day per person (overnight is two days) or a day permit for $6 (https://www.blm.gov/az/paria/index.cfm?usearea=PC). Up to ten permits are also issued daily on a first-come first serve basis at the BLM field offices one day before departure. I applied for my permit online and it arrived by mail the same week. It comes with a neat information package on everything you need to know including flash flood prediction resources.

When we arrived in Kanab, Utah, we went to the Kanab BLM Field Office to pick up our little aluminized pouches. These pouches are the BLM’s way of dealing with the human waste problem that has grown with increased traffic in the Gulch. They work fine since you are not exposed to much sun or drastic changes in atmospheric pressure, unlike what we experienced climbing on Mt Shasta. The bags would inflate in the sun and while descending, forcing the seals open and…off-gas. Nasty, but we try to do our part. FYI, it also helps to start at the trailhead with empty bowels.

Another item we picked up at the BLM field office was a Hiker’s Guide to Paria Canyon. This guide is a clever, waterproofed, roadmap-sized flip pamphlet the BLM publishes and can be purchased for eight very well spent dollars. This guide provides you most all the information needed to plan your trip as well as detailed maps for Paria Canyon, Buckskin Gulch and Wire Pass.

Logistically, one more arrangement needs to be made—a shuttle of some kind. Since our trip is a point-to-point hike, we need a shuttle to pick us up at the White House Trailhead exit point (where you leave your car) and be taken to our start about eleven miles (19 Km) away at Buckskin Gulch Trailhead. There are at least three or four different companies that provide shuttle service for $50 to $75 in the Kanab Utah/Page Arizona area. Alternatively, you can chain your mountain bike(s) to a stout tree at the White House Trailhead and ride back to your car at the end of the hike. With the money you save from the shuttle, you can use it to have someone massage your legs after that very long day!

The Gear and Photography
In the spirit of light and fast, we had some new gear to try. We also came away with a new perspective on the limits of our photographic gear. First, let's look at the light and fast gear.

For Sandra, it was Osprey’s new Exos 56 backpack. This 56 liter top loader with its Air Speed Suspension mesh back panel was just the ticket for our potentially hot trek through the desert (http://www.ospreypacks.com/). You can tell a lot of thought went into the details of this pack. For instance, when Sandra would take a picture, she would hand me her trekking poles, lean them against a wall, or do anything that would keep them out of the muck. The Exos has a little shock cord loop on the bottom of the left shoulder strap that secures your trekking poles for situations just like ours.

Carrying enough water in this canyon was a big concern for us but the Exos had plenty of solutions. Besides the hydration bladder compartment and ports, access to additional water bottles is plentiful through a variety of secure external mesh pockets. This super lightweight, thoughtfully conceived and great carrying backpack is made with recycled PET material (recycled plastic bottles), making our footprints through Buckskin even lighter.

I was able to test a pair of e.n.d.’s new Stumptown 12 oz (that is the model name of the shoes). e.n.d. calls it a multi-tool for your feet. I had already run over a hundred miles on trails and roads in these shoes yet the folks at e.n.d. assured me hiking in them would be ok. During the hike, a major advantage of this shoe emerged--its Seamsmart nylon upper. Wading through pools lined with nine-inch deep liquid mud swathed on our shoes with cocoa-tinted slime. If I had worn any mesh trail shoe, mud would have stuck to it and permeated the mesh. With gaiters and e.n.d.’s non-mesh uppers, I was able to emerge from the pools with the shoes fairly clean every time. That kept the weight down and the traction up as we would switch from wading to down climbing boulders. The biggest down climb in the canyon has a set of steps hacked into the sandstone which I was able to boulder (ground up), with the shoe’s regrind rubber soles sticking confidently (a reachy V0+ on the Hueco Scale). In all, I logged 25 miles on asphalt, mud pits, sandstone slabs and river bottom cobble with no blisters, slipping, bruised feet or stubbed toes. It’s nice not having to think about your gear’s performance (http://www.endfootwear.com/).

One thing about traveling light and fast is it gives you more time to goof around--like taking pictures. In a group, you always have that one picture taker who loves to do it. When it’s just you or with another person, who wants to drag out the camera and disrupt the rhythm of the pace? Since we are traveling light, we can easily make up the time, right? Wrong! Every time we turned a corner, we saw astonishing formations and had to stop and gawk or take a pic.

Photography is a major activity in this canyon for obvious reasons. There are fantastic shapes, remarkable plays of light and a unique photographic environment to challenge the most proficient technician or artistic photographer. I came to the conclusion that this setting pushes photographic technology to the limit. Every photograph compromised some aspect of the composition due to the boundaries of the digital camera. White balance, low light noise and wide angle lens limitations became very apparent in capturing the nuances of the canyon. We white balanced every time with a gray or white card and used a tripod and the camera’s self-timer to take most of the shots. Still, we were stunned by the difference in what the camera recorded and what we saw. Bottom line, when you return from your trip, be prepared to spend time on the computer to color correct your images. One consolation I had with my prosumer camera was the ability to switch to video. There were places were a still image would not have done the scene justice. Next time we go to Buckskin Gulch, I’ll probably shoot high definition video to supplement the still imaging. On a practical note, I used the Ortlieb’s Aqua Zoom SLR waterproof camera case in the event we had to do some swimming.

The Hike
After one last online check for the flash flood forecast, we loaded up the car and drove one hour from Kanab to our White House Trailhead shuttle meeting place. After no one showed up for one hour, we decided to drive ourselves to the Buckskin Gulch Trailhead instead of losing more time to the heat. We reasoned that other hikers might be finishing at the White House Trailhead the same time we would. So we should be able to bum a ride to House Rock Valley Road, the turn-off to Buckskin Gulch’s trailheads. Our 9:30 start from Buckskin Gulch Trailhead meant we would have to make up that hour and a half difference by putting the cameras away and keeping an eye on the watch, exactly what we did not want to do. From our trailhead to the camp sites north of the Paria River/Buckskin Gulch confluence is about sixteen miles. That is, sixteen miles of slow, mud and obstacle-filled, walking, wading up to thigh-deep water, scrambling, down climbing and photo op progress. The pressure was on, so off we went, taking pics along the way on this mid-70s (low 20’s C), high thin cloud, sunny day.

We decided to start from Buckskin Gulch Trailhead instead of the more popular Wire Pass Trailhead because we wanted to experience the entire Buckskin personality. Starting at Wire Pass shortens the overall length of the trip about three (5km) miles. Another reason why people start at the Wire Pass Trailhead is to save weight by carrying less water. The only filterable water in this canyon is found in the last half mile. Outside of that, I wouldn’t want to subject my water filter to ANY of the water in the Gulch. It’s basically water one step away from being mud.

From its flat sections at the start to the truly spectacular high walls at the Paria River confluence, we also wanted to see if the first four and a half miles were “boring” as posted on a couple of Buckskin online reports. I’d say you would have to be pretty jaded or have A.D.D. to call this part of the canyon uninteresting.

Buckskin Gulch, starting from the namesake’s trailhead, has distinctive beginning, middle and end characteristics. The beginning has you walking up a sandy wash, giving no hints of what is to come. Stratigraphically, you begin to see the Chinle or Moenave Formations, two of the seven major geographic formations exposed like an 85 million year old layer cake. At around three and a half miles, the canyon walls start to grow in fits and starts.

A mile later, the Wire Pass Trail intersects our path from the right (west) in a large area the size of a couple of football fields end-to-end. Here, signs of previous travelers, perhaps the Anasazi who lived in this area from 200 to 1200 AD, left petroglyphs marking their passage.

The petroglyphs are clearly seen at the very corner of this intersection on the Wire Pass side.

Continuing downstream, the slot canyon starts in earnest. We start to encounter lots of shallow pools and the walls of the canyon continued to get taller.

We were constantly reminded of the power of water by the way this land has been sculpted and the debris piled about from past flash floods. The sobering part of that discovery is looking 50 feet (15 meters) up to see, suspended overhead, log jams.

Up to mile thirteen, we regularly stopped to look at the scenery, take pictures, look for possible escape routes out of the canyon and imagine fantasy climbing routes. There will be a day when some industrious individuals start to scratch the surface of a lifetime’s worth of Buckskin’s climbing opportunities. There are many three pitch plus routes with great features. Splitter cracks abound along with overhanging amphitheaters, large flakes and terrifying off-width cracks. We kept saying, if a flash flood came down and we had gear, we could climb out of harm’s way. At least in theory!

However, good weather ensured our progress as we basked in the sublime beauty of this subterranean gem. The canyon continued to surprise us with its diverse terrain. For instance, we never knew how deep the pools we crossed were going to be or if the floor was solid or ankle-deep goo. There were a number of blind corners as well. You wouldn’t know if you were turning right or left until you were right at the turn.

At times, the Gulch narrowed down to just over a shoulder’s width. In other places, it opened up and allowed warm air from outside the canyon to mix with its own cooler flow. We saw few animals but did see and hear the calls of western ravens as they darted in-and-out through the folds in the rock strata overhead.

As we strolled down canyon, the light constantly changed giving us phantasmagorical contrast. At mile 10.5, there is a middle entrance to Buckskin Gulch but we were not able to positively identify it. As the day turned to evening, we decided to look for some high ground to spend the night. We knew we still had to down climb a large boulder jam and that was still about a mile and a half from the Paria Buckskin confluence. Down climbing the jam in the dark could have been problematic.

Since there was no rain in the forecast nor concern for flash flooding, we stopped when we found a flat, elevated platform off the canyon floor. As it turned out, it was the last place with a site like that inside the Gulch. The next morning, as we sat eating breakfast, we watched the scorpions skitter around the dinner plate-sized chunks of desiccated mud. We gathered our stuff, left no trace of our stay and continued for about an hour until we hit the beginning of THE boulder field.

