John Winsor

Quote of the Day

"G.M. has backed away from defining moments for generations. And now somebody there has finally said, "We have to do this because it's a new era."

- James P. Womack, author, The Machine That Changed the World

Phoenix Brands

What makes a brand become popular again? Is it a group of mavericks that rediscover and reapropriate a brand from days gone by or something else? Lately, I’ve rediscovered such a brand, The North Face. By the time I started to get into climbing The North Face had already sold out to those of us at the core of the market. We thought there were just too many posers wearing the brand. From posers the brand then became hot in the urban market. It looked like TNF would be another washed up brand that chased the mass market. Being in the outdoor business, the business story of TNF was just as circuitous, jumping from owner to owner all wanting to grow revenue any way possible.

As a board member of both the American Mountain Guides Association and Black Diamond Equipment I’ve had the good fortune of staying in the loop of what people talk about when it comes to the best gear. In the last six months, The North Face is a brand that is a part of that conversation.

How did this happen?

With all of the effort put into chasing the masses it still anchored itself in the outdoor business by attending the Outdoor Retailer show, when most big brands were walking away, and continued the dialogue with the core market. TNF also stayed committed to its team of outdoor athletes, supporting their adventures, and using their stories to stay connected.

The North Face is getting the opportunity to have it’s cake and eat it too by staying connected to the authenticity of the core market and using it to inspire the rest of their customers.

The Power of Video

It's always cool to tap into Josh Spear's head to see what's going on at the leading edge of culture. Yesterday, his post about Holden was intriguing. But after checking out the Holden site I was blown away with the engaging use of video. The site is alive and addictive.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

Gregg Bergan just sent me a link to Pure's new blog Pure Thinking. I especially liked the post entitled, Nike: When Advertising Becomes Identity.

Welcome to the blogosphere.

The Difference Between “Fun” and “Super Fun”

(Editor's note: As I've mentioned, I've invited a few friends that have interesting insights to write posts from time to time. Alex Bogusky was kind enough to kick things off.)

John Winsor is a lunatic. And I first got to know John right here on this blog. We had traded some e-mails when I first moved to Boulder, and then I started visiting the blog to see where his head was at. But this blog doesn’t tell the whole story – the story of a deeply disturbed man.

While his ideas and his appreciation of marketing are very much aligned with my own, his tastes in outdoor pursuits veer into the lunatic fringe. Very early on in my travels through Boulder complete strangers would warn me about him. Everybody knows him here. And pretty much everybody has had some near death experience hanging out with him. So the attitude is always the same, "Oh, you’re hanging out with John? Just be careful." Or as John himself would advise, "Pay attention."

There is another phrase that John will use to describe some adventure he thinks you should join him on. "Super fun." I recommend to anybody who hears this phrase, "super fun," from John to strongly consider declining because it means you can die doing whatever it is he has planned. So, super fun=you might die. As in: falling off a cliff, hypothermia, frostbite, heat stroke, starving to death, lost in the wilderness.

Yet even given all that, and probably because of all that, he’s a lot of fun to hang out with and shoot the shit with. Recently, John and his merry team of research fanatics have joined us at CPB. The results have been better than I ever hoped for. A collision of minds and philosophies that has made everybody better.

The whole deal has made life and work around here "super fun."

- Alex Bogusky

Feeling Goofy

Man, time flies. My six year old son, Harry, started siging a familiar tune with a new ending, "la, la, la, la, la, la, la feeling goofy." When I mentioned that the ending was, "feeling groovy." Harry asked, "Dad, what's groovy."

While I didn't grow up in the 60's and didn't really know know what "feeling groovy" was all about. Yet, it still had relevance.

It's amazing how fast our language changes and, with it, culture disappears. Whether he understands it or not Harry's pretty groovy.

Ikea Hacking

Penelope Green penned a wonderful article in The New York Times last week entitled, Romancing the Flat Pack: Ikea, Repurposed investigating a global tribe of people that are using Ikea as a platform for creating their own furniture. She mentions Mei Mei Yap how writes the blog, Ikeahacker.blogspot.com, which is a great place to check out this community.

In an effort to make things there own, people want to have access to their favorite brand’s building blocks. As I’ve mentioned before, this trend of User Generated Products or Brand Hacking is only sure to gain momentum. Are you ready? How can people access your building blocks?

Radar Love

Thanks to Kamau High for a fun conversation that appeared in AdWeek this week.

Does Neuromarketing Work?

Check out Mark Earls' take on Mya Frazier's article in Ad Age entitled, Hidden Persuasion or Junk Science?, in which I was interviewed. Here's an exerpt:

Indeed, in the view of some neuroscientists and marketing researchers, the notion that the human brain should be studied in isolation is deeply flawed to begin with. Measuring the brain's reaction to a TV spot simply does not provide enough data to extrapolate future behavior. Studying how a person interacts within the larger culture is far more important.

'There are many other constraints outside the brain that make us act the way we do,' said John Winsor, VP-director of the cognitive and cultural radar department in Crispin Porter & Bogusky's Boulder, Colo., office.

For example, does it make a difference if a test subject's brain lights up while viewing a Hummer ad in Boulder, where 'you feel guilty if you don't drive a Prius, or where my parents live, in Cody, Wyo., where the norm is to drive a pickup truck?'

'There are other factors that control how we are going to interact, and culture is a big one,' he added.

Mark and I usually agree. Be sure to read his blog. He's always has something interesting to say. I can harldy wait to check out his new book, Herd.

Vancouver

For some reason in all of my travels, I’ve missed going to Vancouver. That ended this weekend. What a great city! The most interesting thing I saw was the sheer number of Help Wanted signs like this one advertising a Job Fair sign at Whole Foods.

Vancouver is a great city, and just like great brands, people want to be connected with it.