Robin Thurston Archives - ��ԹϺ�� Online

29 Ways to Build a Happier Company

objmigrationbot — Sat, 10 Apr 2021 02:50:36 +0000

There are jobs—and then there are jobs. You know the ones: the gigs that make coming to work about so much more than punching the clock and collecting a paycheck.

The ones that fill the workday with camaraderie, a sense of purpose, and just plain fun. It shows in the policies and perks a company offers, in ways big (health insurance, parental leave) and small (ski days, free gear). And they pay off—big time—for employers, who can count on loyal, productive employees who feel invested in the company’s success.

Here are just a few of the ways leaders in this industry go above and beyond for their workers. We hope employers and employees alike will consider this a menu of inspiration for greater workplace satisfaction. To say the past year has been a challenging one for businesses across the industry is an understatement. But despite all the hurdles, we still wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. This is why.

We asked industry members to nominate their workplaces for providing a superior employee experience. After combing through all 165 responses, these are our favorite ideas worthy of imitation.

Play ��ԹϺ��

CASE STUDY: Darby Communications, Asheville, NC

As any veteran of summer camp knows, getting out into the wilds together builds lasting bonds. So this boutique PR firm throws an annual staff campout, taking employees on a (paid) overnight excursion that has included paddling to an island campsite, fly-fishing lessons, tubing, and whitewater rafting over the past four years. “It builds community on our team, so there’s a deeper connection between us,” said Vice President Angie Robinson. The pandemic forced the team to cancel last year’s trip, but Darby replaced it with smaller outdoor gatherings, and when it’s safe, “We’re planning on a blowout camping trip to bring back the tradition in a big way,” said Suzanne Hermann, media relations director.

Pro tip: The financial barrier to this sort of retreat is low, points out Robinson. Camping is cheap, and Darby takes advantage of its clients’ gear and services (like whitewater guiding), so the total cost is only $200 to $300 per year for nine employees.

Bring Community to the Cafeteria

CASE STUDY: Skratch Labs, Boulder, CO

Every month, 29 full-time employees of nutrition/sports drink company Skratch Labs are invited to a communal breakfast at the office, courtesy of founder Allen Lim. Some staffers play sous chef, helping whip up Lim specialties like savory rice porridge, breakfast salad, and egg tacos. “In the same way that a family is closer when they share meals around the table, we are a better team when we do the same,” said CEO Ian MacGregor. Since last spring, the communal dining has shifted to live cooking lessons for employees at home. “We prep and ship all necessary ingredients to each of our team members, then we all get on a massive video call and learn to make something,” said MacGregor.

Pro tip: Even if you don’t have a full kitchen or a cookbook author for a founder, as Skratch Labs does, you can still break bread as a team: Think regular takeout gatherings or voluntary potlucks.

Breakfast at Skratch Labs is always a fun and social experience. (Photo: Courtesy)

Embrace Inclusivity

Brands across the industry are beginning to meet the moment by ramping up DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts.��

Hit the Slopes

In what other industry do you get formal permission to go skiing when the pow is fresh? Here are just a few of the businesses that allow—nay, encourage—playing hooky on a snow day: Backbone Media, BoldBrew, Burton, Hala Gear/CKS Online, Meteorite PR, and Stio.

Commit to Fighting Climate Change

CASE STUDY: BioLite, Brooklyn, NY, and Peak Design, San Francisco, CA

BioLite (maker of camp stoves and lights) and Peak Design (a camera gear and travel bag brand) took their sustainability missions to the next level in 2018 with the launch of their Climate Neutral nonprofit. The organization helps other brands measure their total carbon footprints—from sourcing to manufacturing to shipping—and then offset them with carbon credits, earning certification. In 2019, 146 companies joined the program, representing a sizable commitment to reducing carbon emissions. “Climate Neutral makes me so proud to be a part of the organization,” said BioLite Ecommerce Operations Manager Joseph Caravaglia. Hyden Polikoff, treasurer at Peak Design, agreed: “I want the place where I put my time and effort to embody my values.”

Get Creative when Challenged

CASE STUDY: Mustang Survival, Burnaby, BC

When the pandemic hit last March, industry members counterpunched. Mustang Survival was one of them, switching from making its usual dry bags, drysuits, and ocean racing gear to churning out hundreds of thousands of waterproof/breathable protective gowns for healthcare workers (many other brands swiftly did the same with masks and eye shields). Not only did the pivot provide crucial PPE to hospitals across Canada, but it also allowed Mustang to hire 50 new employees (31 of them were still with the brand as of press time). “We set up a school and ran new hires through extensive training on sewing and taping,” said Mark Anderson, VP of engineering. “They learned skills directly transferrable to the apparel we make.”