It ended with a twelve to fifteen foot (3.5-4.5M) rappel. Not knowing if any ropes or webbing were in place at that juncture, we brought sufficient 5mm Technora Tech Cord to make the rap. We use our own gear even though there were a couple of fixed lines. At the bottom of the rappel on climber’s right is where I saw steps chopped into a boulder. At present with a flat, sandy landing and if you are comfortable down climbing VO+ on mildly slopey, dirty steps, you could by-pass the rope descent.

As we continued to press on to the confluence, the morning light gave us another outstanding show.

The small clear stream now flowing under our feet told us we were on the last half mile of Buckskin Gulch. The water comes from up high on the canyon walls. It takes thousands of years for the water to seep through the porous rock before it reaches the canyon floor. For us, it was nice to know we could actually filter the water without killing our water filters. Before long, we reached the Paria River, turned north and started what we thought would be the last seven plus miles of the trek.

Three miles later, the narrows end but not without a few more pool crossings and photographs. We were especially intrigued by the some of the large plates of desiccated mud. We saw a few that were almost 3 feet square (1 meter) and about an inch thick (2.5cm).

Approaching the White House Trailhead, we are flanked by a diverse assortment of Navajo Sandstone formations. At this point, the Paria River is wide and dry and the sun is warm but not blazing. We try to walk on the shady side of the river since we have just run out of water. Now, we are thinking about getting to the trailhead and securing a ride to our car at the Buckskin trailhead.

From the west bank of the Paria, we see a two-column formation that looks like an index and middle finger together. Crossing over to that landmark, we find ourselves in the middle of the White House Campground and the usual end of the hike. No one was stirring in the parking lot, so without debate, we walked another two miles, hot, thirsty and now dusty.

Fortunately, when we reached the Paria Information Station, a local retired couple, unfazed by our trail grime, took pity on us giving us a lift to our car. Wilderness brings out the best in people as witnessed by the kindness of our lift benefactors. After a rousing chat about saving the environment and global warming, we bid our farewells, thanking them again.

Two hours later, after the hot showers, hot food and quaffing of our favorite beverages, the maps came out again. This time we scanned the desert topography for potential winter undertakings. After all, it’s never too late to start conspiring on your next venture. However, this time, we won’t procrastinate twenty-five years.

©adrenalinshots/ernest shiwanov 2008

http://www.blm.gov/az/paria

Green Seeing the Red?

2008-10-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Back in March 2008, a poll from Gallup showed that 49% of respondents would choose saving the environment over economic growth, versus 42% saying they would choose the opposite. While that means pro-eco respondents outnumber pro-econ respondents, recent financial pressures have caused a major shift in public opinion.

Back in January 2000, for example, 70% of Americans surveyed by Gallup said they believed the environment should take priority over the economy. And keep in mind the March 2008 poll was taken before some of the worst economic news dominated headlines.

At issue is the possibility for growing support of policies that help our pocketbooks more directly than the planet. In May, Gallup found that 54% of Americans favored suspending the federal gas tax, much of which goes to alleviate some of the damage caused by car emissions, in the hopes it would lower gas prices, while a similar majority of Americans said they favored the expansion of oil drilling in offshore and wilderness areas that are currently "off limits," also to reduce the price of gas.

The shift in public opinion also can be seen in election rhetoric. Talk of environmental issues and climate change regulation appear to have completely disappeared from Democratic Party stump speeches. At one time, it was believed that Al Gore would be a key ally to the eventual Democratic candidate, but we have not seen Barrack Obama align himself whatsoever with Gore and his plans to build an eco-industry. Obama even has adopted a moderate oil-drilling stance.

In some ways, it would appear the Democratic Party has all but abandoned the bloc of green voters it fully embraced just a few years ago. Evidently, winning elections is more important than saving the planet or standing up for ideals.

As eco-pollster Ted Nordhaus told Time in a recent interview, "I think the financial crisis will strengthen the hand of opponents of carbon trading on both the left and right."

Stand tough outdoor industry; fighting for sustainability once again could become an uphill battle.

Bite Out of the Apple

2008-09-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

After more than two decades of getting drummed by the Apple marketing department, the marketing executives at Microsoft may have finally delivered their first real blow to the once-revolutionary Apple creative team.

In what’s arguably its first really effective, entertaining, humorous and human advertising campaign, Microsoft’s commercials that play off of Apple’s Mac Guy versus PC Guy (“I’m a PC and I’m not a total stereotype of a dweeb”) actually succeed in turning Apple’s message upside down by taking what was created as negative and making it a complete positive. Funny thing is: it was actually Apple’s missteps that set up the punch from Microsoft in the first place.

Apple apparently forgot that when it comes to straight man/funny man combinations, people tend to like the funny man. Whether it’s Abbott & Costello, Bugs Bunny & Elmer Fudd or Gilligan & Skipper, we like the characters who make us laugh. Yet the Apple copywriters gave all the jokes, all the costumes and all the gimmicks to the PC Guy, leaving the Mac Guy standing there with a self-righteous and judgmental smug on his face time after time.

The PC Guys has sat on the throne, dressed like the King from Burger King; peeped his head from a pizza box, trying to lure college student; been ducked taped; bloated; blown up; in a wheel chair; on a yoga mat; shaven; and decked out like a spy. The Mac Guy just stands there looking “cool” and completely boring.

Even consider the initial casting. We can see the actor who plays the PC Guy on stage doing stand up and sometimes appearing on the Jon Stewart Show. The claim to fame for the actor playing Mac Guy is his role as the lovable loser opposite Lindsay Lohan in Herbie Fully Loaded.

Which personality would you rather be associated with as a consumer?

Maybe it’s not so surprising (and somehow related) when we hear the latest Changewave figures suggesting that Apple sales are cooling off, after grabbing some significant steam since the launch of the iPod. In the survey, the percentage of technology consumers who plan to buy a Mac in the next 90 days had dropped from 34% in August to 29% in September, the biggest such decline in more than two years.

Score one for Microsoft marketing.

A Digital Divide

2008-09-19T08:39:00.001-07:00

It’s often assumed the Internet and digital transmissions are a more eco-friendly form of information distribution compared to legacy forms such as print, mail, fax, etc. But as further evidence of how everything has its impact and few things are truly black & white when it comes to being green, we have to keep in mind how the increasing number of data centers required to handle the massive information flows generated by the Web, and the super computers housed in those data centers, use massive amounts of electricity to ensure they don’t overheat.

Back in 2005, even before online video became ubiquitous, data centers consumed 1 percent of the world’s electricity. And despite efforts to make data centers more efficient, a study by McKinsey and the Uptime Institute estimates that by 2020 the carbon footprint of the super computers that run the Internet will be larger than that of the entire world’s air travel.

And that doesn’t even include the power required to run every individual users’ PC or laptop in all those homes and offices.

The 80-20 Rule

2008-09-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Still think consumers will absorb a 20 percent price premium for products with a sustainable or eco-friendly story? Well a recent survey by cultural trend tracking firm BrainReserve might have you thinking otherwise.

According to the study, the economic environment is still weighing heavily on consumers minds, with close to 80 percent of folks saying a 20 percent price increase would be too much to bear.

Consumers even are becoming less willing to pay more for stuff that’s better for their own bodies, much less than planet. Nearly half (44%) of U.S adults report that their diets are becoming less healthy as food prices rise, with 52% buying fewer organic products and 48% spending less on health and wellness overall, says the BrainReserve study.

As far as price increases go, 73 percent of adults say a 20 percent increase in the cost of apparel would result cutbacks. If soda, juice and bottled water prices increase 20%, seven in 10 adults say they will reduce their purchases, 58% say they'll switch to private-label brands and 36% say they will eliminate the category completely, say the findings. Even among refrigerator staples, a 20% price hike for milk would make 44% cut back, and a 22% hike would cause 25% to stop buying milk altogether.

"Price increases have a straight-line impact on spending and we're treading in lethal waters as the costs of basics jump 10, 15 or 20%," says BrainReserve’s Faith Popcorn.
"There's very little that's safe in commerce today, beyond value channels and value brands in staple categories."

If Marketing Execs Created the Stop Sign

2008-08-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

http://view.break.com/542649 - Watch more free videos

Political Hamburger

2008-08-23T09:00:00.001-07:00

You don’t have to wait until November. Don’t have to follow the party conventions.

Forget the AP poll, forget CNN and Fox News. We know who is going to win the election.

In two separate surveys, BIG Research found that John McCain nudges ahead of Barack Obama among both Walmart shoppers and McDonald’s coffee drinkers. Certainly, there are deeper yet not-so-hidden social-economic factors behind these findings (and we’re not quite sure what inspired the surveys), but clearly we are a nation of Walmart shoppers and MickieD diners, so what more data points do we need?

Now please pass the ketchup.

Way to Go America

2008-08-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Nope, this isn’t Olympics fervor. Rather, it’s one positive upside to the rise in gas prices.

From Reuters in a report on the U.S. decline in driving miles ...

"Changes in consumer behavior have essentially erased five years of growth in gasoline demand," the American Petroleum Institute said on Wednesday in a separate report that showed gasoline use during the first seven months of 2008 fell by 2.1 percent to the lowest level for the period in five years.

OR in a Clam Shell

2008-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

This year’s Outdoor Retailer Summer Market was history-making big, according to show organizers Nielsen Business Media, and the Salt Palace Convention Center was busting at the seams as evidence.

So much so that “new” exhibitors were banished to the adjacent “ESA” or EnergySolutions Arena, which exhibitors lovingly dubbed “East Siberia Area.” The walk over to the ESA actually wasn’t that bad, assuming one used the proper exit from the Salt Palace, though foot traffic was light to non-existent most days (a few exhibitors even said some form of legal action would be taken against Nielsen ... uh, good luck there).

Back in the main hall, the show certainly was too much for one man to cover. Even so, it was hard for anyone not to notice the impact made by stand up paddling, which got its momentum going even before the show started, at the on-water demo.

