Outdoor: Did you hear?…Horny Toad launches Wear It and See Guarantee program, plus Teva, Columbia, Merrell, Roswell Brayton Sr., Hooked on the Outdoors, Dick's, Isis, ispo, Timberland

For the weeks of Nov. 22-Dec. 5

>> Advertising Age magazine named Merrell as one of its 2005 “Marketing 50” winners, which recognizes 50 top brands for their consumer appeal and marketing excellence in product design and development, research, retail partnerships and media strategy. In recognizing Merrell, Advertising Age cited the exceptional and consistent growth of the brand since its acquisition by Wolverine World Wide in 1997. Specifically, it noted the success of Merrell’s “store-within-a-store” marketing program, which has helped to fuel sales increases of 80 percent to 300 percent in 156 stores in which the dedicated Merrell shop areas have been implemented. This year’s winners were announced in the Nov. 7 issue.

>> Roswell Brayton Sr., president of Woolrich from 1968 to 1985, passed away peacefully at home on Nov. 29 at the age of 88. Brayton joined Woolrich in September 1953, and became a director in 1958. His initial task, upon joining the company, was to modernize the company’s woolen mill operations and transfer the Pearce Woolen Mill operation at Latrobe, Pa., to Woolrich. He then served as executive vice president, expanding all operations of the company. He was named president of Woolrich in January 1968 and served in that office until December 1985 when he retired. Brayton remained as chairman of the board until 1996. His wife of 55 years, Catherine Rich Brayton, died on April 22, 2000. Survivors include two daughters and their husbands, Charlotte and William Underwood of Westport, Mass., Anne and Kendrick Snyder of Westport, Mass.; a son, Roswell Jr., current president and CEO of Woolrich, and his wife, Sally Brayton of Williamsport, Pa.; 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. He was preceded in death by a grandson, Philip D. Snyder. A memorial service will be held Dec. 6, at Community United Methodist Church in Woolrich. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to The Heisey Museum, 362 East Water Street, Lock Haven, PA 17745.

>> After conquering your latest outdoor feat, what better way to celebrate than to kick up your weary feet and enjoy a fine microbrew? Such is the inspiration behind the partnership between Hooked on the Outdoors magazine and Oskar Blues Brewery, brewer of award-winning Dale’s Pale Ale and other assertive, hand-canned microbrews. The Lyons, Colorado-based brewery has teamed up with Hooked to become the magazine’s official beer partner in a one-year agreement. Oskar Blues will provide complimentary Dale’s Pale Ale and Old Chub Scottish-style ale at the Hooked Happy Hour party taking place at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market on Sunday, January 29. The brewery will receive exclusive pouring rights, banner signage and PA mentions at the event, as well as a series of half-page advertisements in upcoming issues of Hooked. Drowning the myths that canned beers lack flavor or taste metallic, Dale’s Pale Ale was named the best pale ale in the United States by the New York Times in 2005, in addition to numerous other accolades.

>> It looked good on the drawing board.  It looked good in the factory.  It looked good on the rack. And now it looks good on paper. Your male customers wearing Horny Toad clothing will get noticed, or they will get their money back – and so will you. Designed to boost confidence and sales among the occasionally uncertain male shopping population, the Wear It and See Guarantee applies to current season fall 2006 men’s product purchased from authorized Horny Toad dealers who follow a few, easy, very-little-math-required steps. Place an order for fall 2006 men’s product form Horny Toad and post the Wear It and See Guarantee next to your men’s Horny Toad product, as well as at the register. If any Horny Toad men’s product is returned under the program, Horny Toad will happily issue an RA at your wholesale cost. Horny Toad stated in a recent release that, “If you’re not fully convinced of the simplicity of the new Wear It and See Guarantee, ask your Toad rep or Toad customer satisfaction team for more details – but, honestly, there aren’t any more. It’s really that simple. And the new men’s gear really looks that good.”
 
>> To facilitate a spike in sales and anticipated future growth, C.A.M.P. USA (U.S. distributor of Italian made C.A.M.P. climbing gear) has moved its operations around the corner to a larger warehouse and office space. The street address remains the same, only the suite number has changed. The new address is: 580 Burbank Street, Ste 155, Broomfield, CO 80020. Phone and fax numbers, e-mail addresses, and website URL remain the same.

>> Princeton Tec has launched a redesigned website – www.princetontec.com – developed to, the company says, make it easier for consumers to research their new lighting technologies and pre-shop for personal and sports lighting products. The new website features dynamic product shots and an interactive burn time /beam length chart that allows users to easily compare product features. Other key new features include a Princeton Tec product dealer search tool, and a recommended product listing for various outdoor activities.

