Oboz Footwear just rebuilt its entire senior leadership team. And they started by putting two podcast hosts in the executive seats.

Not as brand ambassadors. Not as consultants. As actual leaders running the brand.

Oboz president Amy Beck was pretty clear about why: "One of the challenges facing outdoor brands today is that we often spend too much time talking to ourselves and not enough time engaging new audiences." So instead of hiring another VP of Marketing with a corporate trade show background, they hired the people their audience already trusts.

The results? A 6.5% sales boost after re-entering the trail running niche. That's not a coincidence — that's what happens when you stop broadcasting to your industry and start actually talking to your customer.

Attention is currency right now. And the brands that figure out who their customer is already listening to — then go build relationships there — are the ones that are going to win the next five years of outdoor marketing.

So the question for your brand this week: who is your customer already following? And what are you doing about it?

Full story → Shop Eat Surf Outdoor · June 2, 2026