Much like how quickly ice water heats up in one of those water glasses or bottles, Yeti takes a slow and steady approach to sports marketing.
The Austin, Texas-based brand empowers the communities surrounding its products and brand to prioritize and invest instead of killing millions of people to put their products and logos on billboards or TV screens .
"When we started, our product was accepted by the fishing community, so we reached out to the fishing community," says Poli Deri, Marketing Director of Yeti. “Then the product found other communities: farming, rodeo, the backcountry snow world, the alpine world, horseback riding and then, strangely, it found the culinary world, then it found surfing and ice skating.
"We let the product lead the way and tell us where to go."
Today, Yeti continues to invest in the surfing community through a global partnership with the World Surf League (WSL). The three-year partnership, spanning the WSL Championship Tour and Challenger Series, is testament to the brand's growth on and around the water.
As the official drink and cooler of WSL, organizer of the annual tour of professional surfing competitions and shows founded in 1976 as International Professional Surfers, Yeti will offer on-site activation at competitions in addition to its range of content. brand. See iconic locations from the WSL Championship Tour and Challenger Series with Yeti Ambassadors Jon Jon Florence and Stephanie Gilmour.
Unsurprisingly, part of this new connection is protecting and conserving the world's oceans through the World Surf League's We Are One Ocean initiative.
"About three years ago we had John John Florence and others as ambassadors and we were all covered in blood on the beach," Dery says. "We were thinking about WSL at the time, but we still didn't think we would make enough money to be a real community member in this community, so we continued our business.
“Now in 2023 we feel we belong and have earned our place, so we are delighted to be at WSL.”
The exception to the Yeti's slow and steady rule is the Austin Football Club, the brand's first professional sports team in its hometown.
Yeti is a founding partner of Q2 Stadium and has also been named official partner of Major League Soccer which will begin play in 2021.
"It's a bit crazy because we don't play football and we don't have a community in the world of football," says Deri. “We're an outdoor brand where football doesn't play a huge role, but we got to see Austin and our hometown. We were like, "Wow, this is Austin's first pro team," and frankly, we just wanted to be a part of it. It was kind of the other way around."
Yeti's marketing approach literally pays off.
For the three months ended Oct. 1, 2022, the company posted a 20% increase in sales to $433.6 million from $362.6 million for the same period a year ago. In the third quarter of 2022, sales through direct consumer channels increased by 15% and wholesale by 25%.
A scouting service with existing partnerships with Pro Bull Riders, the Natural Selection Tour snowboard series, the Freeride World Tour and Perfect Game where Yeti came next.
Dery says the brand has become more widely recognized around the world and is found in communities such as skiing, horse riding, Australian rugby and even craft beer brewing in Japan.
"The sports world is huge and we really want our product to be accepted there," he says. “These communities should point us in the right direction and we like that. It's about going out and doing it together. Communities find other communities, and that's exactly what happened with Yeti.
"Yeti's tent is really big."
