REI has served serious outdoorsy types since 1938. But how do you sell a new line of urban outdoor gear to millennials who like to stay inside? You bring the outdoors to them.

We launched evrgrn — REI's new line of products for urban millennials with — with a luxurious and unexpected campsite inside an urban lfot in the middle of San Francisco

The official ask 

. REI is launching a new brand/product line, evrgrn.  Edelman's assignment was to identify and activate 4-5 Influencers to build word of mouth and engagement around the new brand and product line.  The client also requested a social activation that created a ‘moment in time’, likely timed with the product launch in-store (late May). 

how it works

We rented a bright, spacious loft in San Francisco with a beautiful outdoor space, and we turned it into a one-of-a-kind, cozy indoor campsite. We blurred the lines between indoor an outdoor with floor-to-ceiling greenery, trees, luxury furnishings, and more – all styled around evrgrn products.

To get the evrgrn conversation started, we invited our influencer partners, along with a few guests of their choice, to stay a couple nights at the loft. Guests were encouraged to share their #BetterOutHere experience on social throughout the evening, while we shared content from the event on our own channels.

the extra social component

Next, to help continue the momentum and buzz on social, we challenged our social community to tell us why its #BetterOutHere for the opportunity to stay at the property during the following 2-4 weeks. In lieu of payment for their stay, fans must share their #BetterOutHere experience on social instead. Our own fans posted, Tweeted, and Instagrammed their way into the evrgrn conversation for a chance to win a weekend stay in the lfot. We caught the eye of one of Pinterest's leading influencers, Justina Blakeney (1.2M followers) who then helped us create a rich product catalog ont he platform where users could experience the evrgrn lifestyle and even buy products directly from our Pins.

the [social] kick off launch event

On the official date of evrgrn launch, we invited bloggers, media, and influencers to stop by throughout the day to experience to house and evrgrn product for themselves. The event was a great success in that we were able to seed the #BetterOutHere hashtag with beautiful imagery from local influencers, which helped drive engagement around our social contest.

results

10,200+ posts  from fans across Instagram Twitter and Facebook

1.3 million engagements across Instagram and Facebook

65.4+ million total impressions 

Not only did people start talking about evrgn, but an entirely new audience of not-so-outdoorsy types were now excited to head out into the wild.