>> Petra Griesel is replacing Tobias Gröber as manager of ispo’s outdoor and ski trade show divisions starting on Jan. 2. Gröber is taking over management of the ispo group from Peter Knoll. Griesel will be responsible for the complete and targeted handling of the international outdoor and ski industries as well as for networking the interests of industry, commerce, associations, partners and the media. She has worked for Kern Gottbrath Kommunikation, a PR agency specializing in sports, outdoors and textiles, where she handled Arc’Teryx, Black Diamond and Primus for four years.

>> Ever wonder how far your run was? The USA Track & Field has developed America’s Running Routes, that allows runners to map and measure their favorite running routes and then save them to a searchable database of running routes in the United States. Using Google Maps technology, America’s Running Routes allows users to map out their run using satellite views, and the distance will be displayed, including mile markers along the route. Think others might enjoy your running route? Click the “save” button, and your route will be added to the database for others to enjoy. America’s Running Routes allows runners to search for routes in a particular city or to narrow their search to find running routes from hotels, parks, schools, trail heads or running stores. To learn more about America’s Running Routes, visit www.usatf.org, and then click on the America’s Running Routes icon.

>> Effective Jan. 9, Gwen Manto will join Dick’s Sporting Goods as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, replacing the retiring Gary Sterling. Manto will be responsible for all areas of merchandising as well as private label sourcing, merchandising planning, replenishment and allocation. She joins Dick’s with more than 30 years of industry experience, most recently as executive vice president of Softlines for Sears, Roebuck & Company, where her responsibilities encompassed revenue of $6.5 billion, and she led the effort to focus, segment and differentiate Sears’ assortment in the apparel and soft home categories. She’s also held high-level positions with Stein Mart, Kid’s Foot Locker, Kids “R” Us and Babies “R” Us.

>> Isis has hired Siquis Ltd. as its agency of record, handling all aspects of the apparel maker’s image including collateral, in-store merchandising, advertising and website development.

>> Teva was honored by the USA Track & Field as Contributor of the Year for the 2005 season, becoming the first two-time recipient — Teva first earned this honor in 2002. Teva has been the title sponsor of the U.S. Mountain running team. They also sponsor the nationally acclaimed Teva Trail Running series in Vail, Colo., and sponsored three of four selection races for the team in 2005. Teva has designed trail running footwear to meet the needs of the trail and mountain running athletes and includes top trail and mountain runners in their advertising and promotional materials. Other Contributor of the Year nominees included Montrail, Seattle Running Company/Scott McCoubrey owner, and Trail Runner magazine. Teva team athletes, Simon Gutierrez (Alamosa, CO) and Laura Haefeli (Del Norte,  CO) were also awarded the USATF Mountain Runner of the Year in the open category.

>> Columbia Sportswear is continuing its rein as the official apparel sponsor of the 2005-2006 Jeep King of the Mountain Series. Considered the richest and most prestigious professional snow racing series in the world, the Jeep King of the Mountain Series began last weekend in Crested Butte, Colo., and consists of four weekend events across North America. The series will begin airing on CBS Jan. 1, 2006. In its eighth season as the official apparel sponsor, Columbia Sportswear will outfit the event staff, volunteers, select on-air talent as well as VIPs in Columbia’s Titanium performance collections.

>> Technical sock-maker Industrias Savidai, S.L. (Lorpen) has launched a North American company, Lorpen North America Inc. Since the introduction of the Spain-based Lorpen brand into the North American market in 2000, Canada’s Morsport Inc. has been the sole distributor of Lorpen Socks. Although Lorpen North America will continue to operate out of the Morsport offices for the time being, it will now have complete control of distribution and product development in North America. By the end of first quarter 2006, Lorpen plans to have a new manufacturing facility operating in Puebla Mexico.

>> GSI Commerce and Timberland recently won a MITX award for a media online marketing campaign. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX awards program is an annual competition that recognizes excellence in the creation and use of interactive technologies. The winning interactive campaign raised consumer awareness online for Timberland’s custom boot program, which had relaunched in August with a new, flash-based interactive shopping feature on Timberland’s online store. The feature enables customers to monogram and create their own one-of-a-kind boot and see their design selections in real-time on selected styles. To get the word out about the new custom boot feature, GSI, in conjunction with Timberland, created an online brand and product marketing campaign using “expandable” rich media banner ads to draw consumers into an interactive experience with the Timberland brand.