the truth about magazines support in the outdoor business

Super warm booties!

I've had a vest from Wiggy's for a number of years and it’s easily as warm as a fur coat. So I knew that when my sheepskin slippers finally wore out that I'd be getting a pair of Lamilite booties to replace them. I ordered a pair of the Men's Large & a pair of the Ladies small for my wife. It could be 110* outside and her feet would still feel like ice.

I have to say that I wasn't disappointed. The booties made my feet toasty warm & having the soles on the bottoms means that I can wear them outside to get the mail or put out trash. As others have done, I too wear them to bed at night. I just wanted to say thank you for another finely made product that does what it’s supposed to!

– Chris Davidson

Chris thank you very much for the kind words! Booties have been a very healthy selling product this winter.

ARROGANCE BEYOND COMPARE

I have known for year’s collusion must exist between outdoor publications and many companies in the industry either at the material supply level or the manufacturing level.

When I started making the Wiggy’s brand of sleeping bags I made contact with and advertised in backpacker magazine. After about a year I called to ask why nobody from backpacker was contacting me about my sleeping bags. I would periodically read a review of other company’s bags so I believed I had a right to ask “why not me”? I do not know what the response was as I can’t recall, however I do know they never did write a review. Once they hired a guy Larry Amkraut who walked across America and wrote a book about it to do a review of my Ultra-Light bag, but never published it. Why (?) because they claimed WE, Larry and I conspired to get the review done. They did pay Larry a kill fee; that is only done when you are paid to write an article but it does not get printed.

Now I believe the truth of this unhealthy alliance has been published in one of their own publications; SNEWS!

SNEWS interviewed one of their own who stated the following; I quote, “Developing a successful consumer-facing topic, which is then supported with relevant examples of the sponsor’s products. (I am assuming this to mean an advertisement in the consumer magazine.) It is true educational and service journalism first with a natural integration of brand-specific content. It’s a way to integrate a brand’s message and agnostic content. (agnostic; the essential nature of things are unknown or unknowable). Does this mean that the brand’s message is unknowable and that the journalist is somehow going too now set us straight with respect to what the brand is trying to say?) All brands should explore how it works for them.It’s powerful because it places a brand’s message right alongside trustedinformation from a trusted source – that’s the beauty of it. (As you see the person interviewed Courtney Matthews (employed at AIM’s Outdoor Group working in their Active Interest Media and Business Development Director of the Outdoor Group, which includes Snews as well as Backpacker) has set herself up as the trusted source for the trusted information. Since she states that she is the source of the trusted information, how can that be when she earlier states it is agnostic? This woman has gall she has never worked at a manufacturing facility, so she has zero knowledge of what it takes to make say a sleeping bag or any other product.

She further states; and I quote, “The sweet spot for native content (I must confess I do not know what this term refers too), is when ads are authenticated by a trusted publication. We know that clients invest money in their own content, but the difference here is that the brand is partnering with a trusted source, such as SNEWS and BACKPACKER or another content provider, to produce the content, from a trusted voice with a targeted, engaged audience. (So now you know who the trusted source and voice are SNEWS and Backpacker or other publications unnamed that support the content of the advertiser. Imagine if these publications questioned Gore about the ability of their material to actually perform as advertised, that would never happen. So the publication assumes the role of supporting the claim, bogus as it is. The reality of the situation is simple, what we have is the blind leading the blind and the no nothings having the trusted ones swearing to it. You see the manufacturers in almost all cases do not know what they are doing and the trusted ones know even less. Hence the blind leading the blind and the trusted ones swearing to the lies told to them.)

The arrogance of these people who work for publications that are supposedly servicing the general public with information about products that is supposed to be beneficial to ones enjoyment in the outdoors. The motivation for these publications to partner with the advertisers is to generate revenue only they are like peas in a pod. These publications are not like Consumer Reports. The real reason in my opinion for them such as Backpacker never publishing a review of one of my sleeping bags is because my sleeping bags easily outperform any and all other sleeping bags that are available today or have ever been available regardless of country of origin or material used as insulation.

The consumer who reads publications such as backpacker is sure to get highly erroneous information about whatever products they choose to highlight. Imagine if these publications actually questioned all of the bogus claims that flow from the snake oil salesman employed at the various companies that proudly pound their chests with outlandish agnostic claims.

I started the commentary with a testimonial something I have yet to see from any of the companies that sell products for outdoor use.