adam&eveDDB on Returning to Columbia's Roots With Stunt-Heavy Campaign
Columbia Sportswear has never been a brand to shy away from the elements. But in its first major repositioning in over ten years, the outdoor gear giant is embracing the chaos of nature with open arms, and a healthy dose of irreverence.
With the help of adam&eveDDB London, Columbia’s new platform ‘Engineered for Whatever’ revives the spirit of its legendary ‘One Tough Mother’ ads from the ‘80s and ‘90s, this time with outrageous stunts, survivalist documentary flair, and a wink to modern-day audiences.
We caught up with Columbia’s head of marketing Matt Sutton and the team at adam&eveDDB – including planning director Alex Scott-Malden, creatives Ben Robinson and Mike Whiteside, and account director Lily Henry – to find out how the wild campaign came together, from avalanches and whiteouts to alligator cameos and punk-thrash soundtracks.
LBB> What was the original brief you shared with adam&eveDDB, and what direction were you hoping to take this campaign in?
Matt> We challenged adam&eveDDB to help reignite Columbia’s brand by channeling the bold, irreverent energy that defined us in the ’80s and ’90s. The goal was to showcase Columbia’s legacy of durability and innovation through a modern, culturally relevant lens, one that breaks through the clichés and sea of sameness of outdoor advertising. That meant embracing humour, showcasing the extreme testing we put our gear through, and reminding people that nature is unpredictable, messy, and fun.
LBB> How did you interpret the brief from Columbia, did you have a clear direction from the outset, or was it something that evolved through creative development?
Alex> From the very first letter we received from Columbia, inviting the agency to pitch, we were on the same page. We were asked to create a campaign that was “irreverent and rooted in what has historically separated Columbia as a global brand in the mind of its discerning customers”.
People outside the US might be less familiar with the history of Columbia but they have an extraordinary advertising heritage featuring the company’s founder Gert Boyle in hilarious and outrageous advertising as the ‘Tough Mother’. So we found an immediate creative connection with the brand and the brief and all the work flowed from there.
The campaign is a direct homage to our ‘One Tough Mother’ legacy, where our founder Gert Boyle famously put her son, Tim Boyle, now CEO of Columbia Sportswear, through extreme tests to prove the gear’s toughness. That spirit lives on in 'Engineered for Whatever,' from the absurd test scenarios to the wink in our tone. It’s our way of honouring Columbia’s roots while speaking to a new generation of fans in the outdoors.
LBB> Can you talk me through the brand’s new creative strategy and what you were looking to shift or build on?
Matt> ‘Engineered for Whatever’ marks a clear shift away from the romanticised portrayals of nature. While others show pristine landscapes, we’re spotlighting the chaos and extremes of the outdoors, and proving that Columbia’s gear is built to handle it all. This new brand platform builds on our technical credibility while reviving the cheeky tone that made Columbia iconic. It’s about being serious about performance but never taking ourselves too seriously.
LBB> Why did the survivalist, documentary-style approach feel like the right fit for this idea -- and how did you strike the balance between authenticity and entertainment?
Ben & Mike> Columbia really does test all their clothing can handle the most extreme outdoor situations, so even though the product test films show ridiculous scenarios we wanted people watching to feel like we actually did it all for real – you buy the brand’s promise a lot more when you can see they’ve gone to the effort of doing these tests properly.
Plus, we just think the product tests are WAY funnier when there are some proper stakes, and it’s not just some stylised, addy-looking ad begging you to laugh; when you can see there’s a real human person strapped to heavy machinery and driven through relentless frozen misery, just to check if a jacket is toasty. Pain is funny when it’s not happening to you!
Credit: DIVISION.FILMS.
LBB> How confident were you in the product’s ability to stand up to the extreme testing, and why did this feel like the right approach for launching the campaign?
