Kendall Card 2.0

Back in “the day” when athletes wanted to get sponsored by a company it involved printing up a bunch of photos that had either been published or which were keepers and creating a portfolio.

Then said athlete would put together a three-ring binder with the images and any articles or advertisements that featured the athlete. If they really wanted to impress they would have it bound in something more permanent than a three ring binder.

A few years ago some athletes started to use digital images in their portfolio and some went above and beyond by actually creating a web page to host said images rather than including them in an e-mail proposal. But the reality is 99.9% of all the athlete sites I’ve seen are sub par, leaving me wanting more.

I think more has arrived. Meet Landis Tanaka, a 15 year old skier from Alaska put this promo video together and hosted it on Brightcove. Sure, I’ve seen better skiers (not to say he doesn’t have skills) but I’ve never seen a better promo video or “portfolio” ever. Nice job Landis.

This is so cool.
I was over at Lifehacker.com (thanks to Treehugger.com for the tip) and found this gem.

It’s one of those “it’s too easy to believe”. I’m sure my dad or my brother-in-law could figure out ways to complicate the design but I’m all about easy and simple since I was not born with an engineering mind.

I’ve wanted to put solar panels on my roof and even planned for it when we built the house by putting in a smurf tube to later pull wire through to my panel. (which I also planned for by building the panel with some room behind it for batteries and a transformer.)

But panels are still somewhat cost prohibitive so I’m going to make one of these solar heaters and see if it does indeed increase the room temperature by 10 degrees. One trip to Home Depot for some supplies and some bartering with my kids for some of their pennies and I’m set. I’ll report later as to how well it works.

—via Lifehacker.com

Update: From the commenter HOOHASH on the post at Lifehacker comes this gem about a kid in Arizona who did something similar with cans and a radiator.

…continued from Part 2, this is the final part of the race recap…

Leg 5 – Alpine to Jackson Hole

Thanks to John’s wife I had that Coke and it felt so good. I had heard the carbonation and sugar was a good alternative to energy drinks when in a long race. John had to find a toilet and the porta-potties were 10 deep in waiting so we rode across the bride over the Snake River and pulled into the Chevron where we were first in line for a “clean” bathroom which was a nice alternative to an out-house. My butt was saddle sore and the first 1/4 mile I couldn’t really sit. We were both quite tired and we agreed that we’d ride at conversation pace the entire rest of the way.

That resolution didn’t last too long as we hopped on the wheel of a passing team. The pace was enjoyable and steady. When we hit a small hill one of their team dropped off the back so they all slowed leaving John and I to ourselves as we surged in front of them. By this time we were complaining openly about every little incline claiming that the race bible said nothing of hills. Two strong riders came by and I looked at John to see if we should hop on. He urged me on so we grabbed their wheel and started to rotate with them. After a couple of rotations John and I agreed it was a bit fast and we let them go.

A few miles down the canyon we passed this twosome who had pulled over to relieve themselves. We rode on, picking up a couple riders with each passing mile. About 4-5 miles later that twosome caught us and once again we jumped on their wheels and started to rotate. As we rode we enjoyed some conversation and got to know them. One was riding a bit stronger than the other but all 4 of us shared the load.

Just before Hoback Junction there was one last neutral water station where I got a Red Bull, a banana and topped off my water bottles. As John and I readied to head out the other twosome asked if we shouldn’t ride the rest of the way together since we had been in sync for quite some time. I didn’t realize just how well we were riding as a group of 4 until right after Hoback Junction when in a group of about 20 riders we pulled away from them on a little incline.

The sun was starting to get low in the sky and the shadows casting long across the Teton Valley as we neared Jackson. (more…)

…Continued from Part 1…

Leg 3 – Montpelier to Afton – Two Passes

Thanks to the tandem train John and I met up with Jim and company as we came into the Montpelier feed station. Jim’s crew started out and we made a tough decision – to leave Tim behind. We told John’s wife to tell Tim that we’d wait for him at the top of Salt Creek Pass just shy of Afton. As it would end up we made the right decision.

