NEMO Announces Efforts in its Advocacy for People & Planet
NEMO, the award-winning, independent designer of outdoor gear and accessories built to improve the adventure experience, has announced the creation of its Adventure Resources focusing on advocacy for people and the planet. In coordination with the launch of its new website and internal, business-guiding Impact Compass, NEMO has created the Adventure Resources landing page to help guide all customers and outdoor recreationists. The resources range from:
- Outdoor guides to hire
- Groups to join, people to go with
- Steps and links on how to visit locations featured in NEMO’s marketing
- Recipes for amazing camp food
- Gear care and how-tos so customers can make the most of the gear they own
“It’s hard to start your next adventure if you don’t know where to go, what skills and gear are needed to get there, or that people like you have done this before,” says Vice President of Marketing, Darren Josey. “We want to reduce barriers to entry to the activities we make gear for. We also want people of all ability levels to be equally inspired and enabled to build a pathway towards a lifetime of adventure with resources and organizations to guide them. And we want to do our part to help retain the millions of new participants in our industry since the pandemic, while enabling our longtime customers to find their next great adventure.”
In 2022, NEMO finalized its Impact Compass, a five-point guide to define what business sustainability means to the brand and a roadmap to reversing its impacts on climate change. Advocacy for People and the Planet, one of the five points, states: We promote social justice, equity, diversity and inclusivity—both internally and with our brand voice. In relation, the Adventure Resources page features two of NEMO’s new partners, Inclusive Journeys and Camp Yoshi.
Based in Denver, Inclusive Journeys was founded by two Black women, Crystal Egli and Parker McMullen Bushman, with a mission to create data-driven, economic incentives for businesses to be more inclusive and welcoming, resulting in safer spaces for people who regularly experience discrimination. The Beta version of their Inclusive Guide, a digital Green Book and website like Yelp for inclusivity, launched in the Denver community on Juneteenth 2021 with future plans to launch in other cities across the country. Users of the Inclusive Guide can submit business locations they feel safe in and then rate the business on a range of attributes such as courtesy of staff, ADA compliance, sense of personal safety as it relates to their identity, gender-neutral bathrooms and more. Crowd-sourced entries will populate “inclusivity reviews” for businesses and recreation spaