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REI ADVENTURES: MARKETING PLAN

This hypothetical 5-pg marketing plan designed for REI Adventures was completed during my graduate coursework for MBA 606: Marketing and Brand Strategy.

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November 9, 2018

  • Big picture (What is your mission and goals; PEST; 3Cs; SWOT?)

    • Mission – “Why has REI offered adventure travel trips for more than 30 years? To get people outdoors! It’s really that simple… For us, getting people outdoors is our passion.” (Why Travel, 2018)

    • Goals – To help our customers live out their travel dreams. “With more than 150 different trips on every continent, you’re sure to land on the trip of a lifetime, every time you travel with us.” (Why Travel, 2018)

      • To expand knowledge of REI Adventures to the broader public and compete with high-end travel companies in offering the highest quality adventure travel trips on the market.

      • To expand member knowledge of REI Adventure trips and the amazing discounts afforded to REI members.

      • To be known as the number one place to come for high quality outdoor adventures that practice and teach responsible stewardship.

    • PEST

      • Political – Given the international nature of our business, a constant and consistent analysis of foreign laws and regulations regarding travel, land use, and guide license requirements is vital for REI Adventures. It is also extremely important for us to follow political developments as they relate to social changes in the foreign countries we do business in.

      • Economic – The Outdoor Industry continues to approach $1 trillion in consumer spending in the United States and consumers are committing more dollars to outdoor pursuits than ever (The Outdoor Recreation, 2018, pg. 2). The question is, are they willing to spend on high ticket items like adventure travel?

        • Simply put, yes. There is a broad and growing market for travel in the United States and abroad. In the year 2017, the U.S. Travel Association found $1.036 trillion in “total domestic and international inbound traveler spending in the U.S.” (U.S. Travel, 2018)

      • Social – Given the international nature of our business, we must constantly update our outlook of what is socially acceptable. We take people to places that can be very unfamiliar to them, and it is important we treat locals with respect and understand how they expect us to act. This piece of our business helps us build genuine relationships with locals and will positively impact our business there in the future.

      • Technical – REI Adventures is uniquely placed as an extension of the largest outdoor retailer in the country, and as such offers technical expertise on a wide range of products and services. To be successful moving forward, we need to focus more energy on our technical expertise and how that translates to providing a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

    • 3C’s

      • Customer – “Our core audience tends to skew a little bit older, but we’re also targeting a younger aspirational audience.” (Wolf, 2018) REI Adventures draws its customers from the common outdoor industry segments of the Achiever and the Outdoor Native (Consumer Segmentation, 2015), but we also must understand segmentation in the travel and tourism industry. Therefore, we have identified our target audiences as:

        • YAHTZEES – “Young a heart travelers zooming everywhere enthusiastically.” (Get to Know, 2017) These individuals are actively retired, travel more than 3 times per year and spend more than $8,000 annually on travel. Mostly over the age of 65 and trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

        • Jet Sweaters – “amateur adult athletes without children who travel to fulfill their own athletic pursuits.” (Get to Know, 2017) These individuals have more resources and time since they don’t have kids. They can also be motivated to volunteer while traveling, a perk of REI Adventures stewardship programs.

        • REI Members – This is our customer base. It is a broad base, but these individuals are typically active in the outdoors and know what to expect from REI programs, giving us an edge over our competitors.

      • Competition – REI Adventures competes against the top adventure travel companies in the world, but also maintains a significantly different approach due to our large outdoor retail presence. We have identified our competitors as some of the best in the travel business, because that is what we aspire to become: Classic Journeys, Adventure Unbound, Journeys Within, and Tauck, just to name a few (Walhout, 2018).

      • Company – REI has the capability to be the number one resource for outdoor activity across the globe, and the REI Adventures platform is a great place for REI to hone their expertise, global relations, and prove to members and customers that they are the best of the best. The purpose-driven culture at REI has already set the company up for success in domestic retail, and there is no reason those tools shouldn’t translate to REI Adventures as well.

    • SWOT

      • Strengths – At REI Adventures, our strength is our connection to the REI Co-op, and the tools and reputation that come with it. The Adventures side of our business is heavily influenced by the reputation REI has as a high-value outdoor retailer that provides expert advice. This is important because at REI Adventures, we don’t just give advice, we put it into practice. It is important to have members and customers who trust our expertise, and that we won’t lead them astray. Thankfully, we have been building that trust for decades and REI members are as loyal as ever.

      • Weaknesses – “A challenge we face is how people think of us for travel.” (Wolf, 2018) REI is simply not known for their adventure travel, and many people likely go to other companies without seriously considering REI Adventures. It also seems that many members are unaware of REI Adventures completely or have never seriously considered it as a viable travel option.

      • Opportunities – REI Adventures has tremendous opportunities for growth in future years and even has a chance to overtake the retail side of our business in profits. “As a tour operator within a retail co-op we have the advantage of an established member base, and an opportunity to become a leading authority in travel.” (Wolf, 2018)

      • Threats – Our main threats come from our inability to effectively market our product, the fragile infrastructure of some our most popular trips, and the ability of our main competitors to focus their business on travel only, not retail.

  • Describe your service (What is the differentiation from competitors and the problem being solved?)

    • “For us, getting people outdoors is our mission, our goal, and our passion… So whether you dream of cycling the winding roads of Zion National Park, exploring the unique flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands, trekking through the Himalayas, or joining us for a close-to-home weekend getaway, we’re here to help you live that dream.” (Why Travel, 2018)

      • Travel with people that share your values, fellow REI members.

      • Do the activities you love: experience natural beauty & culture à workout OR take it easy à travel solo OR take a family trip à Large groups and friends à optimized fun for everyone.

      • Resident Guides – Follow our guides off the beaten path and discover the unexpected. It is our belief that no one can lead you like a resident guide that is immersed in the culture and provides specific trip expertise.

      • High Ethical Standards & Minimize Environmental Impact à Use of best practices in leave no trace, reusables, and recyclables à Create relationships with local businesses and treat cultures and places with respect

    • How are we different?

      • The difference between REI Adventures and booking your adventure travel with another company is the unique expertise and tools available to REI as the largest outdoor retailer in the United States. REI equips people to climb Everest and trek through the Amazon, and the REI Outdoor School teaches and guides thousands of people per year in their favorite outdoor disciplines. Our employees have done it all, and their shared experience is why people still come to our stores for advice opposed to just shopping online. REI Adventures is different because we’ve been there and done that, and we’d love to show you the way.

    • Problem Being Solved

      • The problem being solved by REI Adventures is the complete fulfillment of the REI Mission: “We inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.” (REI Overview, 2018) It is our duty to get people outdoors to experience their adventure of a lifetime, and it is only natural that REI Adventures exists to fulfill the REI mission.

  • Define your target audience (Who is your ideal customer and what do you know about them?)

    • Target Audience

      • REI Members – This segment is unique to the REI brand and mission, and understands what makes the co-op so valuable to our community. They are members of every single different consumer segment in the outdoor industry, and therefore do not share a certain set of purchasing habits. They do, however, share a likeminded respect and reverence for the outdoors, and we can easily cater to that. Plus, they get a huge discount on REI Adventure trips!

      • YAHTZEES – Young At Heart Travelers Zooming Everywhere Enthusiastically. “Active retirees who travel more than 3 times per year and plan to spend over $8,000 annually on traveling.” (Get to Know, 2017) Over the age of 65, Baby Boomers. We can accommodate their active lifestyles, including workouts and healthy eating habits. They want to see unique locations and take in the culture through entertainment and dining activities.

        • These individuals are likely part of the Achiever or Outdoor Native segments but could also be The Aspirational Core finally getting on their adventure of a lifetime.

      • Jet Sweaters – “amateur adult athletes without children who travel to fulfill their own athletic pursuits.” (Get to Know, 2017) These individuals want to scale mountains and go on adventures that take them to remote places. They even like to do so in the name of volunteering, which REI Adventures offers through our volunteer stewardship programs (REI Volunteer, 2018). Also, they have more resources since they don’t have children, which may allow them to splurge for upgrades and extras. This group enjoys camping and immersing themselves in local culture and are likely a part of The Achiever or Outdoor Native outdoor industry segments.

