The Open Trail

MERRELL

AGENCY: INNOCEAN WORLDWIDE CANADA
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTION: IAN MACKELLAR
CREATIVE DIRECTION: KEVIN BÉLANGER / DAVID STRASSER

The great outdoors has a great big problem.

From the foothills of the Appalachians to the Canadian Shield there are hiking trails and mountain peaks with names designed to make members of the population not only feel uncomfortable, but unwelcome.

With THE OPEN TRAIL, Merrell developed an advanced search algorithm powered by machine learning, to develop an exhaustive list of terms that have no business appearing on trail markers. With this information in hand, we scoured the hiking internet to flag and rename offensive segments on popular user-generated sites.

Through our social platforms we empowered hikers of all backgrounds to take back the outdoors, sparking conversations and inspiring change.