Backcountry Marketing

Nick Symmonds is a two-time Olympian turned YouTuber and entrepreneur, hitting over 1 million subscribers. Nick is also a mountain climber, already hitting 44 out of 50 state high points and 2 of the 7 summits. In this episode, you'll learn: - how to get started on YouTube - how brands can win on YouTube - how to create engaging content - what challenges we'll see on YouTube in the future You can...

Brock Ellis is the Creative Director at Mountain Equipment Company, managing all campaign outputs from the creative team, working directly with the Brand Director and VP of Marketing. Brock joins Cole on the show to discuss what happens when a rebrand goes wrong. On this episode, you'll learn: - what goes into rebranding - what happens when the rebrand goes wrong / the loss of brand support - how...

Patrick Finnegan is the current VP/Account Director at Swanson Russell, a brand and product marketing agency. He focuses on long-term strategy and planning, as well as new business development for brands. In this discussion between Cole and Patrick, you'll learn about: - the three types of consumer attention and how to capture them - building narratives that actually make sense for consumers - nur...

What is brand maturity and how do you achieve it? Jonathan McKenzie, co-founder of Turtlebox Audio, joins us to teach us exactly that. Jonathan joins Cole to chat about the importance of brand maturity, his journey as a co-founder, and how to keep scaling while staying true to your brand's values. On this episode, you'll learn: - the definition of brand maturity - how to get your brand to the matu...

How does a brand go from a local, small start-up to being one of the biggest brands in their category within just a few years? Athletic Brewing's CMO, Andrew Katz, is here to tell us how. In this episode, you'll learn: - the importance of the pursuit of progress - how to build true loyalty with customers - the way to grow a brand into a household name - what digital opportunities brands have to bu...

Do you struggle to create content that really resonates with your audience? Are you frustrated by shorter attention spans? On this episode, Cole sits down with John Peabody to talk about how to beat the attention economy and create GOOD content that matters.   On this episode, you'll learn: - how to beat the attention economy - how to make the case for REALLY good content - what content consumers...

Jon Bausman has 16 years of marketing experience, both in the outdoor industry and out. His roles have focused on P&L accountability, leading a team, growth marketing, and developing and scaling brands. Jon sits down with Cole to discuss how to scale a brand in 2023 and beyond, challenging the status quo, and content strategy tactics. You can catch up with Jon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...

As he describes himself, Sam Van Boxtel is "just a climber obsessed with social media." Well, he's much more than that. Sam is a climber and entrepreneur based in Vancouver, Washington. He and his team make up Climbers Crag, the climbing industry's leading social media agency. In this episode, Cole and Sam discuss the most common mistakes outdoor brands make on social media, the value of social in...

Davide Giardini is originally from Lake Garda, Italy, a multisport heaven for cycling, skiing, wind sports, and climbing in the heart of the Italian Alps. He moved to the USA over 15 years ago as a foreign exchange high school student and has been in the country ever since. While competing at the highest level of sport, Davide has always maintained a foot on the "other side" of the business sports...

Amanda Smith is the founder and owner of the agency, Monday Creative. Amanda started her career as a writer/editor, then went down the path of brand strategist, eventually ending up running her own agency. Amanda joins Cole to discuss product sustainability, circularity, regenerative capitalism, as well as overall brand strategy and voice. You can catch up with Amanda here: - Instagram: https://ww...

I finally made it to a trade show! SHOT Show ended last week and what a show it was. SHOT Show is a hunting, firearm, and general outdoor show in Las Vegas. For two days, I wandered around the floor and asked folks what their thoughts were on the future of the industry based on what they had observed at SHOT. I chatted with folks from Outdoor Research, RealTree, ExpertVoice, Carbon TV, and many ot...

This month, we're featuring conversations with leaders who inspire us to lead better teams in the new year. In this episode, Cole sits down with David Russo, VP of Sales and Marketing in North America at Mammut. David shares his perspective on how to build a team, what it takes to be a good leader, the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) over IQ, and asking questions and being curious. If yo...