Be Generous with Vacation Time

CASE STUDY: Roads Rivers and Trails, Milford, OH

Every winter for the past six years, as long as she’s been working at specialty retailer Roads Rivers and Trails, Manager Olivia Eads (pictured below on Pikes Peak) has taken at least a month off work to go climbing. Owners Bryan Wolf, Joe White, and Emily White highly encourage it with unlimited (unpaid) vacation time for all staff. “We get the shifts covered and we make it work,” said Wolf. In 2019, employees averaged 40 days off apiece—“and that’s just outdoor trips, not Christmas,” Wolf noted.

Welcome Fido

Embracing pups in the office— when we go back to the office, that is—pays off for both dogs (more walks) and employees (research shows that the presence of a furry friend reduces stress and boosts self-esteem). A few businesses that make room for our best friends: Arc’teryx, Kelty, Nemo, Ruffwear, and Xero Shoes.

Spread Profits Around

Some workplaces give everyone a different kind of promotion. All employees at ��ԹϺ�� (OBJ’s parent company) get stock options, which increase with strong performance or a promotion. “It’s critical for creating alignments [between employees and the company] and incentives,” said CEO Robin Thurston. When the company does well and hard work pays off, employees benefit, too.

Encourage Exploration

CASE STUDY: Cotopaxi, Salt Lake City, UT

How’s this for an antidote to job turnover? After 18 months, employees of this B Corp apparel and gear brand can cash in on their first of two “bucket list stipends”: $1,000 to use on a dream trip anywhere in the world. After five years, the reward bumps up to $5,000. Recent employee trips have included touring Morocco, cycling the French Alps, and a fish-spearing, coconut-gathering survival excursion on a remote Caribbean island. “Number one, we need to be able to attract and retain talent, and this is a unique perk,” said founder and CEO Davis Smith. “And secondly, we want to make sure our employees are living the values of the business. We’re building a brand around adventure and exploring the world.” Cotopaxi has spent nearly $100,000 on its bucket list payouts so far, he says, but, “These things pay for themselves—you don’t have to pay higher wages to convince someone to join the team, or [deal with] rehiring.”

Pro tip: Cotopaxi helps employees make the most of their trips by holding learning sessions on topics like getting involved in local communities and traveling on a shoestring budget. “Within the team, there’s a constant sharing of travel deals,” said Smith. “If you keep your eye on deals, $1,000 can cover a trip somewhere really fun.”

Get Gear in Our Hands

CASE STUDY: NRS, Moscow, ID

Paddling gear can be expensive, as NRS’s employees well know. But lack of capital won’t ever stand in the way when someone pulls a rafting permit, thanks to the brand’s “company use” stash of rafts, frames, coolers, stand-up paddleboards, inflatable kayaks, and drysuits. Employees can check out the gear for free. “We’ve had employees go on Grand Canyon trips, and they were able to get everything they needed and disappear with it for 18 days,” said Steve Farley, key account manager. In 2019, 130 employees dipped into the stash for a total of 880 checkouts.

Pro tip: Appoint someone (or a small team, as NRS does) to manage the gear sign-out process and keep items clean, safe, and organized.

Give Us Long Weekends

The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics offers half-day Fridays, and in summer, Outdoor Prolink switches to a four-10s schedule. Nobody’s head is really in the game at 3 P.M. Friday anyway.

Long weekends can go a long way toward boosting employee happiness. (Photo: Courtesy)

Support Employees’ Life Goals

CASE STUDY: Outdoor Gear Exchange, Burlington, VT

Employees who get five years under their belts at this retailer have extra reason to celebrate: They qualify for its Living the Dream program, which awards a $5,000 grant for pretty much anything that makes their lives a little easier. “Originally, it was to go on a dream trip,” said Brian Wade, executive director of retail and service. But the list of acceptable uses has ballooned over the years to include down payments on homes, childcare, a new vehicle, or paying off debt. “I can’t think of anybody who hasn’t figured out a way to use it,” he said.

Pro tip: How does OGE afford it? “We just do it,” said Wade, noting that the total expense is a fairly small line item on the budget. “It’s nice to honor the people who’ve put in time. And the emotional impact of getting a lump sum is really great.”

