We wanted to return the nation’s trails to their full glory for future generations to enjoy just as much as we have. For outdoor enthusiasts, trails embody a larger story. If the trail could talk, it could tell you about those who envisioned its existence, who picked up shovels and axes and started the real, hard business of carving a trail through mountainsides and forests. It could tell you about the people who first hiked it, and those who hike, run, and bike it today. Generations of people who love the outdoors have touched the same trails. Their backgrounds are as diverse as their stories are varied, but the trail connects them all. The trail is a living thing that connects us all to history and to each other. When you’re out on the trail, you feel part of a bigger world that you ultimately want to protect and preserve.

With noted outdoorsman Chris Davenport, we developed long-form custom content, set on a Forest Service trail. Beautiful close-ups, aerial shots and photography unveiled Chris’s connection to the trail, its origin story, and what it meant for him. With this anthemic piece of content in place, we shifted to driving engagement and offering our target ways to connect with the cause.

With Outside Magazine and Television – we invited consumers to join our platform with custom articles, profiles, and digital & social elements. We gathered and curated these elements to create bespoke video for digital and TV, fanning the flames of interest back out to the larger community through native advertising, and aggregating everything under the virtual #EveryTrailConnects banner. We then created four pieces of long-form content, custom :30-second TV spots, a robust social campaign, and a full 30-minute, trail-centric show for REI.

All content was concepted and produced by a media agency, and delivered with precision through custom outdoor data segments and native ad tech solutions.

Given REI’s outdoor enthusiast consumer base, we knew the #EveryTrailConnects campaign would strike a chord, but it resonated well beyond our expectations. Our creative generated more than 30 million impressions, leading to an 18.6% increase in brand affinity during the campaign. Due to the campaign’s success, the retailer contributed nearly $6 million to the preservation of the nation’s hiking trails, and led to a second year of commitment to the program for Q1 2016. Furthermore, funds donated by REI went to 10 of the nation’s most popular trails, totaling more than 3,400 miles of trails saved (or the equivalent of crossing the US), helping preserve these amazing spaces for future generations.