Latest / Content Marketing with Fexingo: Blogs, Videos, and Long-Form Content That Converts / How REI Turned Opt-Out Into Content Gold
Transcript
- Lucas: Let me start with a number that still surprises people. In 2015, REI — the outdoor gear co-op — announced it would close all 143 of its stores on Black Friday. Not just for the day, but permanently every Black Friday going forward. They called it #OptOutside. And they didn't just close. They told their customers, 'We're paying you to go outside instead.' Luna: I remember when that hit. It felt like a PR stunt at first — the kind of thing a brand does once and then quietly abandons. But they've kept it up for ten years now. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes it a content marketing case study, not just a headline. REI didn't just announce a one-day closure. They built an entire content ecosystem around the idea. Every year, they produce a short film, a microsite, social kits, and they lean heavily into user-generated content. In 2023, they got over 27 million social impressions just from the hashtag. But the real win is less visible: membership sign-ups spike every November. Luna: So the content itself isn't the product. The content is the hook that gets people into the co-op model. Lucas: Right. REI is a consumer cooperative. You pay a one-time $30 fee and you're a member for life. Members get dividends based on what they spend. So the lifetime value of a member is significantly higher than a casual shopper. When OptOutside launched, REI saw a 20 percent increase in new memberships in the following quarter. That's not just brand halo — that's a measurable return on a content decision. Luna: But let's be real — closing on Black Friday costs them millions in lost revenue. How do they justify that to the board? Lucas: They frame it as a marketing expense. REI's former CEO, Jerry Stritzke, said in an interview that the lost sales were roughly $10 to $15 million per Black Friday. But they estimate the earned media value from OptOutside in the first year alone was over $50 million. Plus, the content they generate — the films, the social posts, the Op-Docs — lives on and gets reused for years. It's an asset, not a cost. Luna: So the content marketing budget essentially pays for itself through PR and membership growth. Lucas: That's the thesis. But there's a subtler layer. REI didn't just create content about the outdoors. They created content about a value — that time outdoors is more important than shopping. That's a editorial stance, not a product pitch. And that's what made it work. Their in-house content studio, which they call the Creative Studio, produces about 1,000 pieces of original content a year — articles, videos, podcasts. OptOutside is the tentpole, but the rest of the year they run a real editorial operation on REI Co-op Journal. Luna: I've read some of those articles. They're genuinely useful — like 'How to Choose a Sleeping Bag' or 'Ten Trails for Beginner Backpackers.' They don't feel like ads. Lucas: Because they're not. The Co-op Journal operates with editorial independence. The writers aren't incentivized to push REI products. In fact, many articles don't mention products at all. They're pure value — education, inspiration, community. That builds authority and trust. And when a reader eventually needs gear, they naturally think of REI because the brand has already given them so much without asking for anything. Luna: That's a classic content marketing principle, but most brands can't stick to it. They get impatient and start pushing product. Lucas: Which is why the OptOutside story matters. It's not just a campaign — it's a decision to prioritize long-term trust over short-term revenue. And the numbers back it up. REI's membership has grown from 5.5 million in 2015 to over 24 million today. Their revenue in 2023 was $3.8 billion, up from $2.2 billion in 2015. You can't attribute all of that to OptOutside, but it's the centerpiece of their brand identity. Luna: But let me push back a little. In 2026, does OptOutside still resonate? The novelty has worn off. Other brands have copied the idea — Patagonia, North Face, even some non-outdoor companies. Lucas: That's a fair point. The surprise factor is gone. But REI has evolved the campaign. In 2020, they added a call to action to vote for climate-friendly policies. In 2022, they partnered with the National Park Foundation and produced a documentary about park accessibility. The core idea — 'we're serious about the outdoors' — remains, but the content refreshes each year. And the user-generated content component scales. Every year, millions of people post photos with #OptOutside. That's free, authentic content that no agency can replicate. Luna: So the real lesson for content marketers isn't 'close on Black Friday.' It's 'pick a stance and be consistent.' Lucas: Exactly. Most brands try to be everything to everyone. REI said, 'We're not going to participate in the biggest shopping day of the year because it conflicts with our values.' That's risky. But it's also memorable. And when you back it up with a year-round editorial engine, you create a feedback loop. People share content, which brings in more members, which creates more data, which lets you produce better content. Luna: I want to talk about the content itself for a second. REI's short films are genuinely well produced. They