Support New Parents…

CASE STUDY: ��ԹϺ�� PR, San Francisco, CA

In a country where his seven-person PR firm doesn’t legally have to provide any break for its new parents, owner Gordon Wright instead offers the best parental leave policy we’ve seen in the industry: six months of leave at 80 percent salary, moms and dads alike. “It feels like the��right thing to do,” Wright said. That kind of investment pays off in ways both tangible (an attractive carrot when looking for new talent) and intangible, says Senior Account Executive Kelsey McGraw. “Gordon and all the managers believe family comes first,” she said. “They care for my well-being, and I don’t want to disappoint them. I want to work that much harder to see this company be successful.”

Pro tip: Doing without a key employee for six months poses challenges, but Wright notes that hiring a freelance substitute can help any company keep chugging along.

…And Not-So-New Parents

CASE STUDY: Patagonia, Ventura, CA

Parents industry-wide could be forgiven for daydreaming about a job switch to Patagonia. For one, there are the on-site daycares (in Ventura and Reno), which together care for 200 kids and offer tuition discounts based on income. “Being able to nurse my son at daycare rather than pump every three hours was so huge,” said Amy Garrahan, southwest sales manager. And��if a primary parent needs to travel for work while a baby is still nursing? Patagonia covers travel expenses for a caregiver.��Pro tip: Half of the brand’s daycare program is covered through tuition; 75 percent of the rest is recouped via tax credits, improved productivity, and employee retention. Companies that can’t add their own programs can still help parents with daycare stipends and more flex time options.

Bond over Workouts

Good: allowing employees to head out for a midday sweat break. Better: organizing group runs, yoga classes, bike rides, and even surfing sessions (like Nemo does on the New England coast) during the workday for communal exercise, stress relief, and team bonding in one fell swoop.

The Nemo team regularly takes trips together—like this one to Long Sands Beach, Maine. (Photo: Courtesy)

Make Fitness Easy

CASE STUDY: Wolverine Worldwide, Rockford, MI

Spin classes, pickleball, pickup volleyball, and basketball: All in a day’s work at Wolverine. Opened in 2019, the on-campus, 29,000-square-foot The Rock facility also offers an indoor track, group fitness classrooms, and cardio equipment. Plus, membership is free for all 600-plus employees of eight brands. “Not only does it help in getting people excited to work for Wolverine, but having a variety of activities available is really key for blowing off steam,” said Merrell Senior Marketing Manager Lauren King.

Pro tip: Building an entire gym might not be in the cards. “But figuring out things that might not cost a lot of money, but add a lot to culture, is.” See #16 and #18 for ideas.

Give Cash for Ski Passes

Or gym memberships, yoga classes, and other wellness perks of choice, as sales agency Caraway & Co. does ($150 per employee per year).

Invest in Employee Healthcare

CASE STUDY: Waypoint Outdoor, Seattle, WA

Perks like gyms and company bike rides are great, but a real commitment to employee health should be built on a foundation of high-quality, affordable health insurance. This sales agency for brands like Klean Kanteen and Smartwool takes that to heart, covering 100 percent of premium costs for its employees. That’s made a huge difference for sales rep Carly Morava, a cancer survivor who’s been with the company for three years. She’d wanted to switch careers from retail to repping, but was afraid she wouldn’t be able to afford the insurance she needed. Unlike other workplaces she’d considered, Morava said, “Waypoint pays for everything, and it’s a really good plan.”

Help People Climb the Ladder

CASE STUDY: KEEN, Portland, OR

In a workplace just as on a mountain, sometimes the right guide can make all the difference. That’s why Keen added formal mentoring to its benefits. The Career Compass Program matches eager employees with seasoned volunteer “coaches” for structured career advice and development. Pairs meet twice a month to set goals and track progress. Though the program is open to everyone, says Global Communications Manager Mindy Montgomery, women make up the bulk of the participants—“Research shows that women utilize formal mentoring programs more because men have greater access to informal mentoring opportunities,” she noted. Senior Compliance Specialist Elsa Clements credits the program with helping her land a promotion in 2019. “It was super-valuable in giving me confidence,” she said. She worked with her coach on strategies for putting her best foot forward, and “It was really good for me to have that framework when I sat down with my manager.”

Pro tip: Career Compass facilitators consider applicants’ communication style and personality when setting up pairs. “If the participant and coach have trouble communicating, they’re going to have a hard time forming a connection,” said Montgomery, “which is a crucial component to a successful coaching relationship.”

Support Education

Help us advance by springing for certifications, courses, conferences, and skills clinics. Take Vail Resorts: Employees can apply for a $2,500 Educational Ascent Grant to fund a college degree (vocational to Ph.D.) or certificate (such as EMT).

Let Employees Drive Improvements

CASE STUDY: Hydro Flask, Bend, OR

Hydro Flask holds its own kind of holiday two or three times a year: the Better Future Day. Each one features a menu of activities for employees to choose from, all conceived and planned by fellow employees. Recent options have included guided meditations, art workshops, public speaking courses, and SUP sessions. “It could be anything from, ‘It’s time to reorganize our shelves’ to ‘Let’s bring in an expert on a topic like racism and have a difficult discussion,’” said Lucas Alberg, senior manager, PR and brand communications. Continually working on company culture is a bedrock value for Hydro Flask, says Senior HR Generalist Ryan Combellick, “but if it’s something that’s just coming from the top down, it can feel forced.”

Pro tip: Don’t overthink the scheduling, and just do it. “There’s never a good time for this, but it’s imperative that you make it happen,” noted Alberg. “Productivity may be lost that day, but it’s taking one step back and two steps forward for the company.”

Encourage Clubs

Supporting an employee resource group (ERG), a club dedicated to a particular identity or interest—from working parents to sober employees to members of specific ethnicities or religions—cultivates belonging and community. VF Corp. has put significant resources into its ERGs since 2017.

Make the World a Better Place Far Away…

CASE STUDY: Superfeet, Ferndale, WA

When this insole brand decides to give back, it goes big. Superfeet donates 1 percent of its profits to charity, including an ongoing public-health service trip to Guatemala to build latrines and rainwater-capture tanks for small rainforest villages. “I wanted our employees to be engaged with the charities we’re working with,” said Director of Outreach and Fit Jeff Gray, who runs the program. “How can we get down on our hands and knees and get dirty and make a difference? It’s about writing the check, then also diving in.” The brand has taken eight to ten employees on the (fully paid) trip for the past four years, an opportunity that has proven so popular that Gray has to pull names out of a size-17 running shoe to select participants. Superfeet’s commitment to nonprofits builds loyalty and helps attract employees, said Gray: “So many are grateful to be able to work within this culture.”

Pro tip: Got the cash—or the time—to donate? Choose beneficiaries carefully, says Gray. He screened a number of nonprofits before choosing six to support based on how well their core values matched Superfeet’s. “Then you can build that relationship, bond, and do some great work together,” he said.

…And Closer to Home

CASE STUDY: Big Agnes, Steamboat Springs, CO

For a company making gear tailored for use on the trail, volunteer trail maintenance felt like a natural way to live out brand values of land stewardship and community involvement.

So Big Agnes zeroed in on the Continental Divide Trail, which passes within two miles of company HQ, officially adopting the 72 miles from nearby Rabbit Ears Pass to the Wyoming border in 2018. Since then, the brand has organized several trail work days on their section every year. “It’s a cool opportunity to see the owners of the company really caring about our public lands, and [having] the employees be part of that,” said Product Developer Paige Baker. And though the point of the trail work is giving back, it doesn’t hurt brand image with customers, either, says co-owner Len Zanni, who notes that the marketing team produces blog posts and publishes catalog essays about the project.

Pro tip: Scale give-back projects according to your workplace’s size and goals. “Think about what you care about, then figure out what organizations or areas could use your help, and how much help you can lend,” said Zanni. “If you’re a smaller organization, maybe you can put someone on a nonprofit board, or donate money or time.”

Remote Work Policies that Work for All

When the pandemic ends, many will still appreciate the flexibility to work remotely. Evans says the best policies let employees work wherever they’re most productive. Her company, The Ready, traded its office for monthly stipends for home office upgrades, co-working spaces, or rent for optional group offices.

Fair Profit Sharing

Sharing success fosters an environment of collaboration, not competition. Email marketing firm ConvertKit diverts a chunk of its profits to a shared pool that’s distributed to all through a formula that gives a little extra to those with the longest tenure.

Employee Connection

One easy way to help build connection among virtual workers: Start meetings with a five-minute check-in, prompted with questions like, “What was your weekend highlight?”

Self-Set Salaries

Want employees to really feel they’re being paid what they’re worth? Let them choose their own salaries, like tomato-packing brand Morning Star has done for decades—and make all of them public.

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��ԹϺ�� Has Committed to New Diversity Goals for 2021

objmigrationbot — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 03:53:34 +0000

In keeping with CEO Robin Thurston’s signatory commitments on the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, our parent company, ��ԹϺ��, has released a report that highlights key DEI accomplishments from 2020 and outlines goals for the current year.