“Paddle dealers that haven’t yet brought in stand up paddling, or are at least considering it, will be doing so in five years,” said Duke Brouwer, events/promotion manager from SUP board dealer Surf Technicians Inc.

Proponents of the sport say it’s much easier to learn than surfing, due to the flat bottom of the boards, plus the paddle helps with balance. Folks can get the basics down after about 15 minutes of instruction, said Brouwer. And the sport is conducive to both surf and flat water. Also look for boards that double as sit-on-top kayaks.

Part surfing part kayaking, the sight of a paddler standing erect on top of the water is an impressive visual, making SUP a nice addition to any retailers’ on-water demo days.

" ... after debuting stand up paddling at the show three years ago, this year was clearly a break out year for stand up both from the retailers interest as well as the expansion of our program into the range of uses for different models. Flat water paddling, triathlete training/racing, fishing, river paddling, wave riding etc. Too many fun approaches," says Sander Nauenberg, Surftech marketing manager.

And if it has just one-tenth the cool factor as surfing ...

Still around the absent paddle tank, there sure are lots of new kayaks, for what’s really a pretty small market. I mean, building boats ain’t cheap.

“Leads you to believe there’s some investment money out there,” says one great old timer.

Elsewhere, retailers that like to cross-merchandise footwear with apparel have some more options. Now into its second year, Merrell’s apparel designers have placed an emphasis on providing styles that will integrate well with the company’s footwear line, says a company spokesperson. Similarly Ex Officio took its baby steps into footwear with styles also intended to be mixed and matched with ExO apparel on the floor.

And speaking of footwear, the boot is back, at least the light hiker. After years of hearing that boots were simply too much for light trails and “fast and ultralight” dictated that trail running-type uppers would be what day hikers wanted, a few footwear vendors were tossing out day hikers that resembled the once-dominant light hiking boots of the 1990s. Hard to say whether the source of change is users looking for more support than “fast and ultralight” can provide, or if it’s simply a cyclical thing.

The sustainability groove continues to rock the room, some looking to change their products, some looking to change the world. Some more realistic about things than others.

Solar and self-powered keep grabbing my attention, too, though possibly for the big picture benefits. Companies such as Brunton and Seattle Sports keep adding new alt-powered lights, radios and chargers, with increasingly impressive output and charging capabilities. Pictured here is the self-powered ActiveTrax Audio iPod/mp3 speaker and AM/FM/Weatherband radio from Seattle Sports, which can be charged through dynamo cranking or solar charging.

One of the more interesting possibilities in this area, however, could be found at the ESA in the PowerFilm booth. At some point it’s possible PowerFilm could provide apparel manufacturers with a small strip of its solar panel film, which could be attached to a Velcro strip on a jacket, for instance, to charge phones, PDAs or mp3 players while folks are out playing. Stay tuned.

Moving to a much wider perspective ... the concept of “function meets fashion” has become outdoor cliché. But a slight shift is putting a new twist on the old trend. Still struggling to put a finger on exactly how to express the evolution, but it’s more than simply: “must perform in the outdoors but still look good.” It’s now more about “function meets function,” as in sport performance functionality in back and design functionalities for office and everyday life in the front. The model can be seen in the bike commuter clothes from folks such as Gramicci and Smartwool.

A pair of wool bike/work shorts from Smartwool, for example, sported a woven twill typical of wool suits, says Smartwool’s PR firm SnL Communications. A smart city jacket by Gramicci hides a reflective strip tucked away in a lower back pocket. Merrell Apparel uses reflective strips on the sleeve that strap around hidden during the day. Stretch jeans and shorts with a removable chamois also define the trend.

And as a desert boy with lots of darker shades in the closet, Schoeller’s coldback grabbed my attention. The technology reflects heat to make dark colors cooler in the sun. Our test at the both saw about four to five degrees difference against the fabric swatch placebo. But whatever the numbers, you gotta give it up to the creation of a category.

Oh yeah, and inflatable everything ... chairs and couches in the press room, an inflatable swim dock, an inflatable kayaks with killer pedal drive systems, even an inflatable SUP board for a sport barely off the ground.

And you can expect to hear marketing execs talking a lot about “back to roots,” as a good amount of companies turn 30 or 40 in 08/09.

Man, we still haven’t gotten to the gems we dug up at the ESA. Oh well, like we said, there’s simply too much to cover, but never fear, we’ll have more in the fall print version of Inside Outdoor.

Zai Jain for now.

Can I interest you in a martini with those socks?

2008-08-01T16:39:00.000-07:00

Judging by the way the beer flows at the OR show, you'd think an outdoor store would have thought of this first.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_fe_st/odd_clothing_store_bar_1

This is what you call ‘being connected’?

2008-07-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Nike is on the promo war path spreading the word about its upcoming “The Human Race 10K,” scheduled for August 31. The basic idea is to gather one million iPod-plugged runners across twenty-some locations around the globe and have them run a race in order to promote the Nike+ product line.

Sounds like fun: run in a crowd of 1,000s of people, each off in their own world listening to their playlists and unable to hear a word they might say to each. Then go home, plug in your iPod to see how you did and “interact” with others and your results all alone at your computer.

Sounds about as interactive as a treadmill in a basement.

Pet Peeve?

2008-07-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one who fails to see the need for dogs being allowed to roam the halls of the OR Summer Market trade show? I mean, I understand the affection people have for their pets, but where does this end?

After all, lot of folks also love their pet snakes, rabbits and pigs, which can be as tame or as wild as any dog, so should they be granted access too? If dogs are somehow on the same level as humans (and that seems to be suggested by the news about available dog care and child day care continually running right next to each other in the OR materials), aren't snakes and pigs on the same level as dogs?

It's not that dogs on the show floor bothers me, per se. And if you are selling dog wares, it makes sense to have a dog model them or attract attention to them in your booth. It just seems kinda silly otherwise.

Back from the Dead Zone

2008-07-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it has been waaaaay tooooo loooong since the last posting. Probably starting to look like Off the Grid was heading off the radar.

But no, we've just been buried by the production of a record issue of Inside Outdoor magazine (yeah, we know, print is dead, people tell us all the time), followed by a record issue of our magazine covering a segment of the telecommunications industry. So, to say the least, our modest staff has been highly distracted.

We should be back in the game now, at least until the trade show season warms up ... whew ... so call off the grim reaper over at the death pool blog.

Soap Box

2008-07-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

Proctor & Gamble chairman and chief executive A.G. Lafley gave some sound advice to the presidential candidates that anyone involved in the retailing of consumer products and services should heed.

Lafley urged Barack Obama and John McCain not to talk the U.S. into a “worse recession” during the presidential election by being overly pessimistic about the state of the economy.

“In my business we don’t need excessive negativism,” said Lafley. “You know we are in a business where psychology matters – even in the staples business – and in the economy psychology matters. It could go negative on the economy, that could be a problem . . . We will talk ourselves into a worse recession.”

The advice is particularly pertinent to democratic candidates and delegates, who tend to focus on the negative as part of their charge toward “change.”

Lemons into Lemonade

2008-06-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

One company has developed a clever way to keep BPA-laced water bottles out of the landfill. “Just pull off the old cap and replace it with a safe, bright, environmentally friendly solar-powered LED LightCap200,” suggest SolLight.

The light may not be bright enough to light up a campsite, but if nothing else, it’s a colorful conversation starter.

www.sollight.com

Get on the Bus

2008-06-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

12 Dartmouth students, one veggie-powered bus, 13,000 sustainable miles. For the 4th year students from Dartmouth are taking the road to promote the messages of sustainable living, the viability of alternative energy sources and solutions to local and global energy issues.

The Big Green Bus has stops scheduled in 23 states for this year's tour. Check out the tour map to see if the bus is coming your way. Maybe you can convince them to pop by your store or offices. College kids always like free beer and food.

Here’s the link: http://www.thebiggreenbus.org/index.html

More Channels, So What?

2008-06-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

American TV watchers have more options than ever for their viewing pleasure. Thing is, they’re not really watching any more of them.

Overall, the number of channels received by the average household hit a record high 118.6 in 2007, but the number actually viewed was only 16, just a fraction more than the 15.7 channels tuned to in 2006, the 15.4 channels tuned to in 2005 or the 15 channels tuned to in 2004.

It’s certainly an argument for a la carte programming, something the cable companies will never go for. But the wider implication for marketers is the reality that while we increasingly hear about media fragmentation and “all the places” a brand needs to be in order to have an “integrated” presence, consumer attention has its limits.

One could say that the lower percentage of channels watched is related to the shift to online entertainment options, but the number of folks going online for entertainment, though growing, is still rather small. Likewise, several studies show that the time spent watching TV hasn’t dropped, at least not in any significant way. So the opportunity to watch more is there. Evidently, the desire is not.

Casual Everyday

2008-06-05T13:33:00.001-07:00

After 60 years, the Men's Dress Furnishings Association, the trade group that represents American tie makers, shut down this week. The reasons are pretty obvious: most men simply don’t wear ties anymore.

Association members now number just 25, down from 120 during the 1980s power-tie era, and according to a recent Gallup Poll, the number of men who wore ties every day to work last year dropped to a record low of 6%, down from 10% in 2002.

Of course, Father's Day this month means lots of dads will be adding yet another unused tie to their collections, but the future of neckties is shaky at best.

The more casual approach to work wear certainly plays to the hands of active and casual apparel companies, but in some ways it’s said to say goodbye to this long-standing symbol of manliness and formality. As the song goes: “Every girl’s crazy about a sharp-dressed man.”

Eco-Economics

2008-05-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

The National Wildlife Federation has put forth a case for earth-friendly energy sources that even an eco-apathetic, fiscal conservative must consider, for a moment at least. Rather than pointing to polar bears and debatable data on climate change, the NWF emphasizes how “technological change has always been the engine that has propelled America’s economy forward,” and, in turn, how investments in clean energy alternatives can “recharge America’s economy and lay the foundation for a stronger economic future,” says the group.

After all, in 2006, for example, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries generated 8.5 million jobs and $970 billion in revenue in the U.S., says NWF, while the scale of the global marketplace for energy technologies is as large as the computer and IT industry.

We’re not so sure about NWF’s logic in connecting technology’s economic impact to a need for cap-and-trade legislation, but we like the bi-partisan appeal of the initial argument.

“America must lead the clean energy revolution,” says NWF. “We must reinvigorate our efforts to make sure the world’s solutions to global warming carry the ‘Made in America’ label.”

I think I just saw Bill O’Reilly’s eyebrow raising.

Finally, YouTube Shows Some Real Value

2008-05-25T08:35:00.001-07:00

If you want to get a glimpse of the true potential of community Web 2.0 sites (beyond being yet another way for clever marketing execs to spread their same old marketing messages) check out what River Cuomo has going on over at YouTube.

The lead geek of alt-pop poopahs Weezer, Cuomo has tapped into the YouTube community to collectively write and produce a new song. Cuomo is letting the YouTubers do most of the work in composing and creating the music, lyrics and video, while offering up his guidance and direction along the way.

For creative types and makers of user-generated content, Cuomo’s step-by-step postings and commentary are insightful and entertaining lessons on the song-writing process, served up by a master song writer. For the rest of us, the project (there are about 10 video postings so far by Cuomo and countless replies from the minions) is a case study in public Internet collaboration and a glimpse of a coming marketplace where consumers are actively involved in the design and development of new products and services.

It helps that the song Cuomo and his community are putting together (an anthem to individualism and 1980s pop radio) is actually quite good. The latest version of the song/video can be seen about half way through the video posted here.

My guess is we’ll all be hearing lots more about this project in the mainstream media this summer.

What's a Blog Worth?

2008-05-21T15:29:00.001-07:00

Although a good portion of news reporters regularly read blogs, there's still some question as to how influential bloggers are to the direction of news and content, especially outside the handful of more "mainstream" blog spots.

About two-thirds of reporters across five "beats" (Travel, Lifestyle, Healthcare, Technology & Politics) say they have a list of blogs they regularly check as part of their work day, according to a survey by Brodeur. The problem is, most reporters apparently don't see bloggers as credible sources.

A majority of reporters across all beats, for example, believe that blogs are having a negative impact on the "accuracy" of news reporting in their respective fields. Reactions were similar when asked about how blogs were impacting the "quality" of news reporting, as well.

Judging from the comments and feedback section of the survey, reporters apparently see blogs and social media sites as opinion-oriented, unreliable, lacking editorial review and even a "waste of time." Ouch.

This all may be of little surprise to folks who view blogs in the light of their original intent as a "social" media, but it's a concern for companies and PR firms that produce blogs posts, MySpace pages and the like in order to generate or direct the news.

Happy 50th Birthday Velcro

2008-05-14T13:05:00.001-07:00

Landfill in the Sky

2008-05-09T16:11:00.000-07:00

If you think CO2 emissions are a problem for our planet, take a close-up look of this image. Yes, that is a representation of the real space junk floating around the earth, more officially known as "orbital debris."

Don't believe your eyes? Check out this blurb from NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office and this link to other disturbing images.

“The following graphics are computer generated images of objects in Earth orbit that are currently being tracked. Approximately 95% of the objects in this illustration are orbital debris, i.e., not functional satellites. The dots represent the current location of each item.”

Social Networking for Your Feet

2008-05-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Forget about Match.com, eHarmony, Facebook or MySpace. Now your shoes are all you need to meet like-minded friends and partners. As the next step in computerized footwear, today VectraSense Technologies launched "The Smart Shoe Experience."

The new Verb For Shoe features an embedded computer which, among other capabilities, enables “contact sharing.” Yes, the shoes wirelessly communicate with each other, exchanging contact information among different wearers, says VectraSense. A wireless link then allows the shoes to link with a PC.

Arguably more practical, the computer in the shoes also automatically adjusts comfort according to the wearer's movements.

The price tag? MSRP is $700, or about the price I paid for my latest laptop.

Boobs ... he he he he

2008-05-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

CWX says it "knows boobs." It also knows that boob jokes can be pretty funny.

So the company is launching a cute and clever interactive Web banner campaign to draw attention to its new sports bra technology, which "keeps breast motion to a minimum, leaving women happy, and those who would ogle them, well, crestfallen." It also is designed to eliminate the "monoboob" syndrome.

CWX provided a preview of the upcoming campaign for industry insiders like you. It's worth a look.

And, yes, we are asking you to actually click on a Web banner ad.

Check it out here

Are you ready to haggle?

2008-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

A little blurb from BIG Research's latest American Pulse survey of 4,055 adults regarding concerns over the economny:

"One way consumers appear to be coping with pressures on the family budget is by learning a new shopping skill – haggling for price. According to the survey, half of Americans (50.3%) report having negotiated for better prices on products other than a home or vehicle in light of the current economic situation. Americans say they haggle the most for better costs on tires/batteries/auto repair (38.6%), followed by appliances (37.3%) and electronics (37.2%)."

Can't imagine many retailers would like to see this develop as a trend.

Sport Sandals for the Rich & Famous

2008-04-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

It looks like someone forgot to tell the folks at PêcheBlu about the rising prices of fuel and food and the economic pressures many consumers say they are facing. Today the athletic sandal company unveiled its new line of luxury crocodile flip flops, “which will be the most expensive production flip flops in world,” boasts PêcheBlu.

Hold onto your Teva’s, because the new “world’s most expensive flip flops” will retail for a whopping $400 a pair.

Now, I understand that crocodile skin is a very exotic and expensive material to work with, but considering the size of a flip flop strap, things break down to about $50 per square inch of crocodile skin.

I also understand that there are plenty of people who are willing to pay $400 for flip flops and who can easily afford them. I guess I just wish I was one of them.

Green Land Grab

2008-04-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Marketers have “bombarded the Patent and Trademark Office” during the last year for green-themed marks, according to a report released by the law firm Dechert, leading the way to a 10 percent spike over 2006 in overall trademark filings.

Buoyed by the interest in environmentalism, filings for new trademarks last year topped 300,000. The previous record was 289,000 filings, set in 2000 during the Internet boom.

The enviro-mania has lead to a "green gridlock, with multiple companies filing for almost-identical marks at nearly the same time," says Glenn Gundersen, chair of Dechert's trademark practice, in the report. “Many of these me-too filings will either not merit legal protection or will be very weak trademarks."

"Green," of course, was the most popular word among marketers, with applications more than doubling from 1,100 in 2006 to 2,400 in 2007. That follows a 23 percent increase in applications in 2005 and a 37 percent increase in 2006.

Trademarks requests with the prefix "eco" also more than doubled in 2007, with nearly 900 new applications, says the report. Quips Gundersen: "if all the new eco-branded products filed in 2007 actually came to market, an EcoCitizen could buy an EcoHouse in EcoTown from an EcoRealtor."

Word Most Used in Trademarks
within Green Branding Space in 2007
(Numbers are approximate)
Term.....................Occurrences
Green..........................2,400
Energy........................1,200
Clean ..........................900
Earth..........................900
Eco..............................900
Organic ......................700
Environment...............450
Planet..........................400
Friendly......................180

More on BPA

2008-04-17T14:42:00.001-07:00

Irked by recent coverage of bisphenol-A on one of the morning network news shows, the American Chemistry Society sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach requesting the FDA to update its review of the safety of bisphenol-A in food contact applications.

The ACS believes reports and allegations that BPA is unsafe are unfounded and lack scientific credibility. And while the ACS obviously has an agenda (its members are the folks that don't make the stuff we use but make the stuff that makes the stuff we use better), it's always good to hear all sides of a situation before pulling products and passing judgement onto trusting consumers.

So here's a link to the recent ACS statement with a dial-in number to a recorded press conference on the matter. All in the interest of science ...

Where your taxes go

2008-04-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

This seemed appropriate data for the day ... defense spending many oppose, Social Security many supposedly won't get and health programs most can't even use.

More fast facts:

50 million students in public elementary and secondary schools = education gets 2% of budget
42 million people enrolled in Medicaid = public healthcare gets 21% of budget

Hilldog Said What?

2008-04-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

It's hard not to scoff at Hillary Clinton's recent call for President Bush to boycott this summer's Olympic Games, in the wake of all the protests over China's actions in Tibet. Now, the way our history books read, it was President Bill Clinton in 2000 who opened Chinese businesses to the U.S. when he signed a bill extending permanent, normal trade status to China. And those same history books show signs of oppression and human rights violation taking place in Tibet and China since well before Bill helped Arkansas-based Wal-Mart captilize mightily on cheap Chinese labor. Nothing's new really.

Surely China's history is not unknown to Hillary. So why didn't she have the same type of advice for her partner Bill all those years ago?

By Hillary's logic, it would seem, it's okay to openly engage in all sorts of economic activities with Chinese companies and its government, we just shouldn't play sports with them at the country's coming out party to the world.

A campaign to raise awareness, change the numbers

2008-04-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

As I write, satellite images from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center show that a 5,282 square mile piece of ocean ice about the size of Connecticut is disintegrating.
Apparently, the disintegration of Antarctica’s Wilkins Ice Shelf was initiated by the breaking off of a 25.5 mile long by 1.5 mile wide shard of its edge at the end of last February. This was followed by today’s images of a 160 square mile collapse of the shelf.

For the remaining global warming skeptics that believe the earth’s warming is part of a cyclical trend, the unprecedented speed at which these changes are occurring is becoming harder to contradict. Climate models, conservative by design, are showing that predicted changes in our environment are happening at an unforeseen rate.

This theme that climate changes are taking place at rates never before seen ran throughout the 13th annual symposium entitled Alternative Energy: Seeking Climate Change Solutions, sponsored by the Wallace Stegner Center for Land Resources and the Environment, in Salt Lake City (7-8 March, 2008). After almost two days of non-stop presentations, the final and keynote address was given by environmentalist Bill McKibben. McKibben is a writer who has been championing the cause to stop global warming since his first book, The End of Nature (1989). He was one of the founders of the nationwide Step it Up 2007, a climate change demonstration, simultaneously held in all 50 states. Now, he is focusing his attention on slowing down what appears to be the irreversible consequences of the rise of carbon dioxide, ergo www.350.org.

At the end of the pre-industrial revolution, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been estimated to be about 275 parts per million (ppm). So McKibben states, “scientists and policymakers focused on what would happen if that number doubled – 550 ppm was a crude and mythical red line, but politicians and economists set about trying to see if we could stop short of that point.”

What has happened since 2000 is clear: the earth is reacting to the changes in carbon dioxide much faster than anticipated. Consequently, various groups throughout the world are moving to lower the target level of 550 ppm to 450 ppm. As discussions across the globe focus attention on lowering the CO2 ppm threshold, new data shows that even 450 ppm has little chance of stopping the devastating effects of climate change. Quoting NASA’s climatologist and arguably, the world’s preeminent climate expert, James Hansen (et al), “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm … If the present overshoot of this target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects.”

Today’s disintegration of 160 square miles of ice shelf reminds us that we do not have time to languish in our decisions to act on behalf of our planet.

As McKibben said in his 28 December 2007 op ed piece in the Washington Post, “It's the number (350ppm) that may define our future.”

For more information, go to http://www.350.org/. And check out the video directly below.

-Ernest Shiwanov

Antarctic Ice Shelf

2008-04-02T10:56:00.001-07:00

Google Slowdown, Yahoo!

2008-03-28T00:31:00.000-07:00

The most-popular Internet search engine is experiencing slowing growth in the number of clicks on text advertisements.

Clicks on Google's sponsored links rose 3 percent in February from a year earlier, researcher at ComScore said. In January, Google had no growth, after a 25 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

Overall, ad clicks fell 3 percent in February from the previous month, ComScore said. In January, total ad clicks fell 7.5 percent from the previous month.

Experts attribute the slowdown to the lackluster economy. Google says it’s due to upgrades to its systems that eliminate promotions that aren't relevant to searches.

We tend to think something else might be going on. Maybe, just maybe, the Internet has reached a peak of sorts, or maybe people simply are beginning to grow weary of living in front of a screen.

Either way, any trend toward dis-connectivity is good news for an industry that relies on getting folks off their butts and outside. Now if we can just get them to put down their Crackberries long enough to enjoy the vistas.

Four Reviews Before Buying Online

2008-03-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

As much as 68 percent of online shoppers read at least four reviews before making a purchase, according to data from joint research by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group. The companies surveyed 1,200 consumers who shopped online at least four times per year and spent at least $500 in aggregate and found that almost a quarter of the respondents checked at least eight reviews or more before deciding to buy.

Some 22 percent of respondents said that they "always" read reviews before making a purchase, while more than four in 10 said they checked ratings and reviews "most of the time." In contrast, just 2 percent of the online shoppers surveyed said that they "never" read reviews in advance.

Consumer reviews seem to carry particular weight, compared to “experts,” and are more important to site visitors than coupons and special offers, suggest other findings. A recent Avenue ARazorfish study found that 55 percent of online shoppers chose user reviews most frequently when conducting product research—more than double the 22 percent that used comparison charts or expert reviews (21 percent).

Most Desired Features on Retail Web Sites*
Features______________________% of Respondents Choosing
User ratings and reviews ................................. 64%
Special offers and coupons .............................. 61%
Videos ............................................................ 48%
Personalization capabilities ............................. 37%
Games and quizzes .......................................... 29%
Source: Forrester Research; *Included consumer electronics, travel and banking sites—key drivers of e-commerce in the U.S.

Evangelical Work Still Needed

2008-03-14T10:24:00.001-07:00

There’s good news and bad news to report out of a new study on sustainability at retail by TNS Retail Forward. The good news is about half of consumers surveyed said efforts around workers’ rights, product recycling and minimizing waste in packaging are important or very important to decisions on where and how they shop.

The not-so-good news is consumers are failing to put there money where their mouth is. When asked about the three most important criteria for store-choice decisions, less than 20 percent listed responsibility and sustainability efforts among their top three. More than 80 percent did not rank such efforts at all. Perhaps more surprising, the respondents who ranked responsibility and sustainability among their top concerns remained relatively unchanged since November of 2006, when a similar survey was taken.

Granted, those surveyed represent all consumers and not just “outdoor consumers,” who may express more social awareness. But anyone truly interested in a greener planet has to consider the overall picture and not just our little world.

Interestingly enough, when asked about their willingness to pay a bit more for items purchased, respondents said that products “produced or grown locally” were as appealing or more appealing than products that were produced in energy efficient manners, packaged to reduce waste or were recyclable.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t exactly jive with the overwhelming trend whereby outdoor gear and apparel is produced half way around the globe.

Green evidently not the next black

2008-03-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

While most other major industries are steering their marketing efforts toward greener pastures, high fashion seems to be moving in an opposite direction. At the conclusion of Paris fashion week, the Wall Street Journal reported that polyester “is the new name in Paris fashion.”

Finally shaking the style stigma of leisure suits and "Saturday Night Fever," polyester now is considered the “fabric très chic,” says WSJ. Of course, this isn’t your Marcia Brady style polyester but rather “silky” synthetics used “to create a lighter-than-air ethereal feeling,” says designer brand Nina Ricci. And certainly polyester has never really left the apparel business; it just went under the cooler name of microfiber.

But it would have been nice, I guess, to see the Paris fashion leaders inspire headlines on bamboo or organic cotton or coconut or any number of interesting sustainable fibers.

The timing sure seems right. Maybe we just don’t get it.

Web Video Flop?

2008-03-03T10:53:00.001-08:00

Because we can’t resist when hype meets reality … it struck us when we heard the news that “quarterlife," the first Web-based series ever picked up by a major TV network, delivered NBC's worst ratings for its time slot in at least 20 years. Evidently, Internet buzz and viral marketing don’t always translate into prime time, mainstream audience attention.

Online video contestants discussed the apparent flop at a recent industry conference:
"If you can't be patient, this isn't the market for you," said Fred Seibert, co-founder of digital media startup Next New Networks.

"There's a lot of people experimenting," said Rob Lane, CEO of Ottawa-based digital media company Overlay.TV. "We don't know what works," he admitted.

Such humble responses are a far cry from the entertainment revolution rhetoric we have been hearing of late about online and user-generated video.

Kids Today

2008-02-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

We hear often enough from youth marketing groups how younger generations are leading the online revolution; how they are constantly wired and highly tech-savvy. Well, new findings from Ipsos Reid suggest that teens are not quite online as much as stereotypes suggest, and the online time they spend is rather narrowly focused. What’s more, teens’ comfort level with technology is actually much lower than adults.

According to Ipsos Reid’s survey of thousands of Canadian youth aged 12 to 17, the time spent by teens online is actually rather limited, with teens spending, on average, 13 hours per week on the Internet, compared to a weekly average of 19 hours for online adults. And teens’ time online has not increased at all since the last survey performed four years ago.

There are at least a couple of factors that might account for the comparatively less time teens spend on online, say Ipsos Reid analysts. One is the influence parents still have on teens: more than half of online teens surveyed said their parents place time limits or curfews on their access.
Text messaging, we’d argue, is a big factor too, as it directly displaces instant messaging, which is a top wired activity for kids.

Also at play, says Ipsos, are findings that show only a minority of teens (37%) agree that using the Internet is an "important part of their day." That compares to 51 percent of adults who view the Internet as that important.

All the while, teens don’t see themselves as being technologically advanced. Only about a quarter (28%) of online teens would describe themselves as very skilled or an expert on the Internet, and almost as many (24%) admit to not being skilled at all. The remaining respondents identify themselves as fairly skilled.

Where the Internet does remain very important to kids largely is in its ability to facilitate the things that teenagers like to do: listen to music, play games and, most importantly, socialize. Teens usage is narrowly limited to these three activities, say the findings, and social networks lead the way. The good majority of online Canadian teens, says Ipsos, consider the Internet to be important to their social lives, and a fill 88% say they have participated in an online social activity. More than half (59%) visit online social networks or communities a few times a week to daily.

What might not so clear, however, is whether being wired, or better yet wireless, is more about a fundamental change in behavior, as the Internet often is given credit for, or simply is a newer way to do what kids do anyway: hang out, chat, swap music and share interests.

Of course, when kids grow up, they’re likely use the Internet in ways and at the usage rates that grown ups do now, probably even more so. But conventional wisdom that says kids today are spending substantially less time out and about, hanging at the mall or McDonald’s or kicking around the park, might not be entirely accurate.

Adios Viejo

2008-02-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

Wahoo, I'm buying my tickets to Havana!

Fidel Finally Retires

Blue is Green (Er, the other green)

2008-02-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

The notion that “misery is not miserly” is by no means unfamiliar to veteran advertising and marketing executives, and it’s really no surprise in a culture that “buys to feel better.” Consider the old, “you deserve a break today” slogan, for example.

Even so, a new study found a great willingness to spend loosely when people are sad, particularly when their sadness triggers feelings of self absorption, according to reports on the research by AP. The study involved two groups: one that watched an emotional video about the death of a boy’s mentor and another that watched an emotionally neutral video on the Great Barrier Reef. Researchers from Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Pittsburgh universities measured the “self-focus” response by counting how frequently study participants used references to "I," "me," "my" and "myself" in writing an essay about how a sad situation such as the one portrayed in the video would affect them personally, although we don’t see how one could write “personally” about anything without using those words.

