KEEN Launches Online HybridLife Community

Posted: 04/01/2009 In Category: Outdoor Manufacturer

Written By: Julie Atherton, JAM Media Collective

KEEN Inc. — a leader in hybrid outdoor performance and casual products, including footwear, socks and bags — has launched its HybridLife Community. This new addition to their website (www.keenfootwear.com) includes innovative online social networking features and a blog that allow KEEN fans to share stories and ideas, be inspired, and create meaningful connections.

"Over the past five years, consumers from around the world have shared inspirational stories on how they’re living outwardly and balancing what is important in their lives,” says Bobbie Parisi, Vice President of Marketing. “We created the KEEN HybridLife Community to bring together in one place these individuals and organizations in the hope that others will be as inspired as we are. We believe that when people connect and share their ideas around creativity, the outdoors, and social or environmental causes, positive change happens.”

Welcome to the KEEN Community
The site creative is reflective of the KEEN belief that the outdoors is any place without a ceiling. The city, mountain and beach scenes are populated by HybridLife Community member profiles, as well as videos, of individuals who are creating new possibilities, passionately engaged with the outdoors and finding unique ways to care for the world around them.

As members of the HybridLife Community, KEEN fans can talk about their passions, upload photos, add links to social or environmental organizations they care about, and add links to their own blogs as well other social networks, including Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Other key features include:

HOW I LIVE A HYBRIDLIFE: Community members are encouraged to chat about how they are living a HybridLife by using innovation and creativity to make positive changes, how they engage in the outdoors and what they are doing to care for the environment or social causes.

TELL THE WORLD: This feature allows Community members to type in short answers to a simple question posed by KEEN. The question to the community will change periodically with the first question being: “Where have your KEEN shoes taken you? Each new entry feeds into a real-time scroll of answers and contributes to the Community’s pulse.




HOW I CREATE, PLAY AND CARE
Members can tell how they create, play and care by choosing words or “tags” provided by the community or add their own. With these words, each profile grows their own “tag cloud” that represents their interests. The bigger the word appears in the tag cloud, the more people have chosen it from the Community. Members can click on the tags, allowing them to connect over combinations of shared interests with others in the Community.

ME AND MY KEENS
Inspired by activity in the social media space where countless people have taken pictures of their feet in KEEN shoes, this feature allows members to upload photos of themselves in their KEEN shoes, add captions, and even tag which specific KEEN products are in each photo.

About KEEN
KEEN Inc., manufacturer of hybrid footwear, socks and bags, is an outdoor brand that delivers innovative hybrid products, enabling all outdoor enthusiasts to live an active lifestyle. Founded in 2003, KEEN was first recognized for its Newport sandal, which featured patented toe protection technology.

The company strives to demonstrate integrity and leadership, especially on social and environmental commitments, while promoting an inclusive outdoors community. Through its giving program Hybrid.Care, the company provides support to a variety of social and environmental organizations around the globe.

Based in Portland, Oregon, KEEN products are available in retail locations in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Central America, South America and Europe. To learn more, visit www.keenfootwear.com.


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