In the first section of the report, ��ԹϺ�� specified 13 key diversity achievements of 2020, including the hiring of a DEI consultant; the implementation of a quarterly, company-wide engagement surveys to ensure ��ԹϺ�� is “creating a culture of belonging and inclusivity;” the creation of an event series featuring speakers from marginalized communities; and a full audit of the artwork in the business’ Boulder, Colorado, headquarters to “ensure that it is not homogenous with regards to race, ethnicity, and gender.”

The company’s DEI committee also outlined goals for the new year in the report, guided by a clear mission statement: “The DEI committee exists to create a culture of inclusivity both within the company and throughout our active lifestyle audience. The committee will create the tools, identify, and provide resources that intentionally foster diversity, equity, and inclusion, guiding the way toward a culture where team members are treated equitably, where all voices within our communities—both internal and external—are heard and valued.”

Goals for the current year, as specified in the report, fall into several distinct categories. The language of the document goes into detail on a few points:

“We’re committed to diversifying our leadership and workforce with respect to race, ethnicity, and identity and are examining and adjusting our hiring practices to ensure that people from all race, ethnicities, and identities are explicitly invited to join and grow within our company.”
“We are hosting mandatory diversity training for all our employees including senior-level leadership.”
“We are bringing in regular speakers to further our learnings.”
We are constantly assessing our role as storytellers and conducting brand by brand content audits ensuring that diverse voices get heard and elevated through our platforms; our imagery reflects the diversity that exists in the activities that we cover; and our content is welcoming to everyone.”
“We will engage with our communities through events and panels to facilitate discussions on DEI topics.”

Speaking to ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal about the scope of the new goals, Thurston said, “With respect to this kind of work, I like to remind people that—just like building a company—you’re never really done. There isn’t a finish line. It’s a constant working process that you have to focus on over and over.”

In that spirit, Thurston says, this report should not be perceived as a “wrap-up” of 2020 or a “simple checklist” for 2021. The document is simply meant to hold the company accountable to progress, with the understanding that the work is never finished.

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��ԹϺ�� Publicly Commits to Better Payment Terms for Freelancers

objmigrationbot — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 03:30:37 +0000

It’s an unfortunate truth in the outdoor media business right now: If you’re a freelancer doing contract work for a magazine, trade journal, or website, you might have to wait a long time—sometimes months after finishing the job—to get your money.

Robin Thurston, CEO of ��ԹϺ�� (the parent company of ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal, ��ԹϺ�� magazine, Backpacker, and dozens of other media brands) made waves late last month when he posted a public letter on the popular Basecamp Facebook group addressing this problem.

To our contributors,

Your stories, photos, illustrations, videos, and podcasts are the lifeblood of our business. They are the words and images and dreams that inspire skiers to play hooky on a powder day, help parents teach their kids to ride a bike, and empower climbers to reach new heights of personal and physical achievement.

As a business, we need to pay a long list of vendors to host our websites, print our magazines, and keep an incredibly complex infrastructure running. But we don’t exist without you. That’s why the new ��ԹϺ�� will be paying you first going forward.

Earlier this week, following our acquisition of ��ԹϺ�� magazine, we mailed checks to every freelancer with an overdue invoice. And I am proud to announce today that we will be moving towards net-30 terms for all creative contributors. We know you have bills to pay, and we will not make you wait.

In closing, let me say a giant thank you for creating the content that helps us turn passion into participation, and participation into passion. We believe that a hike, a ride, a ski run, or a yoga practice can change your life and change the world, and we appreciate your partnership in this deeply satisfying journey.

Yours truly,

Robin Thurston
CEO, ��ԹϺ��

Speaking to ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal last week, Thurston said the decision to address payment concerns arose from a desire to fix a system—endemic to media in general, not just outdoor—that is “very, very broken.”

“Our contributors, whether they are full-time or freelancers, are the lifeblood of these [media] organizations and we have to take care of them,” Thurston said. “They are the people that make this stuff go. Great storytelling is, frankly, what it’s all about.”

Thurston is making himself available to all content contributors in a Zoom webinar this Friday, March 19, at 10 A.M. MST. He will present the company’s new freelancer terms, address the reasoning behind them, and open up the discussion for questions.

