Channel Mastery - Ep. 156: Andrew Osborn, VP of Brand Creative at Outdoor Research
“As consumers, as individuals, as humans, we, how we interact with brands, changes and evolves at all times, we go through these micro paradigms where we're really excited about a certain trend. Cranberry juice popped off last year with the, the viral cranberry juice video along with fleet Fleetwood Mac. So there's these like really like interesting, exciting micro trends that happen, but then there's also macro trends of how consumers interact with brands and those macro trends. I get really interested and excited about when we move from one to the other.”
- Andrew Osburn, Outdoor Research VP of Brand Creative
EPISODE PREVIEW:
In this episode of Channel Mastery, I am joined by Andrew Osborn. Andrew became the VP of Brand Creative at Outdoor Research, a beloved Verde Brand Communications client, after years of working in creative studios and on the design side of advertising agencies. He started at Outdoor Research just weeks before Covid-19 hit the states and has played a pivotal role in rebranding and guiding creative efforts throughout 2020 and is leading the charge into 2021.Outdoor Research proved to be the leader of innovation and product development when they pivoted their productions early in the pandemic to create their face masks. In this interview, we dive into Andrew’s past work, how they quickly shifted production in the pandemic, where OR is headed next, and what 2021 has in store for brand storytelling, consumer engagement, hard goods marketing, and more.
GUEST PROFILES:
Andrew Osborn
With a background in design and interactive experience, Andrew Osborn is a creative director who blends passion and profession with a strategic focus in the athletics and outdoor industries. He currently serves as Vice President of Brand Creative at Outdoor Research.
SELECT QUOTES:
“It was Dan Norris from one of our owners, one of our founders. He's sort of a patriarch of sorts. He always says ‘Don't ever waste a crisis.’ So that attitude really permeates the building. And as an organization, we have a lot of people who are sort of young in their tenure, in the organization and all are coming from pretty burly experiences. And so for me, specifically, coming from an agency background, you exist much more nimbly in the agency world...You were sort of always reacting, always learning, iterating and implementing new solutions. And so when 2020 sort of showed us it’s true self, we sort of snapped into a little bit of that reaction. There is always opportunity in a trying time. And we saw the opportunity to bring a new product, find a market, implement some of these rebrand structures and really do so in a manner that was really true to the history of the organization.”
“It's [2020] accelerated all of this consumer mindset trend that we've been seeing for the last, you know, 24 months to three years of focus on sustainability, buying more than a product, wanting to be a part of a community, it's accelerated all of that. And so when you approach these content systems empathetically and try and put yourself in the consumer's mindset and bring them to the front of that, of that decision making tree, bring that into the front of that process rather than starting with a product or an idea, and trying to tell it to a consumer at the end it really makes a meaningful connection.”
“As consumers, as individuals, as humans, we, how we interact with brands, changes and evolves at all times, we go through these micro paradigms where we're really excited about a certain trend. Cranberry juice popped off last year with the, the viral cranberry juice video along with fleet Fleetwood Mac. So there's these like really like interesting, exciting micro trends that happen, but then there's also macro trends of how consumers interact with brands and those macro trends. I get really interested and excited about when we move from one to the other.”