Nonetheless, on average, the group that watched the sad video was willing to pay four times as much for an insulated water bottle than the group that watched the nature video. Specifically, the 33 young adults in the study were given $10 for participating and then were offered a chance to trade some of the money to buy the water bottle. The sad group offered to trade an average of $2.11 for the bottle compared to 56 cents offered by the neutral group. And despite the difference in willingness to spend, participants in the sad group usually insisted that the video’s emotional content didn’t impact their spending decisions, say the researchers.

Here’s a bit from the AP story that hit the wires over the weekend:

"This is a phenomenon that occurs without awareness," Jennifer Lerner, a Harvard professor who studies emotion and decision making, said in a phone interview. "This is really different from the idea of retail therapy, where people are feeling negative and want to cheer themselves up by shopping. People have no idea this is going on."

The researchers concluded sadness can trigger a chain of emotions leading to extravagant tendencies. Sadness leads people to become more focused on themselves, causing the person to feel that they and their possessions are worth little. That feeling increases willingness to pay more — presumably to feel better about themselves.

"Because the study used real commodities and real money, results hold implications for everyday decisions," according to the authors of the study, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, and presented Saturday at a meeting of the Society for Social and Personality Psychology.

We are not really sure how outdoor companies can use this information, or how anyone would promote sadness when selling “recreation,” but it might be fun to consider …

SHOT vs SIA

2008-02-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a quick trip to Vegas where we had the chance to catch the last day of SIA on Friday followed by the first day of SHOT on Saturday. It provided a unique perspective on the differences between these two outdoor segments.

Most glaring of all, and not very good news for the SHOT crowd, was the difference in demographics. At SIA, most age groups were well represented, including plenty of kids and twenty-somethings, as most would expect. At SHOT, on the other hand, the overwhelming majority of attendees were in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. SHOT celebrated its 30th Anniversary this year, and one got the feeling a lot of those in attendance had been to all 30 shows.

Clearly, the industry served by the SHOT show has to be concerned as to where their future participants will come from.

At present, however, SHOT could swallow SIA several times over. The SHOT show is massive, covering several exhibit halls inside the Las Vegas Convention Center, with additional booths in tents located in the parking lot and flooding over into the neightboring Hilton. And depsite the expansive nature, the floor was crowded and bustling everywhere one went. It simply was overwhelming.

SIA also was energetic and crowded, but it's hard not to notice how the show is about half its size from the days when it was held in March. The reduction, no doubt, is due to consolidation, a few years of poor snow and the fact that snowsports retailers simply aren't ready to buy in January, which is right in the middle of their peak season.

Here's a few less serious comparisons between SIA and SHOT; we'll add more as they come to mind, and feel free to shoot us a note if you think of any of your own:

Ya Brah vs. Good buddy
Skull caps vs. Bald spots

Samplin' beats vs. Beef jerky samples

Lots of skin on display vs. Dear hides and duck feathers

What's Going Green Now?

2008-02-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

Can't say we saw this coming, but now, "for the first time," we can enjoy guilt-free (well almost) organic horchata and cotton candy.

Load up.

Wal-Mart's Economic Stimulus Plan ...

2008-01-29T15:38:00.000-08:00

... buy more crap you don't need at really cheap prices.

Makes about as much sense as the plans coming out of Capitol Hill.

Check it out: Link

Thoughts On the Final Day at OR

2008-01-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

Lots to process after four of five very eventful days ... almost too much to mention and far too much to recall right here. But we'll bring you plenty of the best news, new companies and show highlights in the coming issues of Inside Outdoor and on http://www.insideoutdoor.com/.

A few cool, new or sorta new things we saw, as well as emerging product categories include:

Water intake monitoring devices, which either come installed on a hydration product or can be spliced into an existing tube. See: http://www.n2kh2o.com/

Flat and foldable tableware seems to be popping up in lots of places. Super light and compact for backpacking and travel, but even better, they replace the need for paper plates at the family picnic of campground. Check out http://www.fozzils.com/.

Although very little marketing push currently is behind it, keep an eye on Apexa, a biodegradeable/compostable polymer that can be used to make fabrics, trims, buckles, etc. The end result could be fully compostable garments. Contact ASF Group (http://www.asfgroup.com/) for more information.

And while we are a long way from seeing it widely used in mainstream applications, aerogels, brought to the show by Aspen Aerogels, have the potential to revolutionize lots of product categories in the outdoor market and beyond. See http://www.aerogel.com/

Lastly, our team spotted a mountain bike spinning around the convention center grounds that's built with a carbon fiber and Kevlar spider web-like open lattice tube design. Yes, you can see through the frame. Surely expensive but super cool. http://www.delta7sports.com/

Day Three ...

2008-01-25T14:31:00.001-08:00

Live from the IO booth at about 3:30, day 3.

Traffic is a bit slow this afternoon, although the free beer starts flowing in about 30 minutes, so that will get folks up and moving around, hunting for a complimentary pint.

A few aisles over, the guys at GoPro (www.goprocamera.com) are proving a theory that you can get a crowd to do just about anything for free goodies, including getting the lot to scream at the top of their lungs and chant "GoPro" like freshman at a high school pep rally.

Gotta get back to work ... more to come ....

Day Two ...

2008-01-24T21:15:00.000-08:00

A few awards from the trade show floor:

In the Marketing Will Eat Itself category: we actually overhead a PR type touting an "apres ice climbing" category. As if kicking back with buddies and a flask after ice climbing really requires specialized gear.

In the Who Really Needs This category: Weatherproof Chocolate.

In the Attention-Getting Booth Giveaway category: thermal base layer/performance-enhancing apparel company Skins was giving away free condoms. Have fun explaining that one to the spouse when it falls out of your show bag.

On a more serious note, Gramicci is taking some real strides at applying the KISS factor to purchasing, inventory control and merchandising for its dealers. The concept is not new to retail but rather novel to outdoor. Basically, ordering and replenishment is done based on fixture space and square footage rather than the traditional way of sorting through their lines, picking individual items and quantities. Retailers pick from three pre-configured merchandising programs, utilizing their existing fixtures, order pre-merchandised apparel selections depending on their market and customer demographics and receive pre-merchandized replenishment product at an established interval.

The basic idea is to simplify matters for dealers and help them utilize Gramicci's market intelligence and resources. We'll provide much more detail on the program in the next print issue of Inside Outdoor magazine.

Finally, the now-vacant building across the street from the Salt Palace Convention Center that once housed Club DV8 caught fire and essentially burnt down last night a few hours after the close of the OR show (no injuries were reported). Veteran OR attendees fondly remember Club DV8 for the many industry-hosted parties housed there. The drunken memories live on.

More later ...

Day One from OR

2008-01-23T21:47:00.001-08:00

It's cold outside in SLC ... plenty of warmth and fuzziness, though, on the show floor. Eco-aware is everywhere.

One green story worth mentioning is Fox River's. The company is using friendly fibers in its socks, friendly dies and friendly processes. And they have been green since well before it became the trend. Nice looking new SKUs, too.

Also worth checking out is the Hammerhead sled. A great way to get anyone and everyone out to play on the snow slopes, the super slick snow sled is family friendly, has gotten some juice from a big outdoor pub and play from some major outdoor dealers. Best of all, it looks like a blast to ride. A bit pricey at about $300, but if you have the need for speed, check it out http://www.hammerheadsled.com/.

Some quick figures: 22 business cards picked up; 2 flakes who didn't show up for scheduled meetings; 1 wedding on the show floor; and "35 to 40" convention center staffers on the show floor dispensing free beer and spirits, our sources tell us.

Hopefully a few are slinging free coffee in the morn. See ya tomorrow.

What was that about the death of legacy media?

2008-01-21T09:56:00.000-08:00

Here’s a small reality check courtesy of Media News Daily …

“Being fourth place as a TV network doesn't take away from NBC's financial resiliency. For its calendar year in fourth-quarter 2007, its parent General Electric reported NBC Universal's net profit grew 10% to nearly $1 billion -- $923 million. A year ago, NBC put up profits of $841 million. Revenue rose 8% at NBCU to $4.55 billion

NBC's stable financial gains over the past few periods come from its assortment of cable networks, which witnessed operating profit climb 23% on a revenue increase of 14% this current period. News channels MSNBC and CNBC saw double-digit ratings increases.”

Just Shoo Already

2008-01-12T10:19:00.001-08:00

Proof that user-generated content and video sharing have "jumped the shark," so to speak, next month will see the unveiling of ShoeTube.tv, "the destination on the Web where women will gather to share their passion for shoes."

Uh, just because the name rhymes with YouTube doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Retailer or Media Company?

2008-01-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

The clips we saw weren't so incredibly interesting (maybe more so to kids) but the recent launch of a "dedicated media channel" called 77e by retailer American Eagle points to some key trends involving retailers use of media and video, beyond traditional TV spots, and the dramatic shifts taking place in how brands engage customers, particularly younger customers.

Here it is: Link

Home Office for the Holidays

2007-12-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

Cursing your scrooge of a boss because you have to work over the holidays? Well, rest assured, you are not the only one forced to focus through a holiday hangover.

According to an online survey by conferencing technology provider InterCall, even if employees get out of the office this week, most of them will be taking work with them, with 74 percent of respondents planning to work during the holidays.

Not that workers will be tied to their desk; it’s more about taking work where ever they go (ah, the blessings of technology). The survey examined where Americans will be working from during the holiday, shedding some light on our sometimes sad need to squeeze work into every "free" moment.

-- 85% will use their home office;
-- 24% will work at a family member's home;
-- 18% ignore travel delays at the airport by working;
-- 17% report working while shopping and running errands;
-- 15% work while they're vacationing at a resort or hotel;
-- 6% plan to work in bed;
-- 2% work while working out at the gym; and
-- 2% are working instead of mingling at holiday parties

Liquor on the Front End

2007-12-19T07:08:00.000-08:00

Drinking alcohol has long been rumored to cure the common cold. While there is no scientific evidence to substantiate these claims (usually made by folks who cite Jack Daniels as ubiquitous cure-all), research has shown that alcohol consumption can help ward off a cold prior to infection.