A Broken System

Much of the historic disfunction outlined in Thurston’s letter arises from a “gatekeeper” attitude that legacy media companies tend to leverage against content creators trying to make ends meet, the ��ԹϺ�� CEO told OBJ. Media brands take advantage of freelancers by making them believe it’s an “honorary right” to have their work published, when in fact “it’s the amazing content that helps those brands thrive in the first place.”

That arrangement, according to Thurston, is short-sighted and unsustainable. Everyone has to put food on the table, including the creative class, and as we’ve reported before here at OBJ, exposure absolutely does not pay the bills.

To fix the problem at ��ԹϺ��, Thurston says he wants to make his organization “the best possible beginning game and end game for anybody that wants to thrive in the category and spend their time creating content.”

“If you’re a great content creator, I don’t care if you’re 15 or 75,” he said. “If you’re a great storyteller, you should get paid. And you should get paid a market rate that is fair and allows you to feed your family.”

With respect to the public nature of the announcement, Thurston says he believes it’s necessary to broadcast this kind of news widely, because many of the industry’s best creators have become rightly skeptical of working with legacy media brands. ��ԹϺ�� needs to earn back their trust, and that starts with making public promises—and keeping them.

“We could have done this quietly, but the problem is that if we want to attract the best people back to our platforms, we have to be somewhat public about this,” said Thurston. “There are people that have stopped writing for these publications because they didn’t get paid—or didn’t get paid enough. We had to do something public to convince people to come back. Now we’ve got to follow through.”

To make good on these promises, Thurston says ��ԹϺ�� is exploring new tools that will allow it to “pay freelancers more easily and quickly, out of one pool of money.” This is just the first step toward eliminating “long legacies of not treating people well,” Thurston added. Permanently righting the ship, he says, will take time.

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A Letter from Our CEO About Inclusion & Sustainability

objmigrationbot — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 08:19:17 +0000

As Pocket Outdoor Media grows, adapts, and improves, our mission will always remain the same: To inspire people to do the activities they love—hiking, skiing, climbing, running, swimming, cycling, cooking, and yoga—with greater enjoyment and knowledge. We believe that a hike, a day skiing, a climb, or a ride can change your day and change the world.

In 2021, we’re looking forward to building upon two pillars that are central to everything we do: inclusivity and sustainability. While we have made some progress on these fronts, we have much, much more to do, and I intend to be transparent throughout the journey.

We are a young company that has grown from five to more than 30 brands in the last six months. In that short time, we have made some exciting progress on these pillars, and we’ve made a series of commitments for the future.

In DEI

I signed the Outdoor Industry CEO Diversity Pledge in August 2020.
We have created an internal DEI committee to bring forth programming, lead our efforts, create and oversee employee resource groups and hold us accountable. And we’ve hired a DEI expert to guide our work.
We’ve committed to diversifying our leadership and workforce with respect to race, ethnicity, and identity by broadening our employee sourcing and adjusting our hiring practices.
We will be conducting diversity training for 100 percent of our employees.
We will continually survey our workforce to ensure that we’re creating a culture of belonging and inclusivity within our company.

In Sustainability

We pledge to become climate positive by 2030 by working assiduously to lower our manufacturing footprint and neutralizing more than the balance that remains.
In the meantime, we have already neutralized the carbon footprint of six of our brands: The Voice, ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal, Backpacker, Climbing, Yoga Journal, and Clean Eating. In the first year of this program, we will eliminate almost 6.5 million pounds of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, the equivalent of driving 7.3 million miles. And we are exploring carbon neutralization for our remaining brands, which would further reduce our impact.
We are working on a plan to convert our Boulder, Colorado, headquarters to a zero waste and solar-powered facility.
We are founding members of the Plastic Impact Alliance and will eliminate 100 percent of polybags from all of our publishing and mailing efforts.

And as a company, we are committed to being a loud voice of support for the good work of others in the fields of DEI and sustainability by celebrating their achievements in our publications, as well as through donations and content partnerships.

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. We are grateful for your partnership, your feedback, and your support as we work to deliver on our mission and make our active lifestyles more inclusive and sustainable for all.

Robin Thurston
CEO, Pocket Outdoor Media

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Pocket Outdoor Media Acquires Rock and Ice, Trail Runner, and Gym Climber

objmigrationbot — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 04:19:22 +0000

Pocket Outdoor Media, the Colorado-based market leader in active lifestyle publishing (and OBJ’s parent company), announced today the acquisition of three new properties: the decades-old climbing magazine Rock and Ice,��Trail Runner, and Gym Climber, all formerly produced by Big Stone Publishing, also headquartered in Colorado.

