We helped Smith Optics Head Out to new markets with a clear vision.
In 1965, orthodontist and self-described ski bum Dr. Bob Smith used his dental tools and some foam to invent the first sealed thermal lens with a breathable vent edge. He built prototype fog-resistant ski goggles by hand in his garage, selling them out of his van or trading them for lift tickets on his weekend ski trips to the Rocky Mountains.
Some fifty-odd years later, Smith Optics is famous in the ski and snowboard communities for its ChromaPop™ lenses, their premium light-filtering innovation that allows unprecedented depth perception in flat grey and whiteout weather conditions.
It’s no exaggeration to say that ChromaPop™ represented a clear revolution. Now Smith Optics was starting another. Expanding into more outdoor sports like biking, fishing and running with sunglasses, helmets and other cross-category gear, Smith Optics embraced a simple and powerful new brand direction to communicate its ethos:
Head Out.
Creating a Campaign With Legs
(and a Head)
Our campaign and overall brand shift were based on a powerful strategic insight.
Though skiers and snowboarders hurl their bodies into peril for fun, they — and every other outdoor sport enthusiast — rely on their head and eyes first and foremost. The eyes download the terrain, its obstacles and opportunities, while the head perceives the path forward, planning and assessing the landscape microsecond to microsecond. The head is key to the experience, protected and enhanced by goggles, helmets and other assistive gear that lend the wearer confidence and security.
Outdoor sports enthusiasts also invest in their heads just by getting out there. The very act of snowboarding — or bicycling, or fishing, or running — brings the doer to a different place, literally and metaphorically. Call it a flow state, meditative zen, a most meaningful distraction. It all equates to a kind of subconscious therapy.
With our longtime collaborators at SomeOddPilot, we realized that we could develop a campaign that empowered Smith Optics to own something unprecedented in the outdoor and action sports marketplace:
The head itself.
Crafting a Message With Meaning — Through Action
With rich overlap within its multiple layers of meaning, “Head Out” performs heavy lifting for the brand. We head out — into the outdoors and into adventure sports — to get out of our heads. To find a head space that’s integral to better living. We bring our head out from within the urban box, the Matrix, tunnel vision. “Head Out” speaks to a head held high with clear, steady vision — no blinders, excuses or self-delusion. Unapologetically, we head out to seek total absorption. A world within a moment. Union with nature through movement.
Here, protection and acuity are critical. Smith Optics focuses on your head — keeping it safe, letting it breathe, empowering you to get it out there — so you too can Head Out.
Showing Outdoor Sports
As They’re Lived:
From the Head Out
Fitting with an underlying theme of universal accessibility and approachability, we mostly eschewed sponsored athletes and the overly “epic” shots for our images. We wanted our imagery to come from the perspective of Smith Optics users, from the head out.
Sure, grabbing a gorgeous snowy cliffside carve was almost a mandatory, but we also captured the early-morning drives, the gear load-in, the exhausted (but exhilarated) end-of-day gathering. Smith Optics makes gear for those who head out, no matter their skill level or the visual grandeur of their sport.
