Anti-Indoor
- Construction
- DeliverablesAdvertising, Content, Mobile, Motion Studio, Positioning, Product Launch, Social Media, Websites
Anti-Indoor
Challenge
Walls® Outdoor Goods makes the gear that our nation’s unsung heroes and hardest workers need, from insulated coveralls to weather-resistant work jackets. The problem? Their competitors do, too. And their pockets are deep (not to mention well-constructed and fleece-lined).
Up against those behemoths, Walls’ unaided brand awareness didn’t crack double digits. But on the plus side, their younger audience segment was less brand loyal, and willing to try something new if it came from a brand that understood them and what kind of gear they needed.
Solution
To find an edge for Walls, Swanson Russell took a hard look at their target audience and how other brands were speaking to them. Everyone else was selling “tough gear for tough guys,” so we dug deeper into that sentiment. We found that these professional tradesmen aren’t just tough enough to work outside — they’re wired to do so. They believe in a life lived outdoors, and view desk jobs as death sentences.
OUR RESEARCH UNCOVERED A COMMON ENEMY THAT COULD MOVE WORKERS TO ACTION: THE NOT-SO-GREAT INDOORS.
Outside or Die
The sterile fluorescent lighting. The claustrophobia. The boredom. To make Walls a hero, we turned the indoors into a villain, painting it as oppressive, limiting and draining. In contrast, we positioned Walls as liberators, who supply professional tradesmen with gear built for outdoor work. Our social campaign used bold, quick-hitting headlines over powerful outdoor imagery, in disruptive placements like Facebook carousels and Instagram Stories.
Work Outside the Box
Campaign materials used tell-it-like-it-is language paired with rugged, in-the-field imagery that proved our gear could walk the walk. A relentless digital campaign of display and pre-roll video ads was rolled out, tested and refined continually. Outdoor executions were a natural place to carry out the new brand, and in-store executions were bold and attention-getting, giving retailers a way to catch attention while reinforcing the campaign with our audience.
A robust digital display campaign with weather-triggered ads helped reinforce the campaign online.
We found outdoor workers and gave them an anthem. Then we sold them a hell of a pair of pants.
Standing Up to Mother Nature
You can’t have an Anti-Indoor brand that doesn’t play well on outdoor media. These bold placements put Walls right where it’s most comfortable: in the elements. And even in cozy retail environments, we helped the audience imagine themselves outdoors in Walls gear.
Working Over Time
More detailed videos put high-priority products front and center and demonstrated how they stood up to the elements.
Finishing the Job
Email was used to provide message versatility that we delivered right to our audience’s inbox.
Pulling a Brand Up by the Bootstraps
This campaign works as hard as its target audience, and the results prove it. Before we rallied against the indoors, Walls had single-digit unaided awareness. Our campaign moved almost half of the audience into highly considering them for their next purchase. We like to call that a job well done. Research showed that, among our target audience:
viewed Walls as a unique brand, helping it stand out against entrenched players.
said Walls was either “Definitely” or “Probably” for someone like them, meaning we’d connected in a relevant way with our Anti-Indoor message.
would either “Definitely” or “Probably” buy Walls.
