Those Paws Up Blues
Eddie Bauer Draws Ire for Tie to David Lipson’s Paws Up Ranch
By Robert Struckman, 8-06-08
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| Eddie Bauer's Web site showing its co-branding with the Paws Up Ranch. Click the image to watch the video | |
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Some of Eddie Bauer’s Montana customers have taken umbrage at the retailer’s recently unveiled co-branding with the Missoula-area Resort at Paws Up Ranch.
Over the past week, Eddie Bauer announced its new fall marketing plan, which is on the front page of the Seattle-based company’s Web site. It says, “New for fall, inspired by the Last Best Place: Paws Up Montana. See Our Video.”
According to the site, the luxurious resort, which has checkered business past, has the outdoor clothing company gushing about “adventuring with style.” The video is a montage, with a guitar-rock soundtrack, showing the company’s familiar models cavorting around the swanky resort’s 37,000 acres, ripping around on quads, playing with dogs and looking sultry.
Not everyone is impressed.
“As a dedicated, long-time customer, basically, I’m disappointed,” said Lynn Solomon of Helena, who says her closet is packed with Eddie Bauer shoes, boots, clothing and accessories.
The owner of the Resort at Paws Up is David E. Lipson, a Las Vegas businessman who has been fined millions by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. His has been a troubled few years in Montana. To begin with, he opened his deluxe resort without a county-approved water or sewer system.
But Lipson really ticked off the state, including Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Montana’s congressional delegation, when he tried unsuccessfully to trademark one of the state’s beloved phrases, “The Last Best Place.” (In the interest of disclosure: I wrote those stories when I was business reporter at the Missoulian.) Both former Sen. Conrad Burns and Sen. Max Baucus passed laws to protect the phrase.
In recent months, Lipson has not earned much local news coverage. But locals haven’t forgotten him.
Solomon learned about the marketing ploy when she received a promotional mailing from Eddie Bauer about a week ago.
“They have a frequent buyer program—I don’t know what the criteria is—where you get rewards. And I shop at Eddie Bauer a lot,” Solomon said. “It included a one-piece that said the forthcoming fall collection is inspired by Paws Up. I took it out, put it on the keyboard of my computer and sent an email to corporate communications with lots of links to news stories back when the resort was in the news for various things.”
The Paws Up connection rankled her.
“What I want to know is, did they do any due diligence?” Solomon asked. An Eddie Bauer spokeswoman has not returned calls for comment.
“There are so many worthwhile places, if they want to tie into a Montana entity. There’s the Rolling Dog Ranch. They rescue injured animals,” Solomon said. “There’s also Camp Mak-a-Dream, a beautiful spot that does great work for kids who need it.”
About the email she sent to Eddie Bauer, Solomon said, “I just wanted to let them know that as a dedicated, long-time customer, that I don’t like it. I’m not going to stop doing business with Eddie Bauer, absolutely not, but to my mind, at least, they could have made a better choice.”
She added, “The ‘Last Best Place’ thing really gets under my skin.”
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Comments
I actually think it's excellent to see that Eddie Bauer choose to feature Montana (and it makes sense at Paws Up due to all the adventures they do there).
I know I completely agree with you upon(even if your supposedly un-biased)and have to give you props.You might become a Montanan yet.OK this guy is just another out of state billionair exploiting Montana for all of its wonder and insurmountable beauty just to get richer.I just wish he would die from infection,long and slow damn it!He needs to feel pain !like the wolves that I shoot on occasion.He needs a good beating in his life.That always makes people reflect upon their lives,and enables them to make better choices.But one would have to do prison time,and that just takes to long.And its boring.
Oh seely lake.The animals which you spoke of that that fag "rescued" from the fires, were 500 elk which stayed on paws up property through hunting season and Mr.Lipson charged out of state hunters to come in and blow em away.But he didnt let anyone without big money hunt them!Im geeting to heated to continue without extreme profanity.Good night
Yikes.
I know that most Montanas think that they are hidden from the rest of the world, but that is mostly because of their own insurmountable ignorance. if this pisses off the hicks of montana, then they really don't have a future now do they. move to canada
They must be doing something right...their guests rate them 5-star on most review sites. then why such a backlash from a few locals? over a silly phrase? interesting.
Perhaps you missed the words, "Governor", "congressional" and Senator in the article . . . ? Those were just a few of the locals.
Businesses are not removed from the communities they inhabit. If they do slimeball stuff, they are accountable. If they behave responsibly, then they certainly deserve credit for that as well.
People should not have such short memories as to forget the slimeball stuff so easily.
And folks should also not be so easily won over if the business brings in money or purports to "promote Montana."
ps: the person who made the hick comments deserves no response. For those wanting to understand the "Last Best Place" controversy, I suggest you read the Missoulian articles.
Want a real reason to boycott EB? How bout the fact that their clothes are made in Chinese sweatshops by little tikes? They do a helluva job with "Montana Rugged."
I encourage others to do the same.
