Strategically Communicating

Poler is very cleverly drawing in customers by taking advantage of its target market’s fascination with social media. This company certainly took a lesson from the same theory behind “Exploring the Audience’s Role: A Decoding Model for the 21st Century.” Take a PBR-drinking, trucker-cap, very-unattractive-sleeping-bag-wearing-camping-enthusiast and ask him to post photos of himself going about his day on Instagram and Voila! You have a new brand. Buy products directly at Tumblr featured in their blog posts, tweet about it, like them on Facebook, view their Adventures series, find them on Pinterest, or view an instructional video from Dr. Dan. And if you’re a bit old fashioned, catch a party at their flagship store on NW 13th and Burnside. An enthusiastic following is posting and talking about themselves in very creative ways. As Kenyon, Wood & Parsons state in this week’s article, “As audiences are no longer “passive” viewers of advertisements, it is imperative that a communication model pays tribute to the fact that audiences are interactive participants in the sophisticated decoding of advertisements.” Poler’s customers are imaginatively projecting themselves into the brand. As Poler says of its products, “It’s for people that wonder why everyone is trying to pretend they are going to do first ascents on alpine peaks instead of celebrating the fact that they are having adventures that are awesome in their own way.” It’s so uncool; it’s really kinda cool. (I want one of their backpacks!)