Matt> We were extremely confident because we have an exceptional reputation for durability and have always tested our gear to the limit behind the scenes. This campaign simply brings that process to life in a bold, entertaining way. By turning real product tests into outrageous stunts, we’re showing – not just telling – how Columbia gear performs in the wild. It’s a fun, authentic way to connect with consumers who know the outdoors isn’t always picture-perfect.
LBB> Where was the campaign shot, and how long did production take? What were some of the major logistical challenges (and yes – were the alligators real)?
Ben & Mike> We shot the mountain stuff in Austria, forestry in Slovenia and desert scenes in Croatia, over the course of five days. The biggest challenges were – shocker – the weather. One mountain location got closed off at the last minute due to avalanche risk, and our producers had to just like, go find a new mountain. We also had a whiteout so bad one afternoon that you couldn’t see anything three-feet in front of the lens. There were gale force winds in the desert, blowing equipment over. The weather was almost always extreme in the exact wrong way for any single shot, so we really got to live the idea that Mother Nature is an unpredictable nutcase. We’ve nothing but the utmost admiration for Smuggler and Division for managing to pull it all off.
And yes the alligators are 100% real. But we should also shout out Framestore at this point, who are just incredibly good at doing things.
LBB> The film has a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware tone despite its intense setup with a dark humour running throughout. What was the thinking behind that tonal choice?
Alex> The outdoors category contains a lot of similar advertising. The standard trope is of a frustrated city dweller who once they reach the outdoors immediately becomes a pro-athlete. We wanted to bring to life the messiness, chaos and the comedy of what the outdoors is really like. Because when the chips are down, you’d better be wearing the right gear – and that gear is Columbia.
LBB> This is Columbia’s first major brand platform relaunch in a decade, and your first campaign with them. How closely did you collaborate with the Columbia team throughout?
Lily> Our partnership with Columbia started just over a year ago and since then we’ve been shaping the direction of the brand together. We took the ingredients on what set Columbia apart and collectively modernised it. It’s been a privilege to work in a partnership where we were pushing the tone right to the edge – the whole process with Columbia has been brilliantly bonkers.
Credit: DIVISION.FILMS
LBB> Why did you want to include mountaineer Aron Ralston’s story in the mix?
Alex> Aron’s story is one of the most famous in the outdoors and no one represents the unpredictability of Mother Nature like him. Beyond that he’s a truly inspiring athlete and a great human being. His enthusiasm for finding the fun and humour in some of the darkest circumstances made him a perfect fit for the campaign.
LBB> Tell us about that music choice and how it shaped the film’s energy.
Ben & Mike> We knew we wanted an extreme version of a gentle song about nature. Something too harsh to sound like it belonged on a commercial, and would make the film feel like an absolute assault on the senses.
We explored a few different extreme music styles but we kept coming back to this punk thrash style, it has the right mix of chaos and relentlessness, but also precision, as though nature is targeting you for punishment specifically. It worked well being more organic, vs. an electronic version of ‘extreme’, like speedcore or something.
Blue Skies was lyrically spot on, and Soundtree absolutely nailed the arrangement. The vocalist, Maddie Stephenson, brought something else unexpected as well, made it feel fresh and different for that genre. We all loved what she brought to it.
LBB> The campaign was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and produced by SMUGGLER. How did you work together to bring this chaotic vision to life, especially when it came to executing the physical comedy and stunts?
Ben & Mike> It was pretty simple. Henry-Alex Rubin got it straight away. He was totally on board with pushing everything right to the edge. The way to make the test films best would be to make the stunts feel as real as possible. And the way to go for the launch ad was just as many insane images as possible, to absolutely batter people’s eyes and ears for 60 seconds.
He had a clear point of view throughout and along with the director of photography Oliver Millar, absolutely bundles of ideas on how we were actually going to achieve everything. Also the first call we had with him he was in a car on set for a different shoot during an unexpected rain storm, and he didn’t seem especially fazed so that was a good start.
Mother Nature is an unpredictable nutcase but so is Henry-Alex Rubin so it was a match made in heaven.