The deal brings three mainstays of the fitness and outdoor media landscape into the Pocket family, strengthening the categories of climbing and running, which company leaders have identified as verticals primed for significant growth in coming years.

“It’s our goal to create the best products in these categories and improve the consumer experience, period,” Pocket CEO Robin Thurston told ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal this week. “We don’t want to be average here. We need to be great. To do that, we need scale. This acquisition will help achieve that.”

In stark contrast to the deal, earlier this week some of the oldest print magazines in the outdoor industry—including Bike, Surfer, Snowboarder, and �ʴǷɻ��—announced an indefinite pause on publication that many interpreted as a death knell, a softer version of folding outright. Thurston says that’s exactly what he’s trying to head off for Rock and Ice,��Trail Runner, and Gym Climber��with this new acquisition.

“Vertical publications are under attack because many of them operate on a model based only on advertising, which has been under extreme pressure for the last ten years,” he said. “There’s an opportunity to let these brands flourish under a new model that combines advertising, digital subscription, ecommerce, and events.”

For Pocket, that new model is Active Pass, the company’s subscription membership program that includes benefits like event registrations, training plans, and premium content, among other perks.

“As a consumer, you look at this as a daily destination and say, ‘They have so much content across this platform, I need access to it,’” said Thurston. “If there’s anything we want to be known for, it’s recreating the model for these active lifestyle brands and breathing new life into them—giving them a new opportunity to tell important stories and inspire people to do these activities.”

Despite the need for scale to make that new model work, the acquisition of the��Big Stone Publishing titles does not amount to blind expansion, Thurston says. The brands��will join the Pocket family to hit very specific targets.

Two Longtime Competitors Finally Team Up

For decades, Climbing (first published in 1970) has battled Rock and Ice (launched in 1984) for market share with few other serious competitors. Combining them, says current Climbing editor-in-chief Matt Samet, can only benefit the editorial capacity of both titles.

“It will actually be very healthy for the climbing community and for the industry to bring it all under one roof,” said Samet. “We won’t have to worry about what the other guy is doing anymore. We can just focus on the best storytelling possible, which has always been our goal.”

Samet says that more consistent editorial leadership over the years has allowed Rock and Ice to produce a wider range of content, including more alpine and mountaineering packages. Reader surveys have consistently indicated mountaineering stories aren’t a priority for Climbing’s audience, Samet says, so they’re often overlooked. Now that the magazines are working together, the scope of both brands’ reporting can expand. And the timing, he says, couldn’t be better.

“The sport hit the pause button pretty hard with the pandemic, just like everything else did, but now gyms have reopened and the cliffs are completely booming again,” Samet said. “The good news is that the climbing community is healthier than ever, and I think the timing for this is exciting.”

Gym Climber, the leading publication catering to the bouldering community and indoor climbers, will be an especially important property for Pocket in 2021, company leaders says, as gym climbing makes its debut at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Welcoming New Staff to the Pocket Team

The merger is sure to raise some questions about the future of Duane Raleigh, the longtime editor-in-chief of Rock and Ice and owner of Big Stone Publishing, who resigned in July after admitting in an editor’s letter that he had coined racist names for climbing routes in the eighties. Thurston confirmed that Raleigh will remain part of the Rock and Ice team with Pocket, though not as editor-in-chief.

“Duane has tremendous experience. I do think he learned from what happened,” Thurston said.

“People can be assured that one of my top priorities is being inclusive, representing everybody in the world of climbing. Climbing has been a white sport for a long time. That’s changing and it needs to change. I’m really excited to be part of that,” Raleigh told ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal.

As for Trail Running, Thurston says he’s bullish on the category and expects participation and media interest to grow exponentially in the next several years.

“Almost every running brand I know is thinking about trail running as a new growth vertical,” Thurston said. “But again, you have to have scale to make it work. “When we bring Podium Runner, Women’s Running and Trail Runner together, we can attract larger partners who want to collaborate with us.”

Some big questions have yet to be answered, but the broad strokes of the deal are clearly defined.��Rock and Ice will merge with Climbing to form a single magazine under the latter’s title.��Pocket plans to retain the��trademark��for the name “Rock and Ice”��and use it in some capacity going forward.

“The new Climbing will combine the best of both brands to create a better product,” said Pocket vice president Sharon Houghton. “This won’t be the Climbing people know today. It will��be better for readers and advertisers alike.”

Thurston confirmed that everyone from Rock and Ice,��Trail Runner, and Gym Climber��will receive an offer to join Pocket.

