BY PAOLO MOTTOLA

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM MANAGER

@REI

ANATOMY OF AN APRIL FOOLS’ DAY WIN

At REI, we inspire, educate and outfit for a

lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.

WHO WE ARE

• April Fools’ Day has become an online “brand parade” (especially in the tech vertical) over the past few years.

• REI had not participated in April Fools’ Day in any major way.

THE OPPORTUNITY

8-bit Google Maps, 2012

Warby Barker, 2012

Toshiba TubeTop, 2010

Image sources: http://us.toshiba.com/tubetop/, http://wapo.st/ZiIt2d, http://www.warbybarker.com/

• We thought about our own, simple way of nodding to Internet culture:

o REI = Gear; Kittens = Internet dynamite

o The result: Kitten Adventure Gear!

THE APPROACH

Cute? Yes… Prepared to climb a 14er? Hardly.

Image source: http://onforb.es/ZiIVh3

• We developed the concept into

1. A shareable image for social networks (REI is on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, among others)

2. A content page on REI.com that the image could drive to for the joke unveil (a modal saying, ‘Just Kidding, Happy April Fools’ Day)

• We had fun!

THE EXECUTION

THE DELIVERY

• Media coverage in Mashable, Glamour, KPLU (NPR), Cheezburger, and many more blogs

• The Kitten Adventure Gear Page was the #2 visited page - after the homepage - on REI.com on April Fools’ Day!

• 20,800+ Facebook shares; 500+ Twitter re-tweets

• Positive comments through website feedback form

Like what you see? Find us at REI.com and @REI

THE RESULTS