Columbia Sportswear tests ‘engineered for whatever’ with bear poop beer

Conceived by Adam&Eve\TBWA, the die-hard commitment to ‘whatever’ brings Columbia’s ‘Engineered for Whatever’ platform to life by taking one of nature’s least appealing byproducts and making it, somehow, drinkable and cool. The scat was collected trailside in Montana, introduced into the brewing water and then rendered safe, resulting in a lager with notes of honey and huckleberry. As the brand points out, bears eat pretty well, which is meant to be reassuring, as if bear diet is the sticking point here.

Columbia is backing the release with what it’s calling “the Big Game’s shittiest beer ad,” featuring former NFL players Lance Moore, Daunte Culpepper, John Kuhn and Mike Remmers. In the spot, the athletes explain that nobody knows the outdoors better than Columbia, so if anyone can turn bear poop into a cold beer, it’s probably them. It’s the kind of endorsement you don’t usually see in sports marketing, but then again, most sports marketing doesn’t require a waiver. 

Social content will follow, including creator-led taste tests and teasers from influencers such as Joe Santagato of The Basement Yard, who has presumably been briefed on what he is agreeing to drink.

“When we say engineered for whatever, we mean whatever,” said Joe Boyle, brand president at Columbia Sportswear Company. “If Mother Nature hurls bear poop at us, we’ll ferment it into a frosty pint.” It’s a line that neatly sums up the logic behind the campaign. 

While other brands are spending millions to wallpaper the Big Game with polished sameness, Columbia has opted for a hometown brew, a self-aware sense of humor and a stunt that is impossible to ignore or forget. The kind of thing that makes you wonder what the runner-up ideas looked like.