PAUL MITCHELL'S BOOK

IT'S THE GEAR THAT ALL FISH FEAR.

There is a fine line between fishing and just standing by the side of a river looking lost. And that fine line is the new line of Performance Fishing Gear that helps turn fishing into catching. 

The brand team asked the e-comm team for the home page to market the new line of Performance Fishing Gear. They wanted a message that spoke to those who eat, sleep and drink fishing.

The copy is a breakdown of a classic fishing joke, but one that also works if you've never heard the joke. The headline was universally loved by the brand team and was used for almost a year in emails, banners and product descriptions.  

IT'S LIKE HIDING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.

Fish aren’t spooked by what they can’t see. And if what they can’t see is you wearing UV activated camo and waving a giant stick, then it’s too late, they’ve already bit.

To a fish, this super-expensive shirt disappears in the sun. So I wrote a line that spins on a slightly idiomatic phrase and that works well next to a man who is clearly in plain sight.

The copy speaks to the hardcore but is aspirational to the enthusiast. It also had to tease the new technology. This email out-performed expectations by several hundred units and the tech video got all kinds of love.

TALK ABOUT YOUR SICK DAYS.

A foot of fresh, feverish powder can strike even the healthiest. Get ready to get sick. 

On top I’m simply playing off the word “sick” and speaking to the slope junkies and shred heads who will do anything to hit a mid-week powder day.

In addition to the “hero” up top, our buyers had a lot of hats they were needing to sell and asked that we dedicate a “sub hero” on the home page to help clear them out. I put "I love your hat!" in quotes to speak to both the awesomeness of the hat and to the way it'll make you feel. Everyone digs a compliment, right? It was the most successful "sub-hero" in both clicks and sales. 

SUMMER HOT, AND SOME ARE COOL. 

Experience next-to-skin-comfort this summer in Omni-Freeze fabric that feels cool to the touch, all day long. 

I know some people like to frown on word play, but not the people on our mailing list, they eat it up! Anyway, we needed a line that got our customers thinking about the hot weather ahead and how comfortable it is to be wearing Omni-Freeze fabric.

This was the "B" in an A-B test, both emails sold essentially the same, but this line weirdly had a much higher open rate, more eyeballs that could turn into sales at a later, hotter date.   

SHIRTS THAT SAY “SHOO!”

Insect Blocker Apparel, the ultimate alternative to repellents and lotions. 

For a shirt that repels insects this was the perfect line, and one that also worked as the perfect bridge to the next product on the home page, the one closer to the fold, the subtle push that gets our reader that much more likely to see all the content.

THESE COLORS DO RUN

Our bold, new colors aren’t the new black, they’re the new fast. 

Montrail, they are the runners' shoe, it’s the shoe that many runners will buy five or six pair at a time. But this season the only thing that was new was their colors. So we did a color story with an edgy headline and copy that played off a popular show at the time. Montrail eventually was brought under the Columbia brand, which I think was a bad idea.  

It’s Between You And The Elements

Performance layering, the dependable solution to an unpredictable forecast. 

Mountain Hardwear wanted to tell a layering story, and they sell to the rugged individuals, the Ice Pirates and the Dirtbags who climb ice and rock, the truly hardcore.

So I came up with a line that speaks to both the layers themselves and to the attitude that all climbers share, that the elements will kill you if you're not prepared.  

TRAIL CALLED, SAID HIT IT. 

And if you hit it in a shoe with FluidFoam you’ll never feel it hitting you back. Introducing the new FluidFeel II, the ultimate all-terrain running shoe. 

The client wanted to tout their super-comfortable FluidFoam technology. I came up with "hitting the trail," a line that speaks to the obsessed trail runners and to the comfort of these shoes throughout the gait cycle, specifically the heel strikes. 

MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR, MOUNTAIN RESCUE. 

We are pleased and honored to be the apparel and equipment partner of Air Zermatt, an elite team dedicated to the science of mountain safety and survival. 

Hardwear wanted to announce a new partnership Air Zermatt. They loved the cadence of this line and the way it associated itself to mountain safety and to the men and women who lay it all on the line to rescue stranded climbers.

I love that they didn't want to sell anything on this one.

The client asked for a line that simply spoke to runners in general and to distance runners specifically. They didn’t want to make it a technology message.

Anyway, I this line came to me when I was driving home, very slowly. The client loved it, which was great as it was my very first assignment with Razorfish, back when it was called something else.  

SOMETIMES YOU NEED TO VENT. 

Same goes for your feet. Introducing the Techlite Vent series, designed to drain fast and keep you fresh while you run off some steam in a storm. 

Columbia sells a lot of footwear that drains and vents, in this case a lightweight running shoe for all conditions. They loved this line because it spoke to hardcore runners who run in all conditions, to runners who run to reduce stress, and, of course, to the technology in the shoes.