Business 11th Edition by William Pride,Robert Hughes ,Jack Kapoor

Exercise 1

Mother and Son Team Flourish at Columbia Sportswear
Gert Boyl is "one tough mother." Not only is she the chairperson of the board for Columbia Sportswear, but she has also been its advertising spokeswoman. Gert assumed control of Columbia Sportswear 35 years ago after her husband Neil passed away unexpectedly. Gert, with her son Tim's help, reported for duty a mere four days after Neil's death to take the reins of the struggling company-a company that has flourished under their tough leadership.
Founded by Gert Boyle's parents in 1938, Columbia Sportswear is a global leader in the design, marketing, and distribution of active outdoor apparel and footwear. The $1.2 billion company employs more than 2,700 people and markets its products in 100 countries through more than 13,000 retailers as well as its own stores and Web site. As one of the world's largest outerwear brands and the leading seller of skiwear in the United States, the company has developed an international reputation for quality, performance, and value.
Columbia Sportswear has worked hard over the years to develop its image of offering high-quality products. It promotes itself and its products by sponsoring outdoorsy events such as bass-fishing contests, marathons, kayaking events, and snowboarding competitions. In addition, the company uses print and television advertising, plus a strong public-relations program, to promote its brand and its quality products.
One of its most successful ad campaigns featured Gert and her son, Tim Boyle, as an outgrowth of their relationship since they began running the company together. According to people who know them, Tim and his mother have argued from the beginning about how to run Columbia Sportswear. A director of the company says, "Tim and Gert are a lot like the Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau characters in The Odd Couple. They complain all the time, and yet they cherish each other."
Over 20 years ago, Borders, Perrin Norrander, the company's former advertising agency, came up with an idea to use the relationship between Gert and her son to develop an identity for the company-an identity beyond technical claims about product quality. They developed an ad campaign that portrays Gert as "one tough mother," who uses her son to demonstrate that Columbia Sportswear clothes will protect whoever wears them under any weather conditions. Gert appears as a hard-driving mother who refuses to accept anything but the highest quality of products, for both her son and her company. The ads were so successful at positioning and promoting Columbia Sportswear's products that Gert and Tim became the company's ad staples.
Showing Gert put her son through a series of catastrophic tests to demonstrate product durability reinforced the brand's quality and unique positioning. In one commercial, Gert drives an SUV with Tim strapped on top through a series of severe weather situations to show that this clothing is protecting him. The ending scene is a close-up of the jacket he is wearing with the tagline "Tested Tough."This theme is continued through a series of commercials that depict Tim in a number of cold-weather survival situations, such as being dropped on the top of a snow-covered mountain by a helicopter piloted by Gert. In all cases, Tim is unharmed and Gert is unconcerned-all because he is wearing Columbia Sportswear clothing.
One of the company's classic commercials shows Gert in a biker bar. The audio track says, "In a world of rugged individuals, only one is the toughest mother of them all. Mother Gert Boyle-maker of tough mother jeans."The audience sees a close-up of Gert with a "Born to Nag" tattoo on her bicep before the spot ends with a product shot of Columbia jeans. More recently, the company has continued its irreverent approach to communications with print and television ads focused on new products such as the Bugathermo heated boot for winter. With U.S. sales continuing to rise, and a pipeline of new products to put through their paces, Columbia Sportswear is living up to the tough standards that Gert has always set. 16
What are the characteristics of Columbia's target audience, and how do these appear to be affecting its advertising?