REI's #OptOutside campaign wins coveted Best of Show at The One Show

Dive Brief:

San Francisco ad agency Venables Bell & Partners won the Best of Show award at The One Show creative summit in New York Friday night for REI's #OptOutside campaign. The campaign also snagged the ANDY’s “Bravery Award” last month.
Last year, REI closed on Black Friday and launched a social media campaign to encourage employees and customers alike to spend the day outdoors instead.
The idea struck a chord with many in an era when a number of retailers move in the opposition direction and open on Thanksgiving Day to launch the holiday season.

Dive Insight:

At first, not even REI president/CEO Jerry Stritzke was sold on the idea of shuttering on Black Friday, but the campaign proved to be an attention-getting success that didn’t really hurt much at all.

In fact, the decision is now widely seen as a stroke of genius. The marketing campaign, which saw REI close its physical stores and give employees Black Friday off with pay, saw more than 1.4 million hits on social media, with more than 175 organizations joining in and encouraging people to spend Black Friday outside. The retailer saw web sales spike 26% during the Black Friday holiday weekend.

In March, REI reported a whopping 9.3% increase in sales in 2015. Same-store sales grew 7%, year over year, and web sales grew 23%. The growth was mainly driven by new co-op membership sign ups and online sales. Membership grew by more than 1 million members last year, a record growth, reaching a total of more than 6 million members.

Unlike other retailers, though, REI didn’t have that much to lose in closing on the retail holiday. REI customers, generally speaking, aren’t likely to participate in a frenzy over hiking boots or even kayaks on Black Friday, the way many famously will at Wal-Mart for a big-screen HDTV. Still, making a point of opting out was a marketing coup that helped anyone participating—its customers, employees, and marketers—feel the kind of superiority that can only come the zen of hiking rather than walking a mall.

"This is an amazing honor," Venables Bell executive creative director Will McGinness said in a statement. "This wouldn't have been possible without our incredibly brave clients who were willing to take their beliefs as a company and act on them in such a bold way. #OptOutside was an idea that came from the core of who they are as a company and ended up transcending marketing into an actual movement. Which is something you rarely see."