This month, we're featuring conversations with leaders who inspire us to lead better teams in the new year. In this episode, Cole sits down with Ryan Coulter, founder and Chief Creative Officer at the James Brand, a company that makes knives and tools for people who live adventurously. Before founding the James Brand, Ryan spent time at companies like Burton and Nike, amongst others.   Ryan and Co...

Liv Faris started her career in print journalism and then transitioned to broadcast journalism. Eventually, she moved to work at an agency doing a little bit of everything. She has since worked internally at Expedia, and now at Brooks. In her current role, she leads the content production team in Brooks' internal creative studio/agency. In this episode, Cole and Liv discuss when to bring your cont...

Hey Backcountry Marketing family, thank you for making 2022 our best year yet on the podcast. We've got a lot of exciting things in development in 2023 but we're excited to announce that we're launching a video version of the show on YouTube! Head over to our YouTube Channel and hit that subscribe button.   We hope everyone has a great holiday season and look forward to bringing you new conversati...

Adam Cramer is the founder and CEO of the Outdoor Alliance. At the Outdoor Alliance, they mobilize the power of outdoor enthusiasts to protect public lands and waters. As Adam calls it, "conservation powered by outdoor recreation, so to speak." In this episode, Adam and Cole chat about inciting change, the importance of storytelling in conservation, and how to join the fight for conservation as a...

Tom Moreno started his career in retail at Helly Hansen before joining evo's first-ever retail store. After 13 years there, he took a chance on a startup called Awayco - trying to offer an alternative to purchasing by connecting consumers with demo/rental products in shops across the globe in Surf, Snow, and Bike. Tom eventually landed at Salomon's North America office in November of 2020 where he...

On this episode of the show, we have two guests! Alex Willie and Becky Lyttle from ExpertVoice join us to tell us how to build loyal and true fans, the importance of brand advocacy, and building your brand community. Alex is a former professional mountain biker turned marketing pro. After his cycling career, he started his career in marketing and eventually landed at ExpertVoice, managing current...

David Meredith is the Dirt Marketing Manager for Full Speed Ahead and has been in the bike industry for years, including racing, owning a retail shop, and operating his own international bicycle brand. David comes on the show to share his experience in the bike industry, but also, to share his experience being a human pre-diagnosed with CTE, Stage 4. In this episode, David and Cole discuss: What C...

Kris Hampton (he/him) is a former mural painter and rapper, currently a climbing coach and outdoor industry podcaster who has modeled his business after what he understood - independent hip-hop labels. In this episode, Kris and Cole discuss: - the importance of creativity for creativity's sake - breaking the rules and bucking the trends - why long-form content wins - the state of outdoor podcastin...

Dax Myers has worked in ski travel for over a decade. When COVID shut down travel in 2020, he was laid off right as I started grad school. He used that time to make a big huge pivot into the product side of the outdoor industry. His current role entails handling all of the marketing efforts and strategy for mountainFLOW. In this episode, Cole and Dax discuss: - mountainFLOW's background - Balancin...

Stephen (Stix) Nilsen is the Vice President of Cult Indoctrination at Liquid Death. If you haven't heard of Liquid Death they've recently taken the world by storm and have shocked many with their polarizing, yet creative approach to advertising. Taking his talents from Pabst and Red Bull, Stix has been tasked with getting cans in hands the only way he knows how. In this episode, Cole and Stix disc...

Chris King is the Brand Director at Outdoor Research. He's had many different roles in his career, from marketing manager at a finance company to starting his own production company to creative director at an ad agency. And now, he's landed at Outdoor Research, which he says is his dream job. In this episode, Cole and Chris discuss: - brand awareness - what even IS a content strategy? - content me...

Ariel Macrae is the Marketing & Social Media Manager for Outside Inc. She has spent over ten years in the outdoor industry, in both service and product marketing roles. She started her career working for ski resorts with a big focus on season pass marketing strategies, transitioned into freelance helping startup outdoor product brands, then started working for ROAM Media 2 years ago. ROAM Media wa...

Graeme Meiklejohn has done the freelancer sandwich - a couple of years after university as a freelancer, then 5 years at Origin Outside as their lead cinematographer, and now back to full-time freelance. In this episode, Cole and Graeme discuss: the changing production landscape how tech is changing client needs creative for smaller brands gear evolution in production and much more! Catch up with...