Two large studies have found that although moderate drinking will not cure colds, it can help keep them at bay. One, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon in 1993, looked at 391 adults and found that resistance to colds increased with moderate drinking, except in smokers.
Then, in 2002, researchers in Spain followed 4,300 healthy adults, examining their habits and susceptibility to colds. The study, in The American Journal of Epidemiology, found no relationship between the incidence of colds and consumption of beer, spirits, Vitamin C or zinc. But drinking 8 to 14 glasses of wine per week, particularly red wine, was linked to as much as a 60 percent reduction in the risk of developing a cold. The scientists suspected this had something to do with the antioxidant properties of wine.

So as you trudge through the holiday party circuit and inevitably find yourself putting egg nogg and assorted spirits to lips, feel good that you are doing your immune system a favor. Though, in the morning, your head may disagree.

The 'Snow Miser' Touches AZ

2007-12-14T09:46:00.000-08:00

Though it's a just small, National Forest ski area, this is the earliest this long-time Phoenix desert dweller can remember for the Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff to open. Yes, the lifts are operating up near the San Francisco Peaks in what hopefully is a sign of a great ski year for the West and the rest of the country.

"What a beautiful sight," says a Snowbowl staffer.

"See you up there this weekend," replies this Off the Grid poster.

Cultural Trends for 2008

2007-12-13T12:57:00.001-08:00

While we're on the topic of lists and things to come in 2008 … cultural trend “experts” Iconoculture has unveiled its perspective of the top eight cultural trends that will drive consumer behavior in 2008. While most of items on the list illicit more of a “duh” than an a “hmm,” there are a few interesting tidbits and one or two thoughts that are germane to our little world.

The eight major trends identified by Iconoculture's “Consumer Strategists,” complete with subtle sales pitches, include:

TREND I: Group Solving - From the subprime mortgage meltdown, to the health insurance conundrum, consumers are facing intense personal financial crises in the coming year. There is an emergent cultural desire - even a demand - from consumers for companies and government agencies to intervene and help solve problems on a group level.

TREND II: Experts 2.0 - Consumers today are saturated with user-generated content and information from a million (sometimes dubious) sources. This year looks for the return of the expert. Companies that can reestablish credentials with consumers looking for credible, reliable sources of information will benefit.

TREND III: Dislocation! - Consumer technology is at a deflection point, where mobile phones, PDAs, BlackBerrys and iPods are ubiquitous. In 2008, it will be all about instant mobile access for the consumer. Look for "virtual storage lockers" to catch on big time.

TREND IV: That's What Friends are For - Social networking was one of the biggest mainstream media stories of 2007, and businesses have been pushing to get more information on how to maximize effectiveness of these networks. As these networks mature, Iconoculture is seeing shifts in how people relate with their networks, both social and professional and will help organizations understand these changes.

TREND V: A New Afroholistic Age - This year the African American consumer is moving toward a more holistic self-identity that is less encumbered by community traditions and expectations. Iconoculture is observing how black consumers who are breaking more barriers and stereotypes than ever before are transforming market opportunities.

TREND VI: The New Propriety - Retro-chic goes mainstream with a return to traditional manners -- from formal dinner parties to handwritten invitations, door-opening and umbrella-sharing--and is part of the transforming social environment. With a resurgence in interest in alternative medicine, traditional forms of education, and more restrictive child protection measures, Iconoculture is looking at how this amplification of traditional values will affect corporate marketing plans.

TREND VII: Beyond Green- With all the labels and info -- organic, GMO free, Sustainable, All-Natural, carbon neutral, etc -- how is a consumer to know if he/she's really green enough? Consumers in 2008 will begin to abandon the complicated calculus of what's green and what isn't, and they'll begin to embrace their own definition of what's ethical. This represents an important shift away from feelings of guilt to feelings of passion and proactivity (sic).

TREND VIII: Latino Media Explosion- In 2008 in the Latino consumer space, global and national companies will increasingly create, produce and distribute media vehicles - magazines, radio and TV shows, Internet sites and email newsletters, direct mail and events. These media vehicles will go beyond promoting corporate brand offerings to directly connect with and improve everyday Latino lives.

2008: The Year of the Beast of Burden

2007-12-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Goal-setting Web site myGoals.com has released its annual predictions for the top 2008 New Year's Resolutions, based on the current year's third quarter goal-setting activity seen on the site. The top predictions largely remain unchanged from last year (with weight loss still topping the list) sans one exception.

"In 2008, we expect people to focus a lot of time and energy improving their careers and getting out of debt," said Greg Helmstetter, CEO of myGoals.com. Indeed, “career-related” goals are expected to comprise 21% of all New Year's resolutions, up from just 12% last year, says Helmstetter.

C’mon people, that doesn’t sound like a very fun 2008. Didn’t we learn anything from the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens?

My Avatar Hates Big Box Shopping Too

2007-11-30T06:50:00.000-08:00

Gadget retail Brookstone this week unveiled what is billed as the first 3D E-commerce sight. The "immersive online shopping" experience melds all the speed and convenience of the Internet with all the frustration, time-waste and annoyance of not being able to locate the one item you want inside an over-sized superstore.

Check it out it here: Link

Chick's with Dick's

2007-11-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

Normally, we don't cover straight news stories, such as the announcement that Dick's Sporting Goods will be purchasing SoCal's Chick's Sporting Goods. But we simply couldn't resist this headline.

Cut Off at the Grass Roots

2007-11-21T09:17:00.000-08:00

Montrail-Nathan says goodbye to sponsored ultrarunning team.

Hey, at least it lasted nearly two years under the Columbia Sportswear umbrella.

Link to Scott Dunlap's Blog

Is 'Lefteous' Really Different than Righteous?

2007-11-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

What marketing monster have we created? Link to Marketing Daily

We Don't Smell the Seaweed

2007-11-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

In another example of why you "'can't believe the hype":

Lululemon Athletica has been making claims that its VitaSea yoga and fitness clothing, made from seaweed fiber supplied by a company called SeaCell, reduces stress and provides anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hydrating and detoxifying benefits. The fabric, according to Lululemom hang tags, “releases marine amino acids, minerals and vitamins into the skin upon contact with moisture.”

Sounds like a great way to market high-end yoga gear. The problem: lab tests commissioned by the New York Times found "there was no significant difference in mineral levels between the VitaSea fabric and cotton T-shirts," says the Times. "In other words, the labs found no evidence of seaweed in the Lululemon clothing. "

Some snippets from the article suggest a tangled web has been weaved:

The Times commissioned its test after an investor who is shorting Lululemon’s stock — betting that its price will fall — provided Chemir’s (Analytical Services) test results to The Times.

SeaCell is owned by a German company called Smartfiber. Smartfiber provides scientific documents on its Web site about the effects of the SeaCell fibers, but it also says on its site that SeaCell assumes no liability for that information’s accuracy.

When told about the findings, Lululemon’s founder said he could not dispute them.
“If you actually put it on and wear it, it is different from cotton,” said Dennis Wilson, Lululemon’s founder, chief product designer and board chairman. “That’s my only test of it.”

Here's a link to the full Times piece

Following Patagonia's Footprints

2007-11-09T10:46:00.000-08:00

We know that Patagonia's unveiling of 'The Footprint Chronicles' Web site is likely to get plenty of attention from mainstream media and blogmongers alike, but after our very own E-Dog gave the site a thumbs up, we figured Patagonia deserved all the attention (and links) it could get.

"Those guys are pretty impressive," says E.

Check it out: The Footprint Chronicles

A Sadomasochistic X-Mas?

2007-11-07T07:33:00.000-08:00

Looking for some fresh ideas for the tots on your holiday gift list? How about a game that physically shocks the hands and bodies of the losing contestants? Check out these actual pages from toy catalog Spilsbury.

Just what we need ... potentially defective toys and games from China that send electrical volts into our bodies for a laugh.

HoHoHo

Bear or Bigfoot?

2007-11-02T11:45:00.001-07:00

Hunter Rick Jacobs says he got this pictures from a camera with an automatic trigger that he fastened to a tree in the Allegheny National Forest, about 115 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, hoping to photograph deer. Unsure what the heck this critter was, Jacobs contacted the Bigfoot Research Organization.

"It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch," says Paul Majeta of the Bigfoot group
.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has a more conventional opinion of the picture: a bear with a bad skin condition. "There is no question it is a bear with a severe case of mange," says Jerry Feaser, agency spokesperson.

So, you decide: Bigfoot or an itchy Bear? Personally, we prefer the Sasquatch theory.

Gluttons for Rewards

2007-10-29T13:09:00.002-07:00

Is there any real surprise that we have a problem with obesity in this country? Not only are we encouraged to overeat (and eat a bunch of packaged crap) with every trip to a restaurant or grocery store, but stuffing your innards beyond anything the human body ever was designed for is a full-blown spectator sport.

In the latest “competitive eating contest,” held this past weekend, Joey Chestnut, 23, of San Jose, Calif, swallowed 103 small hamburgers in 8 minutes to take home $10,000 in cash. He surpassed the previous record of 97 Krystal burgers — grilled 2.5-inch square patties (see clip below) — formerly held by Japan's Takeru Kobayashi.

"We never thought we'd see someone anywhere near, let alone past, the century mark when we started the Krystal Square Off in 2004," said Brad Wahl, Krystal Co. VP.

Even harder to believe is the fact that people actually filled up bleachers to watch someone gorge themselves, as did TV crews from ESPN.

Now, we know pie eating contests at the country fair are a long strand of the American fabric. But there is a huge difference between a local mayor or high school football player eating a few pies to raise money for charity and a professional circuit on which "athletes" shake and sweat to essentially do nothing more than work up the largest turds known to man.