The race officials had the Geneva Summit road closed to traffic which like Strawberry Canyon before was quite nice to ride sans vehicles. Jim and I hung together while John dropped back a little bit during the climb It was starting to heat up and I was sweating pretty good.

At the summit I bid farewell to Jim telling him that I’d wait for John. I had made my decision on who I’d ride the race with and despite a few strange looks from riders as I cycled loops at the summit it was just a few minutes until John came along.

We started downhill and soon there after hopped on a tandem’s wheel but it became apparent that they weren’t interested in sharing the load so we broke off and rode along just the two of us. We turned north towards Salt Creek Pass and along the way picked up a few riders until we were a crew of 6-8 riders. Just before the pass was a neutral water stop which was strategically located. I’ve gotta say, the Lotoja race crew did a great job with both supported and neutral support zones.

Water filled we headed up the pass. John told me to go ahead and after a short distance hanging with him I decided that I’d go for it. The climb was indeed tough but not as tough as the last 6 miles of Wolf Creek Pass near my home in Kamas. I found myself at the top in no time and there waited for John to make it up. After 10 minutes I wondered if I had missed seeing him come over the top. I then saw his wife who said that he hadn’t made it yet. He was suffering pretty bad and 3 minutes later crested the top.

(more…)

Saw this video while reading the NYT online, which finally is free to view. Funny that while reading the news online I would be attracted to a video. Makes you wonder about the powerful medium that is video.So after watching the video a couple of times I checked out the microsite for the 2 Mile Challenge Tour from Clif Bar. Although the tour is over the microsite is still up and offers some interesting insights as well as an entertaining blog.

Something really cool is the map your two miles page where using Google Maps you can map a 2 mile radius from your home or workplace and then click on the various types of destinations that you’d typically drive to. Banks, grocery store, bike shop, hardware store, etc. Rather than hop in your car at over $3/gallon not forgetting the emissions why not hop on something like the Kona Ute, a utility bike?

This is a creative way to market a product from a company that was started by an epiphany while on a 175 mile bike ride. Bringing people out to a tour stop for something unrelated to the product (the bar) itself but giving them a chance to sample the product while embracing something that they can be emotionally driven to do.(the desire to better themselves and the planet by biking).

How can your brand do something bigger than itself and in the process bring the product to more potential customers?

I think people must love to screw up a good thing. It’s true. Case in point – blog comment spam.

If you’ve got a blog you’ll know that comment spam is getting out of hand. True to form Seth Godin saw it coming back in March of 2005. Good guys keep improving comment moderation tools and bad guys keep creating more innovative ways to screw up the good thing that is the ability to comment on a blog, thus spending your hard earned 2 cents.

But the bad guys are scared so they hide behind anonymous names and servers.

One of the blogs I manage is the Backcountry Blog, which posts Backcountry.com customer adventures, gear reviews, outdoor industry fodder and anything outdoor related that I care to discuss. Recently a company called CouponAlbum.com has been comment spamming the blog with offers for a competitor of Backcountry.com – Dick’s Sporting Goods. At first I laughed about it but after the 4th or 5th comment I moderated I wasn’t laughing.

It got me thinking – does your company have a comment spam policy? I’m sure it has a privacy policy which it likely created after the need arose. What about creating a policy, taking a positive position before the need arises? Your company may not even have a blog yet, like Dick’s Sporting Goods or CouponAlbum.com, but they should have a policy about comment spam.

So I dropped the folks at Coupon Album a note. They said they welcome it.

Dear Customers, we always welcome your feedback and suggestions. Your inputs help us in providing better offers / deals to you.

Although I’m not a customer they weren’t really a reader of the Backcountry Blog. Here is the message I left them.

I see that you have a privacy policy for your customers which protects their privacy and information. But do you have a blog comment spam policy? You need one.

I manage the Backcountry Blog (http://backcountryblog.blogspot.com) and I would appreciate it if you’d stop comment spamming the blog with deal offers. Since I have moderating enabled it’s NEVER going to get published!

