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 Appalachians to the Canadian Shield, you’ll find trails and peaks with names that don’t just make people uncomfortable, they make them feel unwelcome. These aren’t just relics of the past, they’re still on our maps today.

With The Open Trail, we built a machine-learning tool to identify offensive and outdated trail names. Ones that Merrell believes have no place in nature. Armed with this data, we combed through popular hiking platforms to flag and rename trails and segments bearing exclusionary language.

On social, we invited hikers of all backgrounds to help reclaim the outdoors. The result? A powerful campaign to make the trailhead more welcoming for everyone.