Hey! We’re Running Depressing Press Releases. Is There Any Good News? Happy Stuff?
By Tom Chandler on Jan 10, 2007 in Underground Entertainment
This morning I’ve already written two largely depressing conservation stories and a post based on the AEG’s press release.
What’s left? Any good news that I won’t have to work too hard for? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Orvis?
Through our Round Up for Charity drive and matching gift campaigns for the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the Trees for Trout program on Colorado’s South Platte River, the Battenkill Restoration Fund, and Casting for Recovery, Orvis met and exceeded our goals, helping us fund the important work of these worthy nonprofit organizations.
Sure, it’s fashionable to poke at Orvis with a pointed stick because they sell gold-plated duck decoys and nuclear-powered, self-warming dog beds, but they’re one of the fly fishing companies that puts their money where their conservation mouth is.
Or course, it helps that they then turn around and let people know about their conservation efforts. (Hallo - is the rest of the industry listening here?)
Screen shot from an Orvis e-mail. Fly Fishing Industry: note actual pictures of good things.
I admit to some amount of vexation (you don’t see much vexation these days, but there it is) with the fly fishing industry as a whole. Marketing is stone age, and even the good stuff people do goes largely unnoticed because building and using an e-mail list is apparently beyond most companies.
Before I turn this into a wide-ranging rant against the fly fishing industry, I’m going to stop and get back to work. You know, for my clients who actually market.
(FULL DISCLOSURE: Because my marketing brilliance is all that stands between me and living a cardboard box on the Upper Sacramento, I performed a couple hours of market research for Orvis unrelated to the Trout Underground and their gold-plated duck decoys. Just so you know.)
[tags]conservation, cheetah, mccloud red band trout, batten kill, orvis[/tags]
kbarton10 | Jan 10, 2007 | Reply
I understand the vexation you must feel, Sensei …but you are up against nearly 1000 years of angling tradition.
The first lesson taught to all new anglers -is never reveal any information about “the secret spot.”
Young anglers turn into old farts that piss away Daddy’s inheritance on an angling venture … using the same principles in their marketing.
Don’t tell nobody nothing.
At this tertiary stage, “the secret spot” has morphed into a much broader secrecy layer, covering everything from sections of a river never to mention, and the fact that Ritt “Maple Sugar” dye is the secret color used on Cal Bird’s Birdnest pattern (what knocks SNOT outta the fish).
Having worked in many flyfishing stores, I can say with certainty, that every millionaire I have met brought the million from another business, and did not earn it in our beloved sport.
The beauty of it all is that you are assured many opportunities to ply your craft for these nabobs, and are assured a steady supply of fly rods as compensation.
Tom Chandler | Jan 10, 2007 | Reply
Ahh, the origin of fly fishing’s “hide your marketing light under a bushel” strategy is finally revealed.
The navel-gazing genius of this strategy should be plain to everyone interested in fewer anglers on the water and more expensive equipment in the shops.
I stand in awe.