READ: ADIDAS TERREX DIGITAL STRATEGY AND CONTENT SUPPORT
You might have seen us mention this a few times already, but we’ve been working with our friends at adidas TERREX for a while now on a project that completely bucks the trend for ephemeral campaign launches. adidas TERREX’s long-term United by Summits proposition is a progressive new brand ethos built around making the outdoors a more diverse and welcoming space, and we’ve helped them bring it to life with a social-first digital strategy and comprehensive global comms game plan. Read more about our work on United by Summits here.
LISTEN: LOOKING SIDEWAYS WITH CHRIS BURKARD (IN ASSOCIATION WITH Db)
It’s not understating it to say that with his singular approach to photography and visual art, Chris Burkard has helped shape how the outdoors, travel and anything else that might come under the category of “adventure” is documented. Influential doesn’t even come close to describing his work. So it was a real buzz for ACM co-founder and Looking Sideways podcast host Matt Barr to chat with Chris recently at a live event in Stockholm hosted by our friends at Db. Matt has released their insightful chat about creativity as an episode of Looking Sideways, and has also collected his key takeaways from their conversation here.
WATCH: RAPHA FILMS PRESENTS TOUR DE FORCE
It might be one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet, but for the last 33 years there’s been a glaring omission from the Tour de France: the involvement of women. But with more and more women taking up competitive cycling, this year saw their return to the event with the Tour de France Femmes, and this Rapha doc about the EF Education-TIBCO-SVB team captures what could be the beginning of an important new chapter for road cycling. Let’s just hope that the media and financial support required to move the story on is forthcoming.
READ: COASTAL CRUSADERS’ SURF SCHOOL FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Good news about our shorelines tends to get buried under an endless stream of sewage discharge at the moment, but this Guardian feature brings to light a rather more gladdening story. Operating out of Cornwall, the not-for-profit Coastal Crusaders have been giving people with disabilities and special educational needs free surf, paddleboarding and lifeguarding lessons since 2019, helping children and adults from mid-Cornwall find liberation in the water. It’s a project, launched by surfer Tom Butler, that recognises the benefits of sea-based activity and “ocean literacy”, as well as the many complex issues that make just getting to the water’s edge seem an insurmountable challenge for many.
READ: CLIF BAR AND VENUS WILLIAMS WANT TO MAKE THE OUTDOORS MORE ACCESSIBLE
It’s taken far too long to get here, but it does look like more brands are beginning to put their words into action when it comes to diversity in the outdoors. In much the same way that sustainability is bandied around like a buzzword at times, there’s not much point in wishing for a more equal outdoors when you have the means to actually change things. It’s this action-not-words approach that US energy bar brand Clif are taking (as they have for a while, to be fair), with the company’s charitable arm joining forces with Venus Williams and Outdoor Afro for a long-term initiative aimed at opening up the outdoors. Read about it here.