Lucky Lake Trip – September 2016

A great trip description here from Cascade Hiking Adventures.

And a few pictures that I recently shot (we did about 18 miles over 2.5 days). Beautiful country.

Looking up at the evening sky from camp at Lucky Lake, Oregon.

The evening sets on Cliff Lake in the Three Sisters Wilderness, Oregon.

This is a similar shot, slightly different angle. I liked both of these pictures for different reasons. The first one is more intimate and that’s how it really feels there. The second one starts to open up the sky a bit more.

 

South Sister, September 2016 –

Broken Top (one of my personal favorite mountains!) –

Mt. Bachelor, September 2016, not much snow up there –

 

AMA Award Announcement – Best Video

Proud of the entire CRKT marketing team and pleased to announce our recent win of the American Marketing Association’s MAX Award for Best Video.

Much work went into this campaign by many, so this really was a team win. I’d like to specifically call out Ben Petersen as he did the heavy lifting for the video production on this special project. Excellent job Ben + team.

I also want to bring attention to the struggle that military #veterans coming home deal with on a daily basis. In the Forged By War program, we’re honored to work with a few of America’s finest. Please give in the way that you feel is important to you and yours.

On a personal note, I’d also like to take a minute to say thank you to those that have directly mentored my own sales + marketing career adventure. I’ve been so fortunate to work for, and with, the best.

Specifically – Damon Valentino, Rick Orr, Larry Mattera, Marc Robertson, Doug Flagg, and Lisa Peyton.

I wish you were all here. I could put all of you in the same room together and listen for hours.

Watch the award winning video and all of the Forged By War video series here –

 

 

#marketing #video #contentmarketing #videomarketing

Short Hot Summer

It’s been a bit of a short, hot, summer here in Tigardland. No air conditioning in the pad has forced my hand to hug two blue ice blocks in a Ziploc bag, dropped into a pillow case, to suffice as my significant other on these scorching evenings. Ceiling fan intact and rotating; certainly not high brow, although growing up in North Bend, I’ve never been accused of that.

Those that know me best, know that I love photography. I am certainly not a pro, just a simple enthusiast. I post a lot of pictures on my blog for a reason, there are times in my life when pictures sum it up better than story. That’s your trigger warning for not much text, just a few seasonal images to follow –

Listening lately:

Oasis.

Color:

That dawn/early evening sky blue. This one.

Feeling:

Sunset Bay sand in between toes.

Taste:

Why does mexican food, specifically, everything with a fresh lime squeezed on it, taste so good during hot weather spells?

Bornzin pride:

Dad finished third book, nephew finished basic and AIT training.

Enjoy + stay cool.

Summer started by going after salmon on the Willamette River, up close to the Falls, this shot is from the bow of the H.M.S. Avocado, we saw one too many sea lions up the river this year. Most of these are iPhone pics, so hang in there –

On the home couch in Silverton, Oregon. Remember that blue sky favorite color I mentioned at the top of this post, this is it –

We headed off to the Blade Show (the world’s largest custom knife + tool consumer show) in Atlanta for work in early June to release the new Field Strip Technology innovation, designed by world-class knife maker and inventor, Ken Onion. We had a line out the door for Ken and brought home an award for “Most Innovative” design. We also won Best Buy of the Year for the Brian Tighe designed Tighe Tac Two, another banner year for Columbia River Knife & Tool.

Honored to work with such remarkable custom makers –

Field Strip Technology hero shot –

 

So obviously that calls for a bit of a celebratory dinner –

I found a rock in downtown Portland that was dedicated to a mentor and teacher of mine (Lisa Peyton) from the Portland State University Digital Marketing Strategy program –

A view of the Union Bank Tower on Broadway –

Near the end of the summer, Tom (thanks Tom!) took us out for some catch and release Sturgeon fishing on the sandy banks of Hood River, where it flows into the mighty Columbia –

If you work hard for change and progress in business then you will be able to appreciate this one as well, although it is questionable if Plato is the actual source –

 

And this one that flowed through my social feed recently that I liked, not sure who to attribute, a good one for work –

 

 

 

 

2016 SHOT Show Round Up

Every year we head out to the SHOT Show to showcase our new wares for important customers, the professional audience, dealers, industry folks, bloggers, old friends, YouTuber’s, who are my personal favorite group (CRKT 2016 YouTube Playlist), and influential press/publicity contacts.

It is an exciting time as we are showing many new products and receiving a visceral, industry-centric reaction.

Ken Onion‘s new knife the Outrage was very well received and Ken’s continued presence as the premiere designer for CRKT shown through all content assets and signage of the show –

Ken Onion CRKT SHOT Show 2016

Over the years the show has become less about writing orders, as we see our customers earlier and earlier in the year (these days), and more about showing off the brand, with innovative product displays, announcing exciting partnerships, talking with our friends, and generating new release press + publicity.

There is also a strange phenomena that I have dubbed “booth envy” in the trade show world. Where brands have to outdo each other and who has the biggest, loudest, booth presence reigns supreme. For years in knives, that has basically been Gerber (examples 1st with Zombie craze here…and here…ouch that booth blows…). Now that Gerber‘s dominance is on the wane, others have certainly stepped up. Under Armour comes to mind and always has an impressive showing.

We had two big announcements this year about the Ruger Knives and Forged By War…learn more here – Ruger Knives and Forged By War. More to come on Forged By War; a worthy cause that stories are just starting to come to fruition…stay tuned.

I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you a few of our video efforts. While it takes a team for the whole show to come together and be pulled off successfully, the YouTube videos really end up being the highest visibility assets generated from the show. They live on long after the event and end up being the go-to spots for the knife and tool consumer to find out (and comment on)…and interact with us, our new programs, the brands, and most importantly our designers (see Designers Round Table video here from Going Gear).