  • 4 P’s of your service (Price, Promotion, Place, People, Position, Physical Environment, Process)

    • Place

      • REI Adventures cannot fall into the trap of relying on REI’s large retail presence to drive sales. Without a doubt, it is extremely important to engage customers in store, but we can’t overlook the immense opportunities digital marketing provides to engage new customers and even help grow REI’s overall brand. That also means REI Adventures needs to take great care with their placement to uphold the co-op’s overall mission. Therefore, I propose a selective digital marketing campaign to go along with a more robust exclusive in-store face-to-face campaign than what REI currently offers.

    • Product

      • At REI Adventures, our product is taking you on once-in-a-lifetime adventures to fulfill your travel dreams. In doing that, we support the broader REI mission to get people outdoors, which we now know supports not only physical, but mental health as well (Pearson & Craig, 2014). To all REI members (and those willing to join for the $20 one-time fee), REI Adventures provides very affordable experiences that compare favorably to travel industry leaders. For instance, our 7-day Machu Picchu trip costs REI members $3,799, compared to similar trips from Adventure Unbound, $3,730 (Peru Unbound, 2018), and Classic Journeys, $4,795 (Peru & Machu Picchu, 2018). With over 150 different adventures on every continent, REI Adventures is prepared to cater to families and expert explorers alike by providing a wide array of trips and destinations. Our customers know what to expect from REI, expert technical advice and responsible stewardship techniques, and that separates us from our competitors. Plus, you get to travel with other like-minded folks, REI members!

    • Promotion

      • To promote our trips, REI Adventures will use our extensive network of REI retail stores to support growth using hard retail promotions (posters and fixtures) and by training at least one store employee to be the lead voice for REI Adventures in the store. Currently, REI Adventures is an afterthought for many store employees, with only a small dedicated space in each location to describe travel options to potential customers. It is important that we train our famous green vests to speak up about REI Adventures experiences and that they know where to send customers who are interested. Each store should  have a dedicated employee that can be called upon to answer more in-depth questions at any time. Promoting REI Adventures face-to-face with potential customers is very important since ‘word of mouth’ is a primary factor in up to 50% of all sales in the United States (Berger, 2013).

      • REI Adventures should also focus their promotion efforts on digital marketing avenues, especially those that are currently historically underpriced like Facebook and Instagram (Vaynerchuk, 2017). Since we provide unique and beautiful experiences for our customers, it is important that we share their stories and the beautiful experiences they have on their journey. As the world continues to become a more connected place, customers are relying more on friends, families, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers than they are on traditional marketing campaigns (Kotler, 2017, pg. 12) Short form video on Facebook and professional photographs on Instagram will help REI Adventures share these stories in the most effective way, while also focusing on our target audiences, REI members, YAHTZEES, and Jet Sweaters.

    • Price

      • REI Adventures has built their pricing model off of more than 30 years of travel guide experience, and although the system is not without flaw, it does operate in such a way as to convey the high-end value of our trips while also remaining relatively affordable for REI members. It is important to consider the cost-intensive nature of the travel industry, especially when providing services in the most environmentally conscious way possible. Therefore, REI Adventures should continue to use a dynamic pricing model, and carefully consider all costs based on time, place, and resources.

    • People

      • The rich experiences provided by REI Adventures would not be possible without the amazing network of people involved, from guides to local vendors, to our traveling clients. By building meaningful relationships with the local communities, we can ensure mutual respect and future sustainability. Therefore, we must continue to put these people at the forefront of our business model by promoting healthy relations and ethical business practices across the supply chain.

  • Define your offer or message (What do you want them to do?)

    • At REI Adventures, our focus is to get people outdoors on the trip of a lifetime, while providing the same expertise and stewardship-focused leadership employed by REI since 1938. We want to take people on their dream adventure vacation, full of picturesque views, local cuisine, and rich cultural experiences. Our resident guides will immerse you in a rich cultural experience while promoting the highest ethical standards and working to minimize environmental impact. REI has been a great role model for the outdoor industry and REI Adventures should be a shining example of the fulfillment of REI’s mission in every facet of our business.

  • Communication Medium (How will you communicate with and reach your potential customers?)