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I am very disappointed that EB has decided to join with Paws Up to market apparel. It either shows a real disrespect for the people of Montana, or an inexcusable ignorance of the kind of values and lifestyle real Montanans hold and work to protect. Either way, your actions do not reflect favorably upon your company and brand. I understand and welcome your interest in selling the Montana brand with your own, but in doing so I believe we Montanans should be able to expect that EB reflects the values that make the Montana image commercially appealing.
Until and unless EB loses its partnership with Paws Up, I will not be able to speak favorably of your company with others.
Sincerely,
Fact: Per the Missoulian article way back when, Lipson was attempting to garner public sympathy by claiming that he "...may be forced to sell the ranch..." as if he was just another salt of the earth rancher living on a shoestring. Sorry, David... you are full of it. The ranch was FOR SALE at the time you made this claim and had been for quite some time. I saw the brochure myself! Come on!! We can only hope and pray that someday he will be "forced to sell the ranch". Yeah right. Just wait... the real estate play (condos, homes, maybe even subdivision, etc.) is coming sooner or later. He hired an outfit out of Washington State a few years ago to tee that effort up.
Fact: His construction of "Tent City" completely flies in the face of the spirit of the conservation easement that currently encumbers this part of the ranch though a loophole allows him to do so.
Fact: This guy has an absolutely horrid reputation in business as can be evidenced by a quick google search of his name. There are countless individuals in Montana now who can attest to this. Refer to the old article about wealthy non-resident owners in the Great Falls Tribune years ago titled "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Not surprisingly, Lipson's name was conspicuously absent from the segment on "the Good" yet he was prominently featured in "the Bad AND the Ugly"!
There may be alot of good people who work for the ranch but that does nothing to negate the fact that the ranch is owned by the most cruel sort of human being... a man who thrives on and gains personal pleasure from seeing how much he can get away with and who can screw in the process.
The "generosity" we see from him ("rescue of animals") is solely a reflection upon some of the good people that work for a very bad man. Unfortunately, he gets the credit for this to those who do not know his game. This man does not comprehend the word "generosity" unless the good deed it fits into something he will get in return. In the case of the rescued animals, he badly needed some good press so when one of his employees came to him with the suggestion that they "rescue" these animals it was a simple business decision devoid of any true sense of compassion. He has no soul.
Also, what the hell is with the ranch's name?! "Paws Up" has to be the stupidest name I have ever heard but that is just my opinion. It will always be the "old Lindbergh Ranch" or the "Greenough Ranch" to me. Eddie Bauer should have looked into this man a little further before they married him.
By the way, whomever it was above that credited Lipson as a "billionaire" is way off. This man does not make that list. He is a small time player compared to the billionaires of the world.
I don't mind marketing MT, but promoting a business that breaks the law and doesn't pay it's bills?
But I don't see what the problem is with the co-branding between Paws Up and Eddie Bauer. That's just the world we live in -- companies market fantasies to sell their products. Paws Up provides that fantasy.
It might not be ethically pure, but it's capitalism.
...I always get asked, "I thought Montana was full of Rednecks and Cowboys?" Or better yet..."People LIVE there?"
That said, watch out. There's a only the smallest of steps between criticizing the business practices of a well-known slimeball businessman to "war" and "genocide."
good lord.
Thank you for your response. As my email indicated, I do understand the intent of Eddie Bauer in featuring Montana, and, also noted, I even appreciate Eddie Bauer's desire to "celebrate the spirit and beauty of the state of Montana."
However, your partnership with Paws Up, an organization seeking merely to profit from Montana's image with little or no interest in maintaining the beauty and spirit of Montana, remains deeply disappointing at best.
I hope your company will look seriously at severing your co-branding partnership with this controversial and disreputable organization.
Sincerely,
____
On Thu, Aug 7, 2008 at 11:55 AM, <customercare@csc.eddiebauer.com> wrote:
Dear ____,
Thank you for your feedback regarding our affiliation with Paws Up.
As we planned our fall assortment and thought about the environment and the photography that would best support our sprit of adventure and an active, outdoor lifestyle, we could not think of a better location than Montana. Eddie Bauer is a western brand and it was our intention to feature the western states beginning with Montana.
We take our customers feedback very seriously and can assure your comments are being carefully considered. We are sorry you were disappointed but trust you will understand our intent to celebrate the spirit and beauty of the state of Montana.
Regards,
Carolyn MacKenney
Eddie Bauer
Office of the President/CEO
425-755-6100
-----Original Message-----
From: ____
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 1:33 PM
To:
Subject: {REF: 1218127160.003} partnering with Paws Up
I am very disappointed that EB has decided to join with Paws Up to market apparel. It either shows a real disrespect for the people of Montana, or an inexcusable ignorance of the kind of values and lifestyle real Montanans hold and work to protect. Either way, your actions do not reflect favorably upon your company and brand. I understand and welcome your interest in selling the Montana brand with your own, but in doing so I believe we Montanans should be able to expect that EB reflects the values that make the Montana image commercially appealing.
Until and unless EB loses its partnership with Paws Up, I will not be able to speak favorably of your company with others.
Sincerely,
____
Never heard of money and politics? It's like death and taxes.