Chris Harges's Page

REI's most recent marketing email tries hard to fill the void between back-to-school and holiday shopping. Too early for winter sports and too late for summer camping gear, October is not a great month for hard goods. To drum up excitement, the retailer has landed on one of my favorite come-ons, the create-a-category marketing initiative. This season's newest category: the three-and-a-half-season tent. Here's the blurb f… Continue

There are a few perks for outdoor industry types. Pro deals. Bringing your dog to work. And making fun of mainstream marketers' horribly misinformed use of outdoor imagery. A perennial classic is the motivational poster. So, when I saw the new MasterCard ad in the back of this week’s New Yorker, I was ready for… Continue

Promo magazine reports on a Jupiter Research study on the intersection of American teens' concern for the environment and their use of the internet. Interesting tidbits include:

• 38% of teens are concerned about the environment.
  


• 15% consider themselves hardcore environmentalists.
  


• Green Teens skew slightly female.
  


• They're more likely than t

… Continue

There’s an article in this month’s Harvard Business Review on the widespread environmental degradation of China and the impact it may have on American companies who do business there. The piece, Scorched Earth: Will Environmental Risks in China Overwhelm Its Opportunities?, is worth a read, maybe even the price of a subscription for brands heavily dependent on Chinese factories.



Basically, the authors’ take is based on the shrewd a… Continue

Big retailers have learned that positioning themselves as an information resource is good for business. Helping consumers understand the products they carry and how to use them builds customer loyalty, keeps the retailer top-of-mind and often makes their store the first stop in a consumer's quest to buy new gear.



Budgets and economies of scale allow larger retailers to create extensive consumer education content. REI produces dozens of fact sheets that consumers can access in store wh… Continue