    • The channels REI Adventures works with to communicate with potential customers include “Email, Social, Paid Direct, Direct, Vis Merch, and Content.” (Wolf, 2018) This broad and all-encompassing marketing strategy has built a strong adventure travel business, but to continue growing, REI Adventures needs to focus our marketing efforts on a few specific channels: Social, Face-to-Face, and Content.

      • Social – As a new breed of connected customer continues to emerge, social media platforms will play an increasingly integral role in the communicating with potential customers (Kotler, 2017, pg. 19). The ability that social media channels give us to affordably market to our targeted audience cannot be understated, however we must also remember that one of our targeted audiences, YAHTZEES, are likely not as active on these platforms. REI Adventures strength here is our ability to document our trips and travel experiences, as opposed to creating them, which creates a higher level of authenticity with potential customers (Vaynerchuk, 2018, pg. 79).

      • Face-to-Face – While face-to-face communication and “word of mouth” has always played an integral role in our business success, the REI Co-op has failed as whole to market REI Adventures in the retail space in an effective way. At any REI retail store in the country, you will find a small dedicated space for REI Adventures, however it is unlikely you will find a retail employee who can give detailed information on our trips. Due to this, many customers and even REI members remain uninformed of the amazing experiences REI Adventures has to offer. This is extremely important since ‘word of mouth’ is a primary factor in up to 50% of all sales in the United States (Berger, 2013).

      • Content – REI Adventures is uniquely positioned to create compelling content that reaches out to potential customers and pulls them in by the heart strings. The focus should be on documenting our unique travel experiences, using past customers to drive engagement, and creating authenticity with potential customers. Our business is naturally surrounded by some of the most beautiful places and culturally-rich experiences on the planet. It is important that we use these natural byproducts to reach out and inspire through professional photography and both long and short-form video. This content will complement our social media efforts, but also allow our customers and potential customers to share via their preferred communication method.

  • Conversion & Sales (How will you communicate with and reach your potential customers?)

    • Providing high-end adventure travel means that people are spending thousands of dollars, and when people spend money like that, they usually want personalized service. At REI Adventures we provide friendly and knowledgeable call staff that is travel-savvy but can also provide you with all the gear advice you need to prepare for your trip (Why Travel, 2018). However, we need to expand our efforts to every REI retail store in the country, providing at least one leadership staff member with training on REI Adventure programs in order to continue growing our business via face-to-face interactions and “word of mouth.”

    • We will reach our customers in store, but conversion will take place over the phone, or on our online platform. We will focus on our strengths as the nation’s largest outdoor retailers, our reputation for expert advice and responsible stewardship, and the unique combination of resources this provides for world travel. It will also be important to secure personalized reviews from customers immediately upon returning from their REI Adventures travel, to not only enhance our reputation in the travel industry, but to provide powerful content for our digital marketing efforts.

  • What data do you have to develop strategic insights into the questions above or other marketing needs?

    • REI Adventures focuses on “driving top funnel awareness through inspirational messaging and funneling down with engagement and transactional messaging.”

    • Our core audience is typically older, but we also target a younger, more aspirational audience.

    • “Channels we work with include Email, Social, Paid Media, Direct, Vis Merch, and Content.” (Wolf, 2018)

  • What recommendations do you have for this company to improve their marketing efforts?

    • REI Adventures has the genuine opportunity “to become a leading authority in travel.” (Wolf, 2018) With 154 brick-and-mortar retail stores, over 12,000 employees, and a worldwide active membership of 6 million people, REI has the base, reach, and expertise to completely transform adventure travel as we know it. The ability to provide a full-service approach, from outfitting through travel experience, sets us apart from our high-end travel competitors. However, REI Adventures has failed to highlight these unique differences, instead relying heavily on “word of mouth” among membership to drive sales. Moving forward it is important for REI Adventures to build a brand based on authenticity, customer experiences, and the ability to provide a full-service approach to travel. They need to set themselves apart from the REI retail space by building their own website and social media pages. REI Adventures has so much to offer the travel and tourism industry in the form of unique and environmentally responsible travel experiences, and they should be utilizing the digital marketing and face-to-face interactions to help them reach their potential as a “leading authority in travel.”



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