Outdoor Research Launches Fall 2012 Ad Campaign

With a fan base unafraid to strike out and explore the world’s most rugged, remote places, performance apparel and gear manufacturer Outdoor Research (OR) knows its customers wouldn’t be put off by a little reindeer stew or a homemade vodka shot. In fact, they might even seek one of those things out. Or both.

 

That’s why OR is offering up a series of unique experiences, in the kinds of far-flung, wild places for which its gear is built, via redeemable ‘coupons,’ as part of its new Fall 2012 advertising campaign. Using the tagline “Go Where Others Don’t,” the campaign combines form and function to humorous effect.

 

The print and digital campaign, created by Colorado-based agency TDA Boulder, is a wry presentation that highlights Outdoor Research’s style, functional product features and brand personality. Ads mash up beautifully shot, high-tech apparel with the lowbrow aesthetic of a coupon come-on as catchy copy explains why one needs to wear OR’s performance products to redeem wild global dares. For instance, the coupon in the ad showcasing OR’s sleek, black Axiom Jacket is “Good for 1 Yogurt Brew from the Shack Between the Military Barracks and the Goat Farm” in Terskol, Russia.

 

“Some say ‘when in Rome,’ but we prefer ‘when in Terskol’, where a fermented brew is the perfect way to toast a night in the barrels and a climb up Elbrus.” It then details Axiom’s superiority as a storm shell for fast and light alpine climbs: The jacket (winner of Outside’s Gear of the Year) is built with waterproof, breathable GORE-TEX® Active technology.

 

Other ad executions feature equally exotic destinations and rare rewards: The Vanguard Jacket (a garment helpful for frolicking about glaciers) coupon can be clipped for a bowl of reindeer stew from the Magic Mountain Lodge in Lyngseidet, Norway. The voucher accompanying the Incandescent Hoody, a glistening-green down-filled jacket that the brand bills as its “ultra-warm insurance policy against the elements,” is “good for 1 shot of homemade vodka at the Vernadsky Research Base,” which apparently doubles as the world’s southernmost bar in Antarctica.

 

“The campaign is a tongue-in-cheek reminder that OR talks the talk, walks the walk and, simply put, makes the best gear on the planet,” says Executive Creative Director & TDA partner Jonathan Schoenberg, who shared creative director duties on the work with TDA partner Thomas Dooley. “No one is going to trek to Karimabad, Pakistan, just to try the Walnut Cake, but having tested its products there, OR knows it’s worth trying if you do. This campaign offers laughable incentives to get people to visit some of the most amazing, intriguing and obscure climbing and skiing locations in the world.”

 

While the copy is cheeky, Outdoor Research will actually honor any of the seven coupons from rugged, remote locations should thrill-seekers be inspired to redeem one: To cash in an ad coupon, an adventurer simply needs to post a photo of himself/herself enjoying the exotic reward on Outdoor Research’s Facebook page and the brand will make good on the offer. The print campaign will run through next spring and the media plan includes titles such as Outside, Powder, Backpacker, Alpinist, Backcountry, AMC Outdoors, Climbing, Rock & Ice, Adventura and Gripped.

 

Credits

 

AGENCY:    TDA Boulder

CREATIVE DIRECTOR:  Jonathan Schoenberg, Thomas Dooley

ART DIRECTOR:  Barrett Brynestad

COPYWRITER:  Jeremy Seibold

FLASH DEVELOPER:  Jason Lewis

ACCOUNT DIRECTOR:  Christi Tucay

ACCOUNT MANAGER:  Erin Tracey

PHOTOGRAPHER: Treavor Pearson

PHOTOGRAPHY PRODUCER: Courtney Waldo

WEBSITE DEVELOPERS: Gorilla

MEDIA: Backbone Media