Round up follows –

My interview with The Late Boy Scout –

mixflip came by early in the show and got a scoop fast –

A painful example of when your voice starts to give out from my interview with Tim from Everyday Tactical Vids –

The good news is that Ben was there to help out and work with our friends on YouTube. Here is one of Ben’s greatest hits this year with Blade HQ –

We always appreciate seeing our friends at Blade HQ, that being said Ben did actually end up getting “meme ‘d” on Instagram with David from Ultimate Survival Tips…a lot of fun that you have to check out! Over the last week or so they just keep getting better –

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/crktmeme/

It was also great to finally meet the Knife News guys in person and catch up with them directly. Check out their coverage Knife News SHOT Show Coverage.

We’re always honored when Nutnfancy comes by the booth at SHOT. He even took the time to look into our very important partnership this year with Ruger. While we don’t always agree (you can view his video here about his take on “add on” brands) we have always appreciated his honest and up front view on the industry at large and the revolution that he set off in education content generation and knife industry community engagement. There is no one quite like him and we respect his presence in the marketplace. Frankly, all positive (or negative) reviews aside….we welcome it. I’m personally happy that he and I can both agree on the CRKT Drifter. My favorite CRKT EDC and Nutnfancy reviewed here.

All in all another great, successful, SHOT Show for Columbia River Knife & Tool!

As a personal added bonus addendum..if you have never seen the MC5’s A True Testimonial documentary, my friend linked to this on Vimeo here. If you love rebellious rock’n roll as much as I do…enjoy the freedom (while it’s up).

We were all excited about releasing this “Who We Are” video before SHOT this year to generate buzz and excitement among our contact base –

 

 

What’s New for 2016 at CRKT – Link here.

I would also send out a gigantic thank you to the Blue Collar Agency team in Hood River for an exceptional design job for the booth….incorporating all of our needed elements gloriously and seamlessly throughout the experience, this post isn’t really about booth design…I am contemplating creating an entire post dedicated to their remarkable efforts.

Thank you Ryan, Patrick, Ben, Lindsey, Paul (for leading early), Rod and Mark (for trusting our creative vision, thank you), and of course…Doug (my boss)…Doug, your immediate trust is most felt and appreciated….and of course MOST importantly, ALL of our designer roster. We couldn’t do what we do without your creative works and incredible contributions to the cause, thank you for this continued and successful marketplace partnership. – jb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New CRKT Video

Particularly proud of this project.

Gratitude to the Blue Collar Agency Team, North + Nomad, and all of the involved hours and participation from the CRKT staff for seeing this project through.

It takes a team.

Bench Lake

We spent a couple of days up at Bench Lake in the Yakama Nation this weekend.

Here are few pictures from the trip –

Camp Fire

We took a few CRKT products up there with us to mess around with at camp.

We generally recommend not throwing your survival tools. However…we couldn’t resist a couple of good tosses –

When we were making our way back, we stopped to view this rapids drop on the White Salmon River.

It looks like a blast!

North Bend Oregon Trip – 2015

My hometown is North Bend, Oregon.

Many of my coming of age experiences happened there and I still have great friends in the area.

I try and get back at least once a year and this time it was awesome to see a few things finally starting to give economically in this historically depressed area of what Portlander’s call the “South Coast”. I personally prefer the “Redneck Riviera” (respectively).

My brother and I often say you can take the boy of the bay, but you can’t take the bay out of the boy. We both still appreciate the brine in the air, the afternoon wind kicking up, the clear summer days, the rain in all other seasons, and the fall fog rolling in. Referring to Coos Bay of course, the port that at one time was the busiest seaport on the West Coast. Those days have passed, so it was good to see the recently renovated Egyptian Theater doing well and a batch of logs on the docks.

The first view coming into town –

The street we grew up on –

Our old house is being well taken care of (great to see as there were a few bunk years) –

Grandma and Grandpa’s old pad. This place rocked with a sunken living room (very hip) –

Heading up Newmark –

At the top of this hill resides our local TV station where we received the news of the world –

Good to see a record store still open in town –

Where we went to middle school (7th and 8th grades) –

And where we went to High School –

The morning walk-up view –

The field (reminds me of the one in Dazed and Confused and it felt that way at times too) –

Keith was attending his 30th class reunion and it was fun to see old friends. One of the highlights of the events was a bonfire at Bastendorff. It was a perfect Oregon night and everyone was having a great time –

Also very tastefully done was a row of luminaries placed across the beach honoring classmates that had passed. A fitting tribute so their presence could be felt and respectively remembered –

One of our close friends, Byron, was included in the tribute –

The church on Thompson Road where our Dad was the Preacher. Gloria Dei Lutheran. Many fun times and growing up was done here in the youth group with good friends and close families –

A great spot for breakfast/brunch if you are ever in the area –

Good to see a batch of logs ready for shipping, this town needs the commerce –

Kim’s Oriental Market in Coos Bay (I just like the sign) –

And so pleased to see the Egyptian Theater in Coos Bay in full renovation mode, even beating a target financial goal!

In the newly renovated theater, you have to go and see it! The pictures just can’t deliver the experience –

View from the balcony, so happy they blew out those lame shoebox theaters up there that were taking up space in the building –

Even the crushed red velvet chairs are brand new…doesn’t that look inviting and comfortable. Perfect for a night at the movies!

We stopped at Winchester Bay on our way out of town –

We don’t leave town now without hitting our favorite spot for Oysters – The Umpqua Triangle…fresh from the bay this morning. Thanks for the tip Tony!

We saw elk heading out past Loon Lake as well. Take that New York City…6 bulls in NATURE –