Photograph: @knarles_gage on Instagram

Osprey Packs
Katie Kehres
IMS 419 | Fall 2016

Table of Contents
Brand Connection

Brand History

Digital Media Strategy

OspreyPacks.com
Search Results
Global Market
Osprey Europe
Purchasing Osprey Products
Products
Free Stickers
Logging In and Wishlist
Smartphone Access
Stories
Benchmark to Competitors
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Pinterest
Email

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5
6
7
9
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10
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12
13
14
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Social Listening
Mention

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16

Display Ads
Moat

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16

Site Traffic and Sourcing

Similar Web
Google Trends

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Recommendations

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Brand Connection
I chose to focus on Osprey Packs because I have recently gotten into backpacking,
and for my most recent trip, which was on the Appalachian Trail (AT), I borrowed
backpacking equipment from a couple of my friends. I didn t want to invest in my
own equipment unless I was passionate about it. I loved it so much I m planning a
week-long trip for Spring Break.
Now that I m in the market for my own pack, I wanted to look into the most
respected manufacturer of packsOsprey. The pack I borrowed for my first weekend
trip was a teeny 30 liter pack that fit very little since it was not meant to be used for
trips much longer than day hikes. For this reason, my focus of this project is on multiday hiking packs, although Osprey has a stake in other markets, including wheeling
backpacks, day hike packs, hydration packs, and trekking poles.
My friends who had already invested in their packs raved about Osprey; their
reputation for their quality packs is widespread.
I took a trip to my local REI store in Cincinnati a couple weekends ago, finally trying
on the various packs they offer in store. REI carried a variety of packs from Osprey,
Gregory, Deuter, and REI. I tried on all of the women s packs they carried, and for
some reason the Osprey packs fit me uncomfortably. The woman who was helping
me told me that it was probably because I was between sizes (small and medium).
The pack I ended up liking the most for its comfortable fit was the Deuter ACT Lite
75+10 liter, which the employee who was helping me told me has fit over 90 per cent
of customers who have tried it on with her. I was very surprised by this finding, and I
went in set on purchasing an Osprey pack. The one thing I will sacrifice by
purchasing a Deuter pack is the lifetime warranty Osprey offers, which I will cover in
greater detail in the Brand History section.

Brand History
Osprey was founded in 1974 by Mike Pfotenhauer in Santa Cruz, California. It was
originally called Santa Cruz Recreational Packs. Pfotenhauer backpacked in Oregon
as a child with his brothers and father, and his mother taught him how to sew, and at
16 he created his first backpack. From the beginning, Osprey has emphasized the
custom-fit nature of their backpacks. Originally each pack was made-to-order and
created individually for each customer. Mike created the packs himself within a
matter of days.
In 1987, Osprey began to sell wholesale and moved to Dolores, Colorado in an 8,000square-foot-building, where women from the nearby Navajo reservation sewed the
packs. In 1994, Osprey moved its operations to Cortez, Colorado, which is where the
company still operates from. In 2000, Osprey moved its manufacturing to Korea.
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Pfotenhauer moved his family to Vietnam in 2003. Osprey does not currently have
retail stores in the US but does have them in Europe.
In 2009, in celebration of its 35th anniversary, Osprey launched its newly improved
lifetime warranty, the All Mighty Guarantee. Under this warranty, Free of charge,
the company will repair any damage or defect in its product whether it was
purchased in 1974 or yesterday. If Osprey is unable to repair the item, it will happily
replace it. The All Mighty Guarantee: any product, any reason, any era. 1 This
guarantee is unmatched by its competitors.
Osprey s multi-day packs range from $180 to $390, depending on the pack and size.
Osprey s history remains an important part of the company today, as evidenced by
a page dedicated to it on their website with a video to accompany it.

Digital Media Strategy

Osprey s marketing is mostly digital and is carried out through its social media
platforms, or owned media. Osprey utilizes every major social media platform,
including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. In my research, I did
not come across billboards, television ads, or print ads. This suggests that Osprey is
not transmedia.
Osprey s most utilized marketing strategy is earned media, mostly through word-ofmouth (WOM). Osprey relies on its high rates of customer satisfaction to promote its
brand. For example, many of Osprey s posts on social media are reposts of their
customers posts with additional hashtags and a caption. I think this form of
marketing shows that customers are excited about their purchases, and there s not
cost to Osprey to repost these posts of praise. These posts are also a form of
storytelling, which Webs of Influence says companies can use to convince customers
who are on the edge that buying their products is a worthwhile investment.

