I’ve been recently working on outlining the tone that should be used for the development of creative for one of our clients. To help give me guidance a coworker said, “Describe the brand as if it was a person.” Immediately I thought of Trapper John – the “voice” of Moosejaw.
Moosejaw, a relatively small outdoor gear and apparel retailer based in Ann Arbor, MI has several stores throughout the Midwest. Even given is size, Moosejaw has one of the biggest followings of brand evangelists I’ve ever seen. I would even to go as far as to use the term “groupies”.
While the products they offer – North Face, Burton, Merrell - could be found on numerous other websites or stores the loyalty to Moosejaw is unwavering. This loyalty can be largely attributed to the “voice” of the brand. Their consistent brand personality is so well executed it seems as though it was a forethought to the building of the brand.
Trapper John is that voice. He’s a single guy (as of recently) who started the company with his family. He’s down on his luck with girls and is always running into awkward situations in life. He has a witty, tongue-in-cheek, unpretentious humor that he filters throughout the website, emails, catalogue, and his MySpace page (which has 4572 friends, but “We want 10,327”).
I don’t miss an email from Moosejaw – in fact I save them – but let’s keep that our little secret. While the emails, of course, feature products they also contain stories about Trapper John’s dating and personal life and the Moosejaw office stories.
You can’t help but love Trapper John and in turn love Moosejaw. His voice is consistently present in every consumer touch point – bringing the brand to life and making it feel much more personal.
I recommend you explore their website for examples of how Moosejaw integrates a consistent brand voice into everything they do. For a good read: click here to read the story behind the brand.
Well written article.
Posted by: Rimona | October 22, 2008 at 11:06 AM