The Portland outdoor and sportswear brand taps nostalgia, humor and a bit of mischief in its boldest campaign in years.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Columbia Sportswear is leaning all the way into absurdity with its newest campaign, “Expedition Impossible,” a tongue-in-cheek challenge inviting anyone who still believes the planet is flat to go prove it.
The premise is simple enough: find the edge of the Earth, snap a photo and the company will hand over “everything owned by the company.”
The challenge launched with an open letter from CEO Tim Boyle in The New York Times and across Columbia’s social channels. It’s a playful jab at conspiracy culture, but also a reminder of what the brand says it does best: making gear built for just about anything, including expeditions to imaginary planetary edges.
“This is a message to flat-Earthers. I’ve seen your manifestos, admired your diagrams, watched you stand proudly on your, well, flat ground. So here’s the deal: it’s time to put your map where your mouth is,” Boyle wrote.
He invites participants to chase what no one in history has documented and promises.
“If you actually find it, snap a photo, send it to us and you won’t just have bragging rights — you’ll have everything owned by the company. All of it,” he said. “The mannequins, coffee machines, snowshoes, toboggans, office plants, even the taxidermy beaver in the cafeteria. All yours.”
The company that has promised the prizes isn’t Columbia Sportswear but an LLC with assets valued at $100,000.
“So, they’ll get the company.” Boyle said with a smile.
For Boyle, the campaign is a deliberate return to Columbia’s irreverent roots, the era of his late mother Gert Boyle and the memorable “One Tough Mother” ads that defined the brand for decades.
“We did it our own way, we made fun of ourselves, we had a good time, and we said we need to do more of that kind of work,” he said.
He added that the company has been rethinking how it promotes itself in a crowded outdoor market.
“We’ve been talking for a long time about how we promote the company. We’re in the outdoor business, there’s plenty of competitors, everybody’s doing the same sorts of things,” he said.
The idea came from Columbia’s London-based creative agency, inspired after walking past the Flat Earth Society offices. Boyle admits there were spirited debates about the legal fine print.
“There was lots of late-night discussions about whether or not we could pull it off, how we should talk about it. It took some convincing, it took some arm-wrestling contests, and we won,” he said.
Marketing experts say the approach works. Marc Moran, director of advertising at Portland State University, calls it a refreshing return to form.
“I was a big fan of it,” Moran said. “When I look at that and I think of Columbia, iconic Portland company. Really, the last 10 years since Gert passed away, their advertising has been a little bit forgettable. The worst thing you can be in this industry, in advertising, is forgettable.”
He points out the campaign already has traction.
“It’s already doing its job. This has earned media now. Now, we’re talking about it,” he said.
For Moran, the tongue-in-cheek tone taps into nostalgia while embracing the modern reality of fractured media consumption.
“There’s a little bit of nostalgia aspect to it that reminds us of when Columbia was edgy and doing really interesting creative work,” he said.
Boyle says this won’t be the last unconventional move. More activations are planned, including a Super Bowl effort he describes simply as “a fun one.” And despite the jokes, he insists the flat-Earth crowd is welcome to join the adventure.
“We just want to make sure, as it relates to flat-Earthers, we like them. So, they have an idea or concept, that’s fine. We want them to buy Columbia stuff too. They’ll need it if they’re going to go to the ends of the Earth,” he said.
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