OspreyPacks.com
Osprey s website has a simple layout with bright solid colors and beautiful images
that feature bright colors. This good design, paired with the website s functionality
is proven to increase a sense of credibility in users, according to Webs of Influence.
Osprey s site does not include banner ads. Wherever Osprey can link to their social
media pages, they do. There are links to Instagram, Facebook, Google Plus, Pinterest,
YouTube, and Twitter in the footer of the website.

From Ospreys History page on the companys website:

http://www.ospreypacks.com/us/en/culture/history

Based on data from Wayback Machine, Osprey updates its website multiple times a
the month. The layout has remained relatively stagnant over the past couple months,
but the content in the blocks has changed. An example of an excellent call to action
they ve utilized on their site is below. It is also an example of using social good to
market.

Osprey s site, November 2016

Search Results
If you know what Osprey s market is, you can easily find the brand by searching
Osprey Packs on Google. This search features the company s website above the
fold. Earlier in the semester when I had done less research on Osprey, I searched
osprey on Google and the result was pictures of the bird, and the brand was not
above the fold. Now that I ve done research, I tried to search osprey again, and
not only was the company s website above the fold, but the two results that came
up before Osprey s official site were REI and Backcountry, which are retailers that
carry Osprey s packs.

Global Market
Osprey has the option to choose your country on their website. They have twentyfour countries to choose from, as well as the option to choose Other. The ability to
chose your country suggests that Osprey has accomplished Natalie Nahai s idea of
glocalisation, because they have adapted their site entirely to personalize it for local
conditions.

Osprey Europe
Osprey has an entirely separate website for its European customers, which is
OspreyEurope.com. This website has its own list of countries to choose from. There
are a couple noticeable differences between this website and the US website,

including the images used, which are more product focused as opposed to people
focused as in the US site.
The UK landing site has much less content than the US site does. The European site
also has a lot of smaller images, while the US site uses larger images that span
across the width of the page. The calls to action on Osprey s European site are very
small and do not grab readers attention like they should. These are highlighted at
the bottom of the screen capture below with red arrows. Compare the US and UK
versions below.

Europe Osprey Website

United States Osprey Website

Purchasing Osprey Products

The biggest issue with Osprey s website is that it is not e-commerce. The price of
each item is listed, and users can choose the size and color of the pack they re
interested in. Once you ve done this, however, you only have the options to Find it
locally or Buy online. If you choose to find a store near you that carries it, you
enter in your location information, and Osprey provides you with a selection of
retailers that carry the product you are interested in. if you choose to buy it online,
you will be transferred to an external retailer s website (the user can choose from a
list of retailers, which includes REI, Moosejaw, Backcountry Gear, and Camp Saver.)
The prices listed on the website are the same as the external retailers prices,
meaning Osprey does not use dynamic pricing online, which is good. And when you
click on the external site s logo, it takes you to the same product you are currently
on, which is also good.
As a customer, this would be frustrating to navigate, especially since the options
listed are not well marked. The placement of these actions below the fold, paired
with the gray background color of the section makes it seem like a section unrelated
to the item in the cart, and some customers undoubtedly overlook it out of
confusion. View this in the screen capture at the top of page 7 (I zoomed out to
capture the cart and the section below it on the same page).

Products
The product pages themselves are incredibly well done. Each product has a
description and headers that describe the pack s best uses. For example, in the
screen capture above, the pack s best uses are described as Backpacking and
Thru-Hiking. This helps people who are new to the backpacking scene understand
if the pack would be a good fit for the activities they re interested in. Each product
page has links to Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter. This is a good start, although
Instagram should also be included.
Each product has a professionally created product video that spans the width of the
page, which makes for easy viewing. This is a smart marketing technique because
one minute of video is worth one million words. These videos feature cheerful music
and an Osprey employee explaining the features of the pack as hikers wearing the
packs adjust the packs to fit and hike through beautiful scenery. However, it s not
overdone or flashy, and the focus remains on the packs.

