Gander Mountain Brand

From the initial pitch to the final execution, I was hustling day 1 on this project. Gander Mountain came to mono to help bring meaning to their tagline; We Live Outdoors. As we dug into consumer insights, we found that the typical hunter and fisher might not actually be the busch-drinking, confederate-flag-waving-Amurican our society perpetuates. Instead, true outdoors men and women are masters of their surroundings, and with that mastery, comes a deep respect for the moments that make being in the outdoors worth pursuing. And that’s how we came to the ah-ha moment that they don’t just live outdoors, it’s what they live for.

Photographer: Andy Anderson

Director: Brandon Boulay

CW: Ethan Miller, Curtis Peterschmidt

Designer: Alea Toussaint

Those that truly live for those moments–hooking a monster bass, sending a summit, waiting out the weather for that trophy buck–have put their skills to the test. Visually, the camera needed to act as another character to capture the feeling of being in that moment. I also wanted to avoid what Gander’s competitor, Cabela’s, was doing at the time. They were portraying the outdoors as an almost idyllic, perfect place, which is a far cry from reality.

I worked closely with our stylist to ensure that our gear looked well-used and that our talent looked gritty. Our cast included real outdoors men and women and they were encouraged to bring all of their personal gear to the shoot. Some pieces made it on camera and added a certain level authenticity.