Yeti’s latest program, “CraigsLost,” is a tale of two outdoor enthusiasts and their missing gear. Tristen, a teenager from Oak Grove, Minnesota, lost his late grandfather’s vintage fishing lures, while Tony, a military veteran from Spokane, Washington, misplaced his ice axes.
Yeti’s «CraigsLost» Campaign: Reuniting Outdoor Enthusiasts with Their Lost Gear
After fruitless searches, they turned to Craigslist, where Yeti stepped in to help. The brand, renowned for its sturdy coolers and drinkware, had already been scouring Craigslist’s lost and found pages to gather anecdotal evidence of the thousands of lost gear every year in national parks such as Grand Teton and Yosemite.
For “CraigsLost,” Yeti matched its own ambassadors with weekend warriors and amateur hobbyists who had lost their gear. These influencers picked out replacement items, wrote personal notes or made videos, and delivered the gifts in the brand’s GoBox carry-alls. The goal was to keep the products safely stored and organized for future outings.
The Power of Brand Building: Yeti’s «CraigsLost» Gives Back to Outdoor Communities
For instance, Hall of Fame angler Kevin VanDam equipped a tackle box with hundreds of his favorite lures and various accessories, which he sent to Tristen after learning about the teenager’s heartache. World-renowned mountaineer Conrad Anker chose a set of premium Nomic ice axes to help the airman in Washington return to his chilly outdoor pursuit.
Yeti, based in Austin, Texas, is a $2 billion company that pursued “stories that touched us, where we felt we could have a real impact” for its initial “CraigsLost” project. The tagline, “Turning gear losers into GoBox winners,” showcases the brand’s effort to reunite people with their lost items.
How Yeti’s «CraigsLost» Campaign is Empowering Outdoor Lovers to Keep Exploring
In phase two, the brand is asking its social followers to share their own tales of misplaced apparel, coolers, fishing rods, and other gear for another round of reuniting people with their belongings.
Paulie Dery, Yeti’s CMO, emphasized that gear can be expensive, and people often save for a long time to buy what they want. Losing it means they can no longer pursue their favorite activity or, at least, face obstacles to getting back out there.
The «CraigsLost» project is a brand-building exercise that furthers the company’s core mission, which is to encourage people to experience the great outdoors as much as possible. Although there is a sales pitch behind it, the initiative has little, if any, direct business metric for the giveaways.
Yeti’s “CraigsLost” project is a heartwarming story that highlights the brand’s desire to reunite people with their lost gear. It’s an exercise that builds the brand and furthers its mission, which is to promote access to outdoor experiences.
