ASR Blog

Leadership, Patagonia-style: Former CEO Kristine Tompkins Speaks at Wharton Business School

From Knowledge@Wharton:

Kristine Tompkins, former CEO of outdoor apparel company Patagonia, pulled no punches with the audience attending her recent Wharton Leadership Lecture. Although Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, warned of the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use as early as 1962, Tompkins said that when she began working full-time at Patagonia in 1972, she didn't understand how the actions of the business world as well as the behavior of individuals "affected the very underpinnings" of the individual, the family and the community. "You know that now," she said, and "the choices you make count more and more." People who can manage "the tough decisions and incorporate" difficult issues into their lives, she said, "are the future leaders."

Tompkins spent more than two decades with Patagonia and its founder, Yvon Chouinard, building an environmentally responsible and socially innovative company. After she retired as CEO in 1993, she and her husband, Douglas Tompkins, co-founder of The North Face and Esprit, moved to Chile and began channeling their respective fortunes into conserving wilderness in that country as well as in Argentina. Nearly 2.2 million acres have been placed in permanent protection to date through their foundations -- The conservation Land Trust, Conservacion Patagonica and The Foundation for Deep Ecology. 

Tompkins focused her remarks on the ethical and environmental responsibilities of business and business people.

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Virtual Climb of Mount Kilimanjaro

Check out this interactive 3-D virtual climb of Tanzania's Mount Kilimanjaro posted on the New York Times site. The interactive features include birds-eye view 3-D models, video footage of the climbers and campsites, and even info on heart-rate and oxygen levels at various points along the way to the summit.

The climb is a companion to Tom Bissell's article about his "painful and exhausting climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro."

Thanks to Kraig's Adventure Blog for the tip!

Antarctica Adventure in Photos

Check out some stunning photos taken by New Jersey computer programmer/fearless adventurer Vladimir Malinsky during a 2003 trip to the South Pole. Vladimir's expedition was organized with the aid of REI's Adventures service.

Want to see more? Let us know in the comments section.

Timberland Recognized by EPA's Green Power Partnership

From the Environmental Protection Agency:

Two major companies based in New England, Staples and Timberland, were among 17 national leading organizations recently recognized by EPA for taking voluntary steps to use and purchase green power.

EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program helping to increase the use of green power among U.S. organizations. There are currently hundreds of partners utilizing green power to reduce the environmental impacts from conventional electricity generation, including Fortune 500 companies, local, state and federal governments, trade associations as well as colleges and universities. Each of the award winners are EPA Green Power Partners who must meet or exceed EPA purchase requirements for green power.

“Integrating environmental leadership into the corporate world is one of the important steps in addressing environmental problems, including climate change,” said Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “When large companies such as Staples and Timberland make the move to use green power, it sends a strong message that alternative power sources are becoming more viable.”

Timberland, an outdoor retail company based out of Statham, N.H. with 78 stores throughout the U.S., is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2010. Their strategies to achieve this goal include their investment in green power, energy efficiency improvements, and the purchasing of wind-based renewable energy certificates (RECs). At their California distribution center, a 400 kilowatt on-site solar array produces approximately 60 percent of the facilities electricity needs. At every retail location Timberland communicates their green power commitment to customers by providing coupon brochures that also describe the benefits of wind power along with a web link for individual action. Store windows display stickers about their carbon neutral commitment and footwear packaging includes “nutritional information” detailing Timberland’s green power promise.

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Buy Prescription Sunglasses Online with REI's Rx in a Box

From Paddling Instructor:

This fall, Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) and Smith Optics will join forces to bring Smith's premium Rx sunglass services to REI customers. The new offering, dubbed Rx in a Box, will provide a convenient, in-store alternative for both near- and far-sighted customers shopping for corrective sunglasses designed for use in outdoor pursuits.

Rx in a Box provides REI members and customers with a simple two-step process in shopping for Smith Optics' prescription products. First, customers purchase the custom-packaged Rx in a Box ($250 retail price). Inside they will find a unique one-time use ATM-like card containing a unique purchase code, along with details for submitting their prescription information. Second, the purchaser visits the secured Smith Optics Prescription Portal (www.smithoptics.com) and enters information from the card to order their prescription shades, eliminating the need to visit an optometrist or other licensed optical dispenser.

"By rolling out this exciting program with REI, we are taking a great step towards simplifying the process of selecting and purchasing prescription sunglasses," said Eric Carlson, Smith Optics vice president of product and design. "Rx in a Box allows customers to see it before they buy it, and easily customize their lens and frame selection online."

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Retailers, Conservation Alliance Members Support Colorado Wilderness

Via OIA:

A group of four Conservation Alliance members traveled to Washington DC to talk to members of Congress about the importance of securing new Wilderness designations in Rocky Mountain National Park and elsewhere in Colorado.

