Merrell Hiking ‘More Less’ Encourages Female Outdoor Self Care Whilst Mocking Modern Beauty Gimmicks

Outdoor lifestyle and adventure brand Merrell campaign called ‘More Less’ which seeks to inspire women to cast aside beauty gurus and gimmicks and instead encourage them to gear up for an outdoor hike.

The campaign, which saw the brand team up with independent creative agency Lafayette American and Mutt Films, mocks the false promises and gimmicks of the women’s self-care market and instead pitches the outdoors and getting moving as the simplest and best ‘self-care solution’.

The campaign launched nationally across the USA from 1 March and features creative that follows a group of women as they put down their gold-plated dumbbells, gear up for a hike, and seek some real oxygen therapy with real oxygen.

“You need more ‘this’ to be more ‘that’. When we get outside, get moving, and get to reclaiming self care, we’ll find that we’re more than enough. And that all we ever needed…was less,” says the campaigns hero commercial.

The campaign was led by a hero television commercial called ‘Find The More In Less. Let’s Take the Self Care Industry Outside – Merrell’.

“The self-care industry has made billions of dollars by telling women they don’t measure up, and that the only way to fix that deficit is by buying certain products,” says Merrell CMO Janice Tennant. “The goal of this campaign is not just to reclaim outdoor spaces for women, but to help them reclaim themselves.”

The campaign was created by female-led teams: including the Merrell marketing team, the partly women-owned Lafayette American and also by female creatives and producers.

The campaign was created for Merrell Footwear Chief Of Marketing Janice Tennant, Creative Director Kelly Warkentien, Brand Marketing Director Lindsey Lindemulder and Senior Brand Manager Ben Stark and Nathan Buelow by a team at agency Lafayette American.

The agency team included Founder & Chief Creative Officer Toby Barlow, President Emily Siegel, Executive Creative Director Doug Patterson, Creative Director Sarah Bills, Associate Creative Director Olivia Hill, Executive Producer Amy Abbott and Copywriter Olivia Hill and Phil Bator. The accounts team at the agency included Group Account Director Stephanie McMillan and Account Supervisor Kara Augustyn.

The production company was Mutt Film with Director Samantha Stone Shannon, Producers and Photographers Beth George, Shannon Lords-Houghton and Tyler Boylan, with editorial producers Beth George, Deb Agolli, plus Push Media Editors Samantha Stone Shannon and Nathan Hardecki.

Comment

The campaign reflects and reinforces Merrell’s long-held belief about the physical and mental health benefits of outdoor exercise and the company has been something of a pioneer in terms of encouraging and supporting women getting outdoors and it introduced its first women’s-specific hiking shoes 20 years ago and this latest campaign dovetails with that legacy.