Each product page features multiple angles of the packs, as well as a section with a
360 degree view of the pack, paired with special features of the pack. This can be
seen in the screen capture below, which explains that internal compression straps
help to stabilize the load, with an image to show how to do this on the Aura pack.

Additionally, there is a related products section based on the products you ve

viewed, which is a good use of personalization.
Osprey has a section for organic reviews on each product, which is run by
PowerReviews. Most packs have all five-star reviews and only have around three to
five reviews, but the one featured in a screen capture at the top of page 9 has 19
reviews and includes a couple negative reviews. When both positive and negative
reviews exist, a section at the top highlights the most liked positive review, as well as
the most liked negative review, which shows that Osprey is open and honest. This
aligns with the social media rules to embrace negative content about your brand,
as well as with Rushkoff s command to Tell the Truth. The review section also
features a table with the best uses for the pack and the top rated pros and cons, as
well as how many people voted on each quality.

Free Stickers
Osprey is doing a couple things that set them apart from their competition. They
have a page on their site for customers to request a free sticker, which is a good
WOM marketing tool. The page estimates a three to four week delivery period, and
my sticker was delivered three weeks after I requested it. I appreciated that they
were upfront and accurate about the delivery period, both of which show goodwill.

Logging In and Wishlist

The website features the ability to create an account and login, although it is not
required to access the site. It was easy to create an account and the process
required minimal information. Once you ve logged in, you have ability to add things
to your Wishlist. At first, I thought this was a great marketing point because it
requires less commitment from customers than adding something to a cart, which is
important in gaining their trust. However, without the option to add items to your
cart, adding items to your wishlist is merely the second-best option.

Smartphone Access
Osprey s website has the same content on smartphones as it does on the desktop
version. The desktop version of the website is divided up into side-by-side squares
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that simply stack vertically on the phone version. It works well and is visually
appealing, in my opinion. The site loads quickly on both smartphones and desktops.

Stories
Osprey refers to their blog posts, which
are written by their brand ambassadors
and customers and featured on their
website, as stories. Multiple stories are
posted on the site each week and are
also shared on Osprey s social media
accounts. These posts contain stories of
adventure and personal experiences
with hiking, camping, and backpacking.
On the site, they are aligned in three
columns, much like Instagram and other
photo-sharing platforms. The pictures
for the posts, as with the pictures
Osprey posts on social media, are clear
and colorful. You can see the layout of
the Stories page in the image to the
right.
One issue with the stories page is that the place to submit stories is on the main
page of the website with the call to action Join the Community Today, which can
be seen in the screen capture below. It is not entirely clear that this is about story
submissions, and it would be helpful if customers could access this submission page
from the stories page, as well.

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Benchmark to Competitors
Osprey s biggest competitor is Gregory Packs. Gregory has a major advantage over
Osprey because their site is e-commerce, and not only that, but they offer free
standard shipping on orders of $99 and up. This is relatively well-advertised on a
banner at the top of Gregory s home page, but when you scroll down, it disappears.
You don t have to enter a code to get this deal, either. It s automatically applied
when you checkout. Like Osprey, Gregory does not have banner ads on its site.
Gregory has quality calls to action on its website. For example, Follow us on
Instagram and Explore Collection, as opposed to Shop Now. However, Gregory
does not have reviews directly on their website. They also do not have videos to
show how each product works and adjusts to fit. Interestingly, in the links to social
media under the products, Instagram is not included, only Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter
Osprey s Twitter has around 67,700 followers and posts many more photos than
Gregory does (Osprey has posted over a thousand, while Gregory has posted
around a hundred). Tweets with a visual component often receive a better response
than just text with links, so Osprey is doing a good job of utilizing Twitter in
accordance with best practices for social media.
Gregory has not posted on Twitter (17.6k followers) in three weeks. Three weeks is
an eternity in social media. This goes against the social media rule update your
page or delete it.

Facebook
Osprey s Facebook page has been liked
126,000 times and features videos, stories
from their website, and giveaways for
customers to enter to win. Osprey prominently
features their customer service email and phone
number, as well as a link to their company s
website and their pages on other social media
platforms, including Instagram and Twitter.
They update their Facebook page often,
multiple times a week. Osprey posts about
events they re hosting across the country and
invites anyone to come. These events happen
about a dozen times a year.
Something that struck me was that Osprey has
pinned a post from May of 2016 about a safety

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notice in regards to one of their child carriers to the top of their feed. The language
they use in the post is urgent and genuine. It asks customers to contact Osprey s
support team and provides both a phone number and an email address. This shows
that the company has taken responsibility and truly cares about their customers
safety and satisfaction.