“This is a very exciting day, because it allows us to keep building on our core mission, which is the authenticity of our brands and the quality of our content,” Thurston said. “At the end of the day, it’s the quality of our products that will differentiate us. Everything else is built on that.”

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Interview with Robin Thurston, CEO of Pocket Outdoor Media

objmigrationbot — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 23:37:17 +0000

On July 1, 2020, Pocket Outdoor Media (POM), the leading endurance sports media platform, acquired ��ԹϺ�� Business Journal and many of our sister brands within Active Interest Media’s Active Living Group, including Backpacker, Ski, Climbing, Warren Miller, Yoga Journal, and others.

What opportunities did you see with these AIM brands that made you excited about this acquisition?��

First, the POM brands and the AIM brands that we’ve acquired are just perfectly complimentary. We wanted to scale our business and this group of active lifestyle brands was just the perfect puzzle piece for our existing brands. In fact, since I began conversations with AIM about the acquisition, I became somewhat fixated on it because of that perfect puzzle piece.

The acquisition merges 29 active living brands (not pictured, Nastar) under Pocket Outdoor Media CEO, Robin Thurston. (Photo: Courtesy)

The long-term goal of merger is to essentially to create a wholistic view of the active lifestyle participant which in turn will allow us to deliver the most personalized content and services for that individual. An example: if you’re a runner today and you’re on Women’s Running site, and all of a sudden you pick up cycling. You essentially go away from that magazine, you just disappear. We don’t know why. You basically go start reading other stuff because you’ve switched from running to cycling.

We know that so many of our customers are doing many activities—like hiking, backpacking, climbing, skiing, yoga— that Pocket has, until now, not covered. This acquisition gives us a perfectly complementary set of assets that allow us to see the full picture around the active lifestyle participant. We have the opportunity to create a holistic experience for the consumer around all of these different activities. The active lifestyle community is huge. With our combined audience we’ll touch 15 million unique people each month. All of these brands create content that inspires and improves peoples’ lives. We can have a huge impact on the industry as a whole if we deliver on the goal of increasing participation in these activities.

We did a story last week�� about how the pandemic has affected media in general and outdoor media specifically, right? Traffic is up and ad dollars are down. Do you think ad revenue will come back or do you think the pandemic has permanently shifted things in terms of how media brands must seek new revenue streams?

Well, look, Facebook is undoing itself a little bit right now. That’s not really our problem, but it does benefit us potentially. With Google, Facebook, and Amazon taking the bulk of advertising dollars over the last five to ten years away from publishers we believe we have to create new and innovative ways to tell our partners stories to recapture these advertising dollars which we plan to do with our new scale and focus.

I would argue that COVID has accelerated the shift at some level, even if you isolate the Facebook issues. In general, as agency resources and brand resources get reduced, they move to the easiest thing. And the easiest thing is to advertise on Facebook and Google—it’s turnkey. They don’t have to worry about implementing on another channel, et cetera. What we’re creating is a new powerful network where our partners can tell their brand stories and achieve their goals all in one place for the active lifestyle category. We also have to diversify the revenue streams. That’s what Active Pass is all about—unifying the platform and offering something so unique in the category that consumers truly love is the vision.

How does that work with newsstand sales? Will people still be able to grab copies of a single print magazine at the airport?

Yes, they will. But if you were to pick up, say, VeloNews at the newsstand, and you decide you like it and want to subscribe, you’d be subscribing to Active Pass, not just that specific print magazine. As part of Active Pass you can select to get that print magazine, but we’re then able to expose that customer to all our other brands as well.

What’s your vision for B2B media and how that fits into the POM portfolio?

In media, one of the things that you have to do is figure out your A plan, but also your B and C plans. And your growth strategy, so you’re always ready for a pivot if needed. If the consumer business is not doing well, how do you make sure you survive? I think that B2B offers us some really interesting opportunities around competing in the market on a research basis, because we’re not doing that today. I think there are opportunities around services, both technology and marketing services, for events and manufacturers, that we’re not necessarily doing today.

So, yes, I see B2B as being very important. Everywhere I’ve worked—including Reuters, Under Armour, and Helix, we had both a B2C and a B2B business. I think both are very important and strategic.

At the end of the day, how do define the goals of this new family of active lifestyle media brands?

It’s simply to combine best-in-class content and experiences with a scalable technology platform that enables athletes to engage, connect, and participate like never before. Because I believe that a run, a climb, a hike, or a day skiing can change your day and change the world.

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