The Email Wars

Sure put out an offer, make a price deal, throw in a photo and you have a campaign. Pure Genius… in 2003. But look we are in another time and place now. You might still have the mindset to build launch and blast (sorry for that last one) but your customer is looking for more. Some old skoolers out there with heavy DM background like to argue this and try to stir the pot of the informed by saying it is a numbers game. Sure I won’t argue the numbers game but I will argue to my last breath that if you are not connecting you are not going to meet your goals not matter what they might be.

This example of the new Columbia Sportswear digital strategy reflects this (sure our old Art Director is over there now and took some awesome learning with him – plus they assembled a ROCK STAR team) change in selling.

Rule One: I am here for the product.
Rule Two if I would wear your logo then you are a “Prom King” brand and people love not only your wares but your lifestyle and include you as part of their lives where your wares intersect what they do.
Rule Three: You owe them a relationship – they give you their hard earned money and in this new media world want to participate with you past just throwing on a new super wicking light weight fleece.

What are they doing?
One – They are selling the product – using my favorite trick of Men/Women’s as the selectors in the hero shot area. Why do I love this (As well as for sizes) well it allows you to build a better (often more relevant) profile based on action and not with another damn form.

Two: Notice the big central Welcome Message. This is the first “Newsletter” I have seen after the new ecommerce site launch and saying this is it is a great idea.

Three: Don’t forget you have physical stores where sales still happen. So often we don’t see the emphasis of the ecommerce team driving people offline. Don’t neglect the IRL or the Channel.

Four: Contesting and Social Media – What? Me friends with Columbia on Facebook? Seems odd sometimes when I think about it, but it is a lifestyle brand and they make the case for it with view/vote in videos as well as making sure to now be in the content and UGC creation business. Did we all open a whole new can of worms with this? Or have we solved one of the most problematic issues of marketing/advertising and this damn interweb… content.

I am interested to see how this continues to roll out as the layout really is well balanced following many of the rules of email that I often espouse.

Columbia… props and keep it up.