Client
Merrell

Engagement
Digital marketing strategy, creator partnerships, celebrity collabs, organic seeding, multi-platform rollout

Headline Result
20M+ impressions in one month, a new company record—cementing Hike Club as a community movement for outdoor enthusiasts.

Inside Merrell Hike Club: The Community-First Strategy Behind Its Record Growth

Merrell had a community waiting to be named. Hikers, weekend explorers, and “touch-grass” city dwellers were already telling the brand’s story—one trail at a time. The opportunity wasn’t to invent a campaign; it was to recognize a movement and give it language, rituals, and a stage.


We led the digital charge to turn that momentum into a flywheel: creators who hike for the joy of it, VIPs who bring cultural gravity, and content that invites participation over passive viewing. The result: 20M+ impressions in a single month, a company record, and a Hike Club that felt earned—not engineered.

Merrell Hike Club — Community-led growth that broke records

  • Position Merrell Hike Club as a community driven initiative that resonates with outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers, elevating brand awareness and strengthening Merrell’s relevance in the outdoor lifestyle category.

  • Led digital marketing for the Hike Club initiative, aligning strategy, creators, and channels into a single, community-first campaign.

  • 1) Influencer & VIP Collaborations

    We secured partnerships with high-impact outdoor creators, athletes, and celebrities—including Jeff Goldblum and Jeremy Piven—to amplify reach and lend cultural credibility to the Hike Club story.

    2) Organic Seeding to Spark Community

    We designed an organic gifting program that placed product with aligned creators. The focus: authentic use, authentic storytelling, and credible peer-to-peer discovery.

    3) Content Strategy that Invites Participation

    We led content direction to encourage user-generated content and conversation across social—turning Hike Club into something people joined, not just watched.

    4) Multi-Platform Rollout

    We orchestrated a coordinated campaign across Instagram, TikTok, and adjacent digital touchpoints—integrating organic and paid amplification to maximize momentum.

  • Built and managed a creator roster across outdoor niches and lifestyle segments

    Coordinated celebrity collaborations to deliver headline reach and halo effect

    Provided content guidance for creators and community to keep the narrative consistent and participatory

    Activated across platforms with the right format mix for each channel

    Monitored performance in-flight and boosted top-performing content to extend shelf life

20,000,000+

Impressions

Results and Impact

  • 20M+ impressions in a single month, setting a new company record

    Stronger affinity with adventure and outdoor communities through credible creator voices

    Brand authenticity reinforced via high-profile collaborations and real community participation

  • Community first: we treated Hike Club as a movement, not a product push

    Credible faces, real stories: celebrity halo + creator authenticity = trust at scale

    Frictionless participation: content prompts made it easy for fans to join in

    Channel-native execution: the right formats, rhythms, and signals for each platform

  • Campaign narrative & messaging strategy

    Creator and celebrity partnership sourcing & coordination

    Organic seeding program design

    Content guidance for UGC and creator deliverables

    Cross-platform rollout and amplification plan

    Ongoing performance monitoring to inform boosts and iterations

Takeaway

This work underscores that movements beat moments. When you design for participation, every asset becomes an invitation, not a broadcast. That shifts the metrics that matter from one-off spikes in impressions to durable signals like saves, shares, repeat contributions, and community rituals. Brand affinity grows because people see themselves in the story and can act on it immediately, whether that’s posting a first trail, joining a meetup, or stitching a creator’s clip.

Celebrity reach has its place, but it’s most effective as an accelerant layered on top of creator trust. VIPs widen the funnel and create cultural salience; vetted creators maintain day-to-day credibility, show real use in context, and keep the narrative honest. Pairing the two ensures that awareness converts into belonging: the halo draws people in, the community keeps them engaged.

Finally, seed early and often so organic discovery can do the heavy lifting. Gifting programs, micro-prompts, and simple first-step rituals generate authentic content that algorithms reward and audiences believe. Paid media then becomes a force multiplier, fuel poured on what the community has already validated, driving greater efficiency and longer shelf life. The playbook is simple: name the movement, lower the first step, recruit creators for trust and VIPs for scale, and use paid to amplify proven sparks.

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