won an Emmy in 2016 for a film called 'The Longest Day.' Not a commercial Emmy — a news and documentary Emmy. Lucas: Right — that's the level of craft they're aiming for. They're not trying to make ads. They're trying to make culture. Their Creative Studio is staffed with journalists, filmmakers, and editors, not copywriters. That's a different mindset. The budget is substantial — I've heard estimates of $5-10 million annually for content production — but when you amortize that over 24 million members, it's pennies per person. Luna: And the content distribution is smart too. They don't just post on their own site. They put the OptOutside films on YouTube, they cut shorter versions for Instagram, they pitch Op-Docs to The New York Times. They treat it like a media company. Lucas: That's the model every brand should study. You have to think like a publisher, not a marketer. That means having an editorial calendar, a style guide, a voice. It means commissioning stories that have inherent interest, not just product tie-ins. REI's Co-op Journal covers hiking, camping, conservation, gear reviews, even poetry. The poetry doesn't sell tents, but it builds a cultural connection. Luna: Let's bring it back to a concrete takeaway for someone listening. If I'm a marketing director at a mid-size company, what's the one thing I can steal from REI that doesn't require closing my business on a big sales day? Lucas: Start by identifying one value that genuinely differentiates your brand. Not a feature — a value. Then create a content series around that value that has zero product focus for the first six months. Give away your expertise. REI gave away trail guides and packing lists. If you're a software company, give away templates or workflow guides. The trust you build will pay off in the long run. And measure it not just by direct sales, but by membership, email sign-ups, and repeat visits. Luna: So the metric isn't ROAS — it's lifetime value and brand equity. Lucas: Exactly. And that's hard because most marketing departments are optimized for short-term attribution. But REI's example shows that the brands willing to play the long game end up with a moat that competitors can't easily copy. Anyone can run a Black Friday sale. Not everyone can run a movement. Luna: Alright, so if I'm a smaller brand with a tiny content budget, can I still apply this? Lucas: Absolutely. The scale is different but the principle is the same. Start a blog, write one genuinely helpful post a week. Share it on social. Build an email list. Don't pitch your product for the first ten posts. Just prove you know your stuff. That's essentially what REI did — they just had a bigger megaphone. The content marketing fundamentals are identical. It's consistency and patience. Luna: And a willingness to say no to something conventional, like a sales event. Lucas: Right. The most powerful content marketing often starts with subtraction, not addition. What can you stop doing that will free up resources for something more meaningful? For REI, it was closing on Black Friday. For a B2B company, maybe it's cutting display ads and putting that budget into a podcast. The key is to find a strategic 'no' that lets you say a louder 'yes' to content that builds real relationships. Luna: I want to check in on a number you mentioned earlier. REI's membership grew from 5.5 million to 24 million in a decade. That's around a 15 percent compound annual growth rate. Is that mostly attributable to content marketing? Lucas: I'd say content marketing is the engine, but there are other factors — retail expansion, product quality, the outdoor boom post covid. But the brand affinity that drives membership? That's largely content-driven. When they surveyed new members in 2023, 40 percent said they first heard about REI through a piece of content — a video, an article, or a social post. That's a direct line from content investment to acquisition. Luna: So the ROI is there, but it's not immediate. That's a hard sell to a CFO. Lucas: It is, which is why you need to build a narrative around it. Show the earned media value. Show the member lifetime value. Show the repeat visit rates from members versus non-members. If you frame content marketing as an investment in customer equity rather than a cost, it becomes easier to defend. REI's board approved the OptOutside campaign because they saw it as building a durable asset. Luna: One last thought — do you think OptOutside will continue for another decade? Lucas: I think it will, but it may evolve further. The campaign is now a tradition, and traditions are hard to break. But REI will need to keep refreshing the content to stay relevant. Maybe they'll focus more on climate action, or on making the outdoors accessible to underrepresented groups. The brand has already moved in that direction. As long as the core value — 'time outside is important' — remains authentic, the content will keep working. Luna: And that's the real lesson. Content marketing isn't about producing more. It's about producing with purpose. Lucas: Couldn't have said it better. Next episode, I want to look at a company that does the opposite — produces relentlessly but with no apparent strategy. We'll see what happens when content marketing becomes noise. Luna: Looking forward to it. For now, I'm going to take Lucas's advice and go outside. Lucas: I'll see you out there.