Instagram
Osprey has 228,000 followers on Instagram and posts nearly once a day in
alignment with the social media rule that Social [media] is 24/7, not a one-time
stunt. The company often reposts pictures their customers take while wearing their
packs in nature across the world. This is a good marketing tactic because it provides
an incentive for customers to post pictures with their gear and tag Osprey s
account, as well as follow the account to see if their picture is reposted.
This is their only social media account with a bio that contains a call to action, and
it s an effective one: Celebrate 40+ years & share your #OspreyPacks photos.
Osprey uses hashtags well and welcomes people to respond and have conversations
with the brand. People want to feel like they belong, and these tactics feed this
desire by making users feel like they are valued and that their stories are being
heard.
Many of Osprey s Instagram posts have captions in a similar format of the post
below. They ask open-ended questions to engage with customers and start
conversations. This aligns with the social media rule Stop and ask: Would an
ACTUAL person talk that way?

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Like Gregory s Twitter, their Instagram (31.5k followers) also hasn t been updated in
three weeks, and up until they stopped posting, they posted multiple times
throughout the week. Gregory also uses an excessive amount of hashtags in a way
that detracts from both the caption and photo.
Additionally, Instagram, as a growing social media platform, should be listed at the
front of the row of icons at the footer of the site as opposed to at the end, which is
where Gregory has placed it. Osprey does this correctly on their site.

YouTube
Osprey s YouTube account has 7,500 followers and over 300 videos. This is
incredible, considering one minute of video, as I mentioned previously, is equivalent
to one million words. Video is a clever marketing tool that engages visitors and
encourages them to engage with the brand. Their videos cover a wide range of
topics and products. Many videos provide tips for hikers, backpackers, and campers,
such as how to pack packs and what to bring on trips. Their product videos are also
located here, and the videos have similar color schemes and appear to have the
same filters. This consistency makes the brand both more recognizable and credible.

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Many of the videos also have people walking and wearing the packs, which is
another recognizable aspect.

Osprey last posted a video a month ago, and the last time Gregory posted a
YouTube video (1k followers) was 2 years ago.

Pinterest
Osprey s Pinterest account has a little over 1,300 followers and 15 boards. These
boards include titles like Backpacking Food, Words to Hike By, Backpacking 101, and
#OspreyAt40. These boards are relevant to their customers and act as a resource
for them to consult with questions. These boards emphasize Osprey s availability
and both desire to help their customers. Their customers who use Pinterest would
most likely be searching for these pins, so for a leader in the backpacking field to
collect and organize the pins is a great marketing strategy.
However, a number of the boards only have between two and four pins within them,
which is not effective. Only keeping boards that have been fully committed to would
make for a better aesthetic and contribute more to the brand s reputation. It takes
away from the boards Osprey uses effectively to digitally market the brand. At the
risk of sounding clich, Pinterest, particularly for brands using it as a marketing tool,
should be about quality, not quantity.
Pinterest is a relevant social media platform, especially for companies with physical
products. Gregory s lack of a Pinterest means they re missing an important
marketing opportunity.

Email
I emailed the customer service email listed on the Osprey s website on December
5th and got a response December 6th. Both of the emails are included below. I
purposely asked an open-ended question about which pack to choose because I

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knew it wouldn t be an easy

question to answer. I
wondered whether they
would refer me to the
company s website for
product descriptions or
whether they would take the
time to explain the delicate
process of choosing the right
pack. Impressively, Joel
Rouse, Osprey s Customer Service Manager, promptly sent back a personal email
with the necessary considerations to make before purchasing a pack with a link to
Osprey s local retailers so I knew where to buy a pack when I decided on one.

I think the logo included after Rouse s signature adds to the company s professional
reputation. It s a small detail, but one that I noticed nonetheless.
I also signed up for Osprey s email list, which is described on their site as helping
visitors Stay up to date on our latest news and promotions and receive exclusive
deals. I received two emails over the course of two months, which was reasonable,
and both were aesthetically pleasing. The emails were broken up into clearly
identifiable sections and contained clear calls to action, such as Explore the Series
and Find us on Spotify, which can be seen in the two images below.

