Channel Mastery - Ep. 111: Annelise Loevlie, CEO of Icelantic Skis
Icelantic Skis
activating + growing community through brand experiences
“What I am seeing, which is so encouraging and makes me really happy is I am seeing more women coming into leadership positions in general, whether that's in the media or just like other companies within the industry … I'm seeing a lot more communities of women coming together to do work. …. I think that's really cool because one thing that I think women are innately just kind of more attuned to is the power of community and come out the power of - we're better together rather than separate.”
- Annelise Loevlie
EPISODE PREVIEW:
Unless you’ve been happily living under a rock, if you’re in the outdoor recreation industries, you’ve heard about specialty brand leader, Annelise Loevlie. She’s the beloved CEO of Icelantic Skis, a brand that’s figured out how to be concurrently established, yet also, new and young. Icelantic Skis are designed and manufactured in Colorado, and the brand is well known for changing it up in terms of distribution, events and brand activations. That’s what we’re here to talk about today; how Icelantic leverages a continually refreshed channel strategy. She and the team are constantly hacking what works with their channels to be where their brand fans and consumers want them to be. It focuses on wholesale partners, their own sell direct channel, and is driven by an innovative mix of content marketing, social media and good, old-fashioned embedding with their community in-person. How many CEO’s do you know who work a promotional sale with retail, in person, over the long Labor Day holiday - every single year? Back in 2006, Icelantic Skis won ISPO’s “Best Hardgood for the Year,” in Munich, Germany, which launched them in the ski industry world-wide. The team at Icelantic Skis has not stopped making headlines or catalyzing the conversation online since. In this episode, you’ll hear first-hand how Annelise has led a direct-first brand through continual evolution of a multiple channel strategy driven by what their target consumer wants from them. Their strategies include unique approaches to the festival scene, innovative artistic partnerships, video content, consistent relationships with key brick and mortar shops, showcasing of product at resorts, online sales and more. Icelantic’s success is community-inspired and that can only work with an independent, yet nimble brand within the outdoor recreation industries.
GUEST PROFILES:
Annelise Loevlie
Annelise Loevlie is CEO at Icelantic Skis, an award-winning and internationally recognized ski brand with a stalwart and highly engaged following. The company prides itself on American craftmanship, top of the line materials and cutting edge graphic art.
TOPICS COVERED:
Icelantic Skis, Direct First Strategy, Music Festivals, Winter on the Rocks, Inclusiveness, Women as Leaders, Female CEO
SELECT QUOTES:
“...A rising tide floats all ships. And the more we're essentially creating customers all the time from within Icelantic and all those customers are going to go to these retailers...I think it {direct first} probably enhanced our relationship with all of our wholesalers just because we wanted to be extra mindful and take care of them. So, yeah, no negative consequences at all, only positive.“
“...Return to nature is really important for us to continue to remember to work from within and...just listen to what's going on at our core and in our nucleus and to work from there because that's what's going to ultimately separate us from the competition and essentially fortify us from or against invaders… it's brand positioning...I think that and consumers have a choice nowadays, so much more choices nowadays and so much more access to information on companies and brands and practices and values and everything like that.”
“What I am seeing, which is so encouraging and makes me really happy is I am seeing more women coming into leadership positions in general, whether that's in the media or just like other companies within the industry … I'm seeing a lot more communities of women coming together to do work. …. I think that's really cool because one thing that I think women are innately just kind of more attuned to is the power of community and come out the power of - we're better together rather than separate.”
“...It's less a question of like more women in leadership and more a question of the acceptance and celebration of the feminine qualities in leadership. That's what I think about a lot. And with us because I feel so lucky that I have been as kind of like a co-producer of this journey that we call Icelantic because we're so yin and yang, like we {Ben Anderson and I} compliment each other so well. And having him and all of his very masculine, active qualities, it balances out my like yin, more like communal sort of more being qualities.”