Representatives from Chaco, GoLite, Outdoor Industry Association, and The Conservation Alliance spent two days in meetings with 14 Congressional offices to show support for legislation that would protect 250,000 acres of federal land within the iconic park as Wilderness. The group also voiced support for efforts to protect 20,000 acres along the Arkansas River in central Colorado, and 150,000 acres in the Dominguez Canyon region of western Colorado.

The Conservation Alliance organized the trip in conjunction with the Colorado Environmental Coalition (CEC) (www.ourcolorado.org) a recent Conservation Alliance grant recipient.

“When possible, we like to supplement our financial support with on-the-ground advocacy,” said John Sterling, Conservation Alliance Executive Director. “Our member companies recognize the value of protecting wild places for non-motorized use.”

Conservationists in Colorado have been working for more than 30 years to protect Rocky Mountain National Park as Wilderness. More recent campaigns have grown around protecting Brown’s and Dominguez Canyons.

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Canadian Outdoor Leader Advocates Green Practices

From CBC News:

Canadian businesses can lead the country to better embrace the environment if they abandon their traditional short-term blinders, says the head of the country's largest retail co-operative.

"I don't understand why businesses don't do the math a bit better because almost everything you can do on energy, packaging, green operations, shopping bags, if you look out a little bit farther than one quarter, one year, you actually save money," Paul Robinson, CEO of Mountain Equipment Co-op told reporters after addressing the Canadian Club of Montreal.

"So when I say that business in Canada has a conservative bias it's because they leave money on the table for these things."

Studies suggest a company can boost its profits by 38 per cent by pursuing a good sustainability program, he said.

It can also gain a valuable reputation.

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Timberland Launches TV Ads for Sustainable Boots

From MediaPost Publications:

AFTER A LONG ABSENCE FROM TV advertising, Timberland is back on the air, with 30-second spots for its new Earthkeepers boots, made partly from recycled materials. The ads, which will run through December in the New England region, represent what the Stratham, N.H., marketer believes is a first: It has estimated the carbon-dioxide emissions associated with the energy used to broadcast the ad, offsetting them with a wind farm in western Massachusetts.

"Looking for more sustainable ways to do things is part of our DNA," says Charlie Raynes, senior manager of marketing for the company. "We've been including this kind of questioning in our print advertising RFPs for years, and we've been using recycled materials for our out-of-home advertising for some time."

So when it came time to create the $1.5 million campaign for Earthkeepers, one of its most environmentally friendly offerings yet, "we really wanted to challenge ourselves, and figure out if we could do this." (Arnold is Timberland's creative agency; Mullen's mediaHUB is the media agency. Both are based in Boston.)

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Major Retailers Focus on Different Niches of the Outdoor Market

From the CT Courant:

The crowded field raises one big question: Are there enough "outdoorsy" shoppers in tiny Connecticut to support so many retailers? Industry experts say yes.

Last year, sales at specialty outdoor stores, not including hunting- and fishing-related sales, rose 8 percent to $4.5 billion over the previous year's figures. And though Connecticut is geographically small, in 2006 it ranked 14th in per capita sales at outdoor stores in the U.S., according to the Outdoor Industry Association in Boulder, Colo.

Finding a niche is the key to survival, retail experts say. And outdoor retailers know it, so they're quick to differentiate their products from the competition's.

Shoppers won't find rifle scopes, ammunition or Mossy Oak camouflage at an REI store. The environmentally sensitive retailer's products target "self-propelled" enthusiasts: kayakers, mountain climbers, hikers, snowboarders, skiers and bicyclists.

"We're a toy store for grownups," said Castle, who bicycles to work because he doesn't own a car.

Cabela's, on the other hand, appeals to the "hook and bullet" crowd, said Sam Moulton, senior editor of Outside magazine. "Hunting and fishing is really their forte," Moulton said.

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How To Get More Traffic on Your E-retail Site: Columbia Sportswear's Story

From Marketing Sherpa:

Effective merchandising can be a problem for even the smartest eretailers. The puzzle gets more complicated if you don’t sell directly to customers but rely on eretail partners.

See how a leading outdoor sportswear manufacturer generates more qualified leads for their partners through a redesigned site and emails that target their customers’ lifestyles. The customized newsletters are getting 19.7% higher clickthroughs, and the average dollar value of each prospective sale is up 44.4%.

Columbia Sportswear Company’s Web site wasn’t turning traffic into enough qualified leads for their eretail partners. Site visitors and newsletter recipients simply weren’t getting enough targeted information or ample reason to click through.

“There wasn’t any sense of communicated understanding about the activities our consumers take part in,” says Daria Colner, Internet Marketing Manager. “I definitely believed that we needed to connect on a deeper level. We wanted to let people who are into hunting know that we understand their world. It had to be more than just, ‘Oh, here’s a jacket …’ Overall, we had to see if these could make us more of a resource to anyone who has a love for an activity.”

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