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Social Listening
Mention
I followed Osprey on Mention for about a month, and most of the posts about them
on social media were words of praise for their products from their customers. Some
of the posts had to do with blog posts or giveaways that Osprey or retailers hosted.

Display Ads
Moat
Using Moat, I researched Osprey s display ads, which
are a form of paid media, and more often than not,
their ads do not contain calls to action. They do not
have click-worthy buttons, which is surprising
because their website does an good job with calls to
action. The ad to the right has a clear call to action
Shop now. It s not an outstanding ad, but it

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contains an eye-catching red button to click. This was one of the only ads with a call
to action out of about ten that have run this past year.
The ad below does not have a call to action, and without that, there is little to no
reason to click on the ad.

Site Traffic and Sourcing

Similar Web
The most notable information gathered from Similar Web was that people spend a
longer amount of time on Gregory s website, for an average of about 4 minutes,
whereas people spend around 3 minutes and 30 seconds on Osprey s. I ve come up
with two possible reasons for this.
1.

Visitors find what they re looking for and leave the site quickly via the
checkout links to external retailers.
2. Visitors leave because they are frustrated about not being able to purchase
Osprey s products through their site.
The number of pages per visit is around
68 per cent higher for Gregory (orange)
than Osprey (navy). I would attribute this
to their very different website layouts.
Osprey s landing page has a lot of
information and lends itself to scrolling,
whereas Gregory s landing page has
relatively little information on it and is
more straightforward. This also would
attribute for Osprey s roughly 15 per
cent higher bounce rate. The more
information you receive on the first page,
the less likely you ll need to click on more
pages.
However, Osprey s layout does not show the prices for their packs on the first page,
and not every type of pack is included in the scrolling menu, seen below. If I came to
Osprey s site looking for a hydration pack, I wouldn t see it immediately and might
make the inference that they don t offer them. A solution to this would be to get rid

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of the sliding screen and include the packs not immediately shown immediately
below the packs that are shown to ensure the site visitor sees everything.

Google Trends
Osprey has fluctuated in Google searches over the past five years, and each
September the searches dip, presumably because the weather is not ideal for
backpacking. Searches pick back up around December, presumably because people
give packs as gifts for Christmas. As you can see from the graph, Osprey has
consistently had significantly more searches than its competitors, Deuter and
Gregory, have had. Most recently, all three companies experienced a sharp peak in
searches, followed immediately by a sharp dip in searches. This is a natural,
unavoidable occurrence in companies with products based on seasonal experiences.
Osprey Packs

Gregory Packs da

Deuter Packs da

Recommendations
1.

E-Commerce Site
Turn the current website into an e-commerce site to improve user experience
and make purchasing products a more seamless experience. Customers
should not be burdened with leaving the trusted website of a brand they

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know. People in our culture seek immediate gratification. Taking a step out of
the process to purchase the product would be a huge improvement.
2. Click-Worthy Buttons on Display Ads
Experiment with the content and images for display ads. Include more photos
of people wearing the packs, as opposed to pictures of the packs alone.
Incorporate a call to action in every ad. An ad without one is less effective.
Similarly, experiment with A/B testing on the website in terms of click-worthy
phrases on the buttons.
3. License and Syndicate PowerReviews
Research if licensing and syndicating the reviews gathered on Osprey s site is
an option. The feedback Osprey has gathered is good, so making it available
on other retailers sites, like Moosejaw and REI, and even Amazon, would be a
worthwhile endeavor.
4. Update Pinterest and Create Content
Pinterest works is another one of the social media rules. As a general rule,
Osprey should delete unused boards or keep up with them.
Osprey has done a good job of reposting content, as they do with their other
social media platforms. However, Pinterest is unique in that it lends itself to
brands creating their own pins, particularly because the name and profile link
of original pin creator remains on the pin as it is reposted. That s easy
marketing. Osprey can overtly market their brand by posting links to their
YouTube videos or to their blog posts. They can subtly market their brand by
creating pins with quotes about outdoors and hiking for their Quotes to Hike
By board.

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