As brands focus more on consumer experience, we saw an opportunity with the advancement of virtual reality. Our Trailscape campaign blazed the trail as the first-ever “walkaround” VR experience, creating a brand event that perfectly showcased Merrell’s values and product in a way that would have been impossible otherwise

Merrell needed to get younger, and do so in a way that would get people to see and talk about the brand.

To launch Merrell’s latest hiking boot, the Capra, we took over the Sundance Film Festival with Merrell Trailscape, an indoor experience that celebrated the outdoors.

We converted a 5000-square-foot commercial space where every element was designed to inspire people to get outside with Merrell. The star of Trailscape was the very-first commercial “walkaround” virtual reality experience. Using Oculus Rift, we took people on a beautiful, sometimes terrifying virtual hike through the Dolomites in Italy. 4-D elements like a rope bridge, rumbling floor, rock wall, and wind made the experience feel even more life like.

We also partnered with Rolling Stone to host festival talent, even holding a concert in our space featuring the up-and-coming band, Local Natives.

In the four-day event, the VR experience was at maximum capacity throughout that time, with waits of up to two hours. While only 500 users got to experience the event at Sundance, it lived on digitally, strategically targeted to priority audiences. Compared to pre-Sundance activity, social actions on Merrell’s content during Sundance were increased by 859%. Due to the heavy social activity & PR buzz, conversations surrounding Merrell increased 900% during the event, and remained elevated for the month following. This increased activity led to increased shopping, with 4,000 incremental pairs of shoes being purchased during this time frame on Merrell.com and users increasing their searches on shopping websites including Zappos and Amazon.

Significant press coverage included: Fast Company, Creativity Online, Wall Street Journal, PSFK, Ad Week, BizBash, Ad Age, Rolling Stone, Yahoo!, Us Weekly, and many more.

We strategically deployed our media with a fully branded hub on RollingStone.com, launching in the days leading up to Sundance to drive awareness of our participation. As the event began, we launched online banners and page takeovers across US Weekly, Men's Journal, and Rolling Stone. This increased awareness of both our marquee product, the Capra shoe, and our virtual reality event at Sundance.

Organic and paid social were pushed live throughout the weekend across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, featuring the most compelling parts of the event as they unfolded. A mix of photo, video, and long-form editorial content, adapted to each platform, showed the people taking the virtual hike, celebs visiting our event, and the Local Natives concert that closed our experience. Print ads and advertorials were activated afterward for several weeks, reinforcing the messaging from Sundance and extending the life of the story.

Merrell’s core audience was getting older. They needed to talk to a new, younger demo and remind them of the wonder of the outdoors and that nature is awe inspiring. They wanted to do this in an honest and authentic way. But taking people on a hike is impossible to do. Or is it? With Trailscape, we were able to take people on a jaw-dropping hike on one of the most beautiful places on Earth, reminding and inspiring them to experience this feeling in the real world.