What’s most ironic is that these offers are for a competitor of Backcountry.com who owns the Backcountry Blog.

You bring shame to internet marketing by your back door attempts. Do something remarkable not something repulsive.

Yours in the web,

Kendall

If you know of a company that has a blog comment spam policy I’d love to see it. I haven’t heard of one yet and the need for one has definitely arrived.

As it was quite warm earlier this week I went out for a bike ride on the Mirror Lake Highway. I went for a 20 mile ride and had 3 cars pass me, making it more like the “Mirror Lake Myway”. I was wearing the “Butts, Sweat and Gears” jersey that my friend Bill Johnson gave me as we were packing up his truck to head to Logan for the Lotoja bike race. It reminded me of the race so I figured it’s about time I wrote a recap.

I originally intended to ride the race with 6 others from my former employer Backcountry.com but injury, lack of training, and fear narrowed the group down to just 3 of us. Ironically, come race day only one of the threesome was actually still employed by Backcountry.com, that being John Thomas who is the bike buyer. Tim Meikle had moved on to Omniture and myself, well I just moved on to me.

Since we (the trio) rode in the picnic category our start time wasn’t that critical so we set off at 7:14am with my friend Jim Kane and his crew of riders. We determined that should anyone fall back or we lose Jim’s group that the three of us would stick together to the finish.

Leg 1 – Logan to Preston

The first leg of the race was flat and quite fast. Initially I was in the rear of the pack but the yo-yo effect was too much to bear so we made our way to the middle/front where we sat behind a group who were determined to break wind, so we let them.

We passed a number of other start groups leaving me wondering if we were going too fast. I knew though that if I dropped from the peleton that there would be no catching up so we pressed on with speed.

The morning air was crisp with a slight mist hanging over the fields as we raced by. It was beautiful. I ate a banana and a Koka Moka PROBAR along this leg, making sure that despite not feeling hungry that I would force myself to eat all throughout the race.

A large group of us pulled over just shy of Preston to relieve ourselves so that the food exchange would be seamless. Going into the food exchange I was sure to down all my water knowing I’d be getting two new bottles from John’s wife who was the champion of the day as our support crew.

Leg 2 – Preston to Montpelier – over Strawberry Pass

The food exchange was pretty quick and we left with Jim Kane’s team and started out of Preston. A small climb stretched out the peleton followed by a fast downhill. After a few rollers we turned off the main highway and started a gentle climb along a river that I’m sure Tim was thinking would be a perfect location to fish.

(more…)

I can still remeber the call as I listened to the 2006 BYU vs. UofU game on KSL radion and I have the chills as I type just thinking about it….cue Greg Wrubel, voice of the Cougars… “Beck drops back for the pass…plenty 0f time…shufflin, shufflin…rolls to the right…CAUGHT FOR THE TOUCHDOWN (x3) Johnny Harline!!!!….” I never tire of hearing that.

The Miami Dolphins announced today that John Beck will be the starting quarterback this coming Sunday. Good luck Beck!

Here is the TV version to that glorious moment in BYU Football history

e-mail header (above)  e-mail template (below)

Marketing at people is so 20th century, but a majority of the marketing done these days is still at people, not with/through people. Companies get away with it because of the “everybody is still doing it” clause, which I don’t subscribe to but can remotely understand, sort of.

But if do decide to market at people and if you are going to SCREAM or YELL your message, you probably aught to be sure that it’s spelled correctly. Case in point:

I was driving with a friend heading north on State Street in Orem, Utah when we passed this business:

And according to the sign on the front left of the store they buy and sell used cell phones:

So they decided to YELL it to everyone who drives by the south side of the store, which is also visible from State Street. But they forgot to SPELL:

Either they are very clever and were hoping that someone like me would come along and blog about it or they were in a hurry and didn’t notice the error.  What do you think the real deal is with this sign?  Simple error or clever marketing?