REI Co-op (Club)

My Role: Creative Lead, Design Thinking Partner

Creative Challenge: Create a brand and tone that resonates with parents and kids ages 8-14.

Product Challenge: 57% of parents are concerned their kids aren’t as excited about the outdoors as they were as kids and 68% say they often try to come up with creative new activities to keep their child excited about getting outside. (Data according to a 2022 study of 5,000 parents by Claritin.) Parents are having a hard time “fitting in family outdoor time” due to planning, logistics, gear needs, and costs.

Branding assets designed by Season Studio.

Solution

An REI Family Adventure Club offering monthly outdoor excursions designed for families. Each adventure includes gear, guidance, and exclusive year-round benefits to stay inspired and active.

This offering is a middle ground between REI multi-day experiences and one-off classes in REI stores.

The Process

Before we identified a solution, we had to explore the problem space. I worked with the initiative’s Product Manager, Product Designer, and several others across REI to create possible solutions for how to help parents with kids ages 8-14 get outside together more often, increase their motivation, and discover their outdoor antidotes to screen time.

Then, the Product Manager, Product Designer, and I refined the solutions and began the work to test our concepts. I detailed the offerings and prepared them for focus groups.

We received resounding positive feedback for a whole-family adventure club, and for the next 10 months, we refined and tested this solution, along with other concepts, to ensure its desirability and product market fit.

Pricing Structure

One of the greatest obstacles to finalizing the adventure club was establishing the ideal pricing structure. After several pricing tests, we settled on a three-month season where parents or guardians purchase a family pass for four people. Below you’ll see the landing page I wrote to test the most-desired pricing structure.

Branding

Because we were tight on time and resources, I hired an external studio to help with the branding for REI Family Adventure Club. My brief was to create a brand, along with digital and print assets, that used nostalgia, play, movement, vibrance, boldness, and organic shapes. I managed the agency relationship, timeline, and feedback between my team and our vendor. After working with the agency for several weeks. we delivered the branding below.