Don’t get us wrong, we love fun and games, but outright gluttony should not be a career move. What’s next, contests to see who can sloth around a couch for the longest time … extra points for the biggest dent in the cushion?

It all reeks of the barf-orium parties of ancient Rome. And we know what happened to the great Roman Empire.

Krystal Burger

2007-10-29T13:09:00.001-07:00

Don’t Forget, Money Also Is Green

2007-10-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

Earth-friendly power has not proven exempt to the conventional rules of supply and demand. The prices of generic renewable energy credits, or RECs, has risen about 35 percent this year, while the cost of certifiable credits has nearly doubled, according the Cadence Networks.

The promise of state mandates that will require corporate purchase of RECs, intense media coverage and nationwide interest in green initiatives are driving the demand, and hence the higher prices, says Christian Blattenberger a certified sustainable development professional for Cadence Networks.

The thing is, we’d expect REC prices to decline as volumes ramp up. After all, moving markets according to the rules of demand and pricing elasticity tend to come into play when profit margin is the prime desire, not a healthier planet.

Consider for example green power pricing in the earlier part of this decade, before all the mainstream attention. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the average price premium charged for green power through green pricing programs continued to decline through 2006, falling to 2.12¢/kWh from 2.36¢/kWh in 2005, and 2.45¢/kWh in 2004. Since 2000, the premium has declined at an annual average rate of more than 8 percent, until this year, that is.

Through 2006, prices were driven down by higher fossil fuel costs or because providers were able to enter into more favorable contracts for renewable energy supplies. So how has that changed now?

Maybe we’re missing something here, and we intend to find out, but something smells fishy nonetheless.

This makes my bones hurt …

2007-10-20T08:47:00.001-07:00

Here’s what we all have to look forward to, courtesy of the LA Times and the Center for Disease Control. It’s the percentage breakdown of those who say they get no leisure-time physical activity. Actually, it’s rather encouraging how a real increase doesn’t show up until after age 75.

Age 18-29: 19%
Age 30-44: 22%
Age 45-64: 25%
Age 65-74: 28%
Age 75 and older: 36%

Dag, my flip flops are the reason I didn’t win the Chicago Marathon

2007-10-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

Don’t think that’s a legitimate excuse? Well, the folks at PêcheBlu would back me up. You see, “regular flip flops,” which many athletes wear off the field, make the feet “work harder to re-grip the soles with every step,” says the company, leading to “foot fatigue.” And tired feet “put skilled athletes at a competitive advantage,” say the marketing wizards at PêcheBlu.

After all, “A tenth of a second can mean the difference between first and last place,” says the company. Well, maybe that’s true if there are only two people racing.

PêcheBlu certainly is not the first company to incorporate form-fitting, performance designs and comfort into a flip flop, as the company suggests, but it’s the first time we’ve seen après footwear sold as a performance enhancer. Nice run.

Beginning to Smell a Lot Like Christmas

2007-10-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Holiday sales before Thanksgiving can be a little annoying, but if consumers get a whiff of holiday sales weeks before Halloween, Yule logs won’t be the only things burnt out this December. Still, that’s exactly what some major chains are doing, according to a recent story in the New York Times.

“Shattering records for an early start, Wal-Mart is cutting prices on toys in mid-October, but the company is not calling it a holiday sale. L. L. Bean has started advertising free shipping — but it is shying away from the H word. And Toys “R” Us is marketing a temporary store in Manhattan, but consumers have to study ads to find the name: Holiday Express,” according to the Times.

Wal-Mart Left Holding Green Bag

2007-10-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart Stores this week introduced a recycled, reusable, washable shopping sack to help reduce waste generated from plastic shopping bags. The sacks will appear in stores on the West Coast this week, and will roll through the country eastward throughout the month.

Made from 85 percent recycled materials, the bags carry as much as two to three plastic sacks. Consumers can purchase the bags at the checkout aisle for $1 each. When they have worn thin, they can be returned for recycling.The bags are part of Wal-Mart's sustainability program, which was created to help improve its reputation as a corporate giant often criticized by labor unions and special interest groups, says Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. Of course, Scott also adds that the efforts have not been done "as a marketing ploy."

So Scott is telling us the program was created to improve Wal-Mart’s reputation but is not a marketing ploy. Hmm? Either way, Wal-Mart deserves some credit here.

In Honor of Al's Nobel

2007-10-12T15:19:00.001-07:00

A Sporting Chance?

2007-10-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

There may be some evidence that the merchandise selection, shopping experience, overall value and customer service provided by specialty retailers is gaining appeal among consumers, says analyst-types at Gluskin Townley Group and BIGresearch. Compared to a year ago (August 2007 versus August 2006), major discounters like Wal-Mart and Kmart lost ground while major sporting goods chain increased their share of store shopped at most often for sports gear.

Wal-Mart remains the mass merchant most often shopped by sporting goods consumers, but fewer consumers made this choice this year compared to last year, 13.1% versus 14.9%.Dick’s

Sporting Goods, while still lacking stores in all 50 states, has gained substantially on Wal-Mart, increasing its store shopped at most often share to 9.3% versus 6.8% in August 2006. Dick’s is now within 3 points of overtaking the world’s largest retailer as the sporting goods retailer of choice among U.S. sporting goods consumers.

Here's Lead in Your Face

2007-10-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

So, China-made products containing dangerous levels of lead paint are being recalled left and right, but for some reason U.S. toy maker Mattel felt compelled to apologize to officials in China over the recent toy recall.

"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys," said Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, speaking to China's product safety chief, Li Changjang, with reporters and company lawyers looking on.

Of course, many of Mattel's recalls were due to design flaws that had nothing to do with their suppliers and foreign factories. But it still seems strange that Mattel felt compelled to apologive to Chinese officials essentially because Mattel's problems were compounded by the use of illegal lead paint, usage that clearly is not limited to Mattel's suppliers.

Mattel clearly is concerned about backlash from the Chinese government and the possibility of more taxes and regulations that could stem from the embarrasment. Still, it's a bit worrisome when suppliers/manufacturers yield so much control over their customers' business.

Barbies dolls pay the ultimate price for containing lead paint. Onion.com

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/chinese_authorities_execute_10

Lessons from Obvious State U

2007-09-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

The folks at BIG Research have pulled together mounds of survey data, quantitative calculations and their greater intelligence to create demographic profiles of who they expect to be the “big spenders” (those who will spend more this year) and who will be the “penny pinchers” (those who will spend less) this upcoming holiday season.

So with the objective of helping you quickly identify which customers you want to spend time helping and which ones you can let stand, confusingly staring at the discount rack, for hours on end, we have poured over the BIG Research findings and cross-referenced them with the latest visual search and face recognition technology to create these full-color images that physically depict what BIG Research uncovered. Below are compiled renderings representing the demographic profiles first of BIG’s “big spenders” and second of BIG’s “penny pinchers.”

Don't say we've never helped ya.

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(Male, age 37.3, income: $63,000)

(Female, age 46, income: $54,000)

Plug and Play

2007-09-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Good news for those hoping for a greener world: Harris Interactive recently completed a poll of around 10,000 American consumers and found that as much as 27 percent of U.S. vehicle owners say they are likely, very likely or extremely likely to include plug-in hybrid engine technology in their next vehicle purchase.

Now, a quarter of respondents may not sound like enough to get all excited about, but consider that plug-in hybrids, designed to run entirely on electricity, at least for short trips at lower velocities, have never been available in the U.S. market in notable volume, except for General Motors' brief experiment with its late 1990s EV1 car.

History also has shown that consumers tend to underestimate their usage and adoption of products and technologies that they haven’t seen or know little about, and the same survey found that only a similar 23 percent of respondents said they were either extremely (3 percent), very (6 percent) or just familiar (14 percent) with the nuts and bolts of plug-in hybrid power.

"Once we explained the technology, 52 percent said that they would be much more likely to include it on their next vehicle,” says Stephen Lovett, Harris director. Likelihood dropped a bit, however, once people were told there would be a premium price for a clean mobile.

And the enthusiasm around plug-ins may be more self-centered than driven by concerns for a healthier planet. In other words, saving money on gas may be more important than saving the planet, as the strongest interest came from respondents who own a compact SUV, of whom 45 percent said they were likely to purchase a plug-in hybrid for their next vehicle, versus 31 percent of owners of more fuel-efficient compact cars.

But hey, whatever works, right? Also encouraging, among those who say there were least likely to include plug-in hybrid vehicles on their shopping lists, 84 percent did say they would prefer plugging in to filling up at the gas station, says Harris.

Inventory Risk Shifting to Vendors

2007-09-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

Historically, retailers put in purchase orders with their vendors and were contractual committed to the delivery of a set amount of merchandise at a specific time. But nearly all big chains now are giving their suppliers “forecasts” of their estimated requirements that carry no obligation for the retailer to purchase the goods once they are ready, says Stevan Buxbaum, of consultant firm Buxbaum Group.

"With nothing but a forecast in place, it's not uncommon for a retailer to buy only a fraction of what the manufacture produced or to stretch out deliveries over a much longer period of time, and the manufacturer doesn't have a leg to stand on," said Buxbaum.

The problem is especially acute in apparel. "In many cases, those goods carry the retailer's private label, and the chain is not going to want them in circulation," Buxbaum says. "That creates issues.”

The move to the forecast approach also puts some stress on the manufacturers’ secured lenders. "They are lending against this merchandise, but there is no guarantee that the purchaser will take it.”

So far, the practice is limited to the major retail chains, and few outdoor dealers carry the kind of clout required to get forecast terms from their vendors. But the report from Buxbaum is a reminder that “merchandise” and “inventory” do not equal “asset,” at least not until one is able to sell it.

It also reignites the question of who ultimately has the clout. Or better yet, who owns the customer. The retailer who faces the customer or the brand/SKU they came to the store to buy?