Cotopaxi: Experiential Promotions & Brand Loyalty For The Win

It is Thursday! Welcome back, and thanks for reading about another of my favorite brands' #promotional and #loyalty strategies.?

Spoiler alert: I am staying on the outdoor theme to cover another brand doing a wonderful job with customer experience and promotions. When I started this newsletter a month ago, I did not think I would be writing about three outdoor brands in three consecutive weeks, but here we are. You might think I am going crazy, but I am still soaking up the last few weeks of Summer before I trade my running shorts in for sweatpants.

So, let us get into today's brand, Cotopaxi .?

If you are not familiar with Cotopaxi, let me give you a bit of an overview. Cotopaxi started in 2014 as a D2C outdoor brand for apparel and bags. Davis Smith, the founder of Cotopaxi, desired to create an outdoor clothing company that made solid gear but, more importantly, did good for the world. I will return to Cotopaxi's mission later in this newsletter as it directly ties into how the brand views promotions and loyalty.?

Early on, Cotopaxi's D2C roots allowed the company to focus on high-impact marketing and quality sourcing for its products. If you have not seen a Cotopaxi product in the wild, you can recognize the brand with its bright and colorful patchwork-style bags and jackets made of recycled materials.?

As Cotopaxi gained momentum in the market, the company looked at wholesaling and was fortunate to be picked up by REI . (Yes, the same REI outdoor retailer I wrote about in last week's newsletter. No, this is not a shameless plug for you to read that post. I would not be disappointed if you did read it, though.)

I will not be going deeper into the history of the brand in this post, but if you are so inclined to learn more about Cotopaxi's origin story, go check out the How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast from Guy Raz to listen to the episode with Davis Smith. (Yes, I am plugging this podcast because I may or may not have a man crush on Guy Raz.)

Okay, back to the post; why am I writing about Cotopaxi, and how did I even find out about this brand in the first place??

In my research for the newsletter, I am constantly looking to see how my favorite brands think about #customerexperience and their #promotional strategies. I already knew that Cotopaxi did not have a loyalty program, but I was curious if anything was brewing for the future.?

After searching on the handy dandy Google machine, I discovered an article by Melissa Daniels from Modern Retail . I recommend reading the article, but for the TL;DR of that piece: Cotopaxi's new CEO, Damian Huang, is placing a bet on investing in more retail stores. Reading that got me thinking: a brand that has made a name for itself in the D2C and wholesale game is switching up its strategy to focus on its retail presence. In a time when big box retailers are shutting their doors, this small brand is opening up new stores in select cities. Hmm.?

So, back to why I am writing about Cotopaxi in the first place, and just maybe why this all makes sense for Cotopaxi to go deeper into retail stores.

I was introduced to Cotopaxi back in 2017 when I got invited by some friends to participate in a 24-hour scavenger hunt called Questival. I had never heard of Questival before, so I was intrigued to learn more about it.?

Cotopaxi's Questival, is a 24-hour adventure race where teams of two to six friends team up to complete community-oriented challenges that push them to explore the unknown in their city and the surrounding wild spaces. Questival participants have 24 hours to complete as many challenges as possible, and the more challenges you explore, the more points the team receives. Event activity gets tracked in the custom Questival app, where participants react to other teams' successes and celebrate their own. A mixture of challenges completed and likes received determines your final rank. The top three teams receive different Cotopaxi prize packs, with the winning team taking home gear plus a trip to explore the world. The cost to enter is roughly $25 per person, and it includes a Luzon 24L Daypack along with other coupons and information about Cotopaxi.

With three other friends, we created our team name, QuestLove (an ode to Questival and the musician Questlove), donned our team uniform of tie-dye shirts and chicken hats, and set out for 24 hours of adventure. At the end of the adventure race, we came up short. However, we did end up helping out another friend group to help their team complete their challenges, and they ended up as the winning team, so thankfully, I could live the win vicariously through them. (Sorry, unfortunately, no photo evidence of this exists, or at least, I will not take time to find it and embarrass myself.)

I reflect on this experience and am amazed by the incredible job Cotopaxi did with creating an immersive brand experience that ignited brand awareness and fostered loyalty. In just 24 hours, I was fully immersed, ready to buy Cotopaxi gear immediately. The impact for Cotopaxi was even more pronounced, as they had over 4,000 participants running around Colorado for a day wearing Cotopaxi gear, explaining to bystanders why they dressed in funky outfits doing ridiculous challenges. My experience was only one Colorado event on a Saturday in May. Cotopaxi does these events in multiple cities throughout the year. Talk about an incredible brand activation.?

For this reason alone, I think that Cotopaxi's new CEO might be on to something with the increased importance of retail for its growth strategy. Brands like Cotopaxi can quickly be swept up under the rug with the mounds of competitors in the outdoor apparel and bag space, but getting customers to engage with your brand in person, having them feel the materials, and most critically, having them learn about your mission interactively. That is special and why I believe Cotopaxi is on to something.?

Company mission driving fierce brand loyalty?

Back in my first newsletter (again, not a plug to get you to read my other posts), I highlighted how a brand can win by creating an emotional connection with its customers through an overarching mission.?

Cotopaxi is explicit in what they believe in, and they are on to a winning strategy by reaching customers who share the same aligned beliefs.?

Let us go to Cotopaxi's website for a better look into the company's mission:

• One of Cotopaxi's main goals is to fight against poverty and reduce inequality worldwide. "We focus on empowering communities in Latin America through health care, education, and livelihood. We allocate 1% of our revenue to the Cotopaxi Foundation, which supports nonprofits, including the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and United to Beat Malaria."?Good for customers and those in the world who are the most in need. Double checkmarks to Cotopaxi.
• The brand, as a B Corporation, prioritizes ethically and sustainably sourced products. Focusing on people and the planet, the company uses repurposed, recycled, or responsible materials for its products. "As a certified carbon-neutral company, we think holistically about environmental and social sustainability. Since our biggest negative impacts occur within our supply chain, we strive to work with factories that treat people right."?Treating people right and reducing the carbon footprint through reusing and recycling materials is a win-win for all. Again, cheers to Cotopaxi.

Using a truly omnichannel approach to loyalty, Cotopaxi has various online and offline channels to spread its mission, educate potential buyers, and speak to those with similar views, all while fostering stronger brand connections.

Customer experience IS a key ingredient to a successful promotional and loyalty strategy

Gone are the days when brands could spray and pray with generic discounts, driving customers to purchase every few months. Those traditional efforts are not only poor for margin but can also tank a company's stock price and have them file for bankruptcy (I may or may not be referencing Bed Bath & Beyond).?

The customer experience a brand elicits can help accelerate purchases and even fuel how a brand rewards customers with discounts, points, or experiences.?

The Questival adventure is an experiential masterclass. Cotopaxi gets thousands of eager participants while at the same time generating incredible awareness as people see this competition going on and start inquiring more about the experience and which brand is behind it.

But Questivals cannot happen every day, nor can the events occur in every major city. This is where Cotopaxi's push to retail comes in. I am lucky enough to live near one of the few existing retail locations for the brand today, and I am glad I do because the experience is top-notch.?

Cotopaxi proudly displays its vibrant, colorful bags and apparel, making it stand out from other stores. Go inside, and you see products behind vivid imagery and locally inspired decorations. With a tip of the hat to Questival, the Colorado location bodes a 'Build Your Own Adventure' wall, inviting shoppers to complete in-store challenges that help them win a discount.?

The give-get here to receive a discount is unique. Shoppers have to participate in learning more about the brand, its mission, and its products before they receive anything. Cotopaxi has managed to engage with an audience and have them willingly participate without giving away too much. Nice job!

Overall, I admire Cotopaxi for leaning into their mission and developing a unique customer experience to fuel their loyalty and promotional efforts. I am intrigued to see how more brick-and-mortar stores affect the company's overall growth. In my own opinion, the in-store experience was compelling, and I predict it will only improve as Cotopaxi opens additional locations.

I am most curious about how Cotopaxi will scale up this effort across all its channels and leverage technology to manage the decisioning and execution of its efforts in a full-fledged loyalty program that ties in rewards. Cotopaxi, and has an opportunity to reward customers with Cotopaxi gear, but also with experiential opportunities and even charitable options through their partnerships with nonprofit organizations. This is where I see a platform like Talon.One coming into play. With a flexible, un-opinionated, API-first promotions and loyalty platform, the possibilities are endless. Here is an example of one such campaign. An in-store shopper comes in to build an adventure, they follow Cotopaxi on social media, and then the shopper is rewarded with a discount on a new bag and credits toward a donation to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Let us see what Cotopaxi does next. Until then, I will pack my Luzon bag for my upcoming camping trip.

If you have thoughts about this post, I would love to hear them. If you have suggestions of companies I should check out, please pass them along.

Stay tuned for my post next week on another brand that I spend too much money on :)?