REI, a national retail co-op selling high-quality outdoor adventure gear and apparel, has built its brand identity on making outdoor adventures more accessible. The company’s “#OptOutside” 2015 Black Friday campaign is an excellent example of how a strategic initiative can reinforce and extend a brand. A month before Black Friday in 2015, REI announced that it would be giving all of its employees a paid vacation day, closing its stores and suspending online sales on this famous shopping day. By doing so, REI hoped to enable its employees, and of course customers, to #OptOutside instead of spending the day shopping. The campaign was supported by a microsite, a social media campaign, and entertaining online films. Individuals were encouraged to use the designated hashtag to share their activities and experiences. Additionally, REI partnered with a geo-mapping service to help those who wanted to explore the outdoors but were not as familiar with their surrounding areas. The ambiguity of the #OptOutside tagline was intentional—it made the concept broad enough to apply to many different types of people—from highly active hikers and bikers to individuals who were simply nature enthusiasts. It allowed the REI community to define what opting outside meant to them personally......

Questions: 

1. Why does #OptOutside improve REI’s performance over the long run? 

2. What are the risks associated with developing the brand in this way?