Instead of offering discounts to lure shoppers inside on Black Friday, REI announced that they would be doing something unprecedented: shutting all 143 of their stores on November 27, ceasing to process orders on its website and paying employees to spend the day outside. Additionally, members and the public were encouraged to use this day to reconnect with the outdoors and each other. We activated a social impact program to invite the people outside with us, building a movement around #OptOutside.

#OptOutside kicked off with a CEO letter to employees and members. We broke the news with embargoed coverage in USA Today, CNN Money and NBC. Our media relations efforts were amplified across REI’s and media outlets’ social which inspired additional social sharing. The USA Today reporter later tweeted that ‘’This is officially the most popular story I have ever written. @REI knows how to turn heads.’’

The following morning, we distributed national news release with photo and b-roll package. The REI newsroom hosted this and additional #OptOutside content. From there, we activated an extensive media relations push by engaging national and local online, print and broadcast outlets and had CEO Jerry Stritzke in NYC for national interviews and other execs in key local markets. Momentum storytelling included sharing Meetup and REI joining forces to help people #OptOutside on Black Friday and supporting local angles with REI employees.

Topline of overall #OptOutside effort

o 1.4 million people pledged to #OptOutside

o 6.7 billion impressions, 3,423 placements, 33 days of sustained coverage

o 1.2 billion social impressions with 685k+ mentions and 23 million engagements

Notable Employee-related Results

o Employees contributed to 24,889 social posts, 8.2 million impressions #REIEmployee

o Employees across the country sent Thank You notes to CEO

o Store Manager Brian Harrower represented the employee voice in lead USA Today story at launch and supported additional interviews

o CEO Jerry Stritzke and four employees were featured writers to the Opt Outside Medium publication, contributing 5 of the 24 stories posted, resulting in 92,251 views; 48,312 reads with a 52% average read rate

o Jerry Stritzke included in Fortune’s list of six most generous CEOs

o 2015 sales and membership up nearly double digits over 2014, defying trends

o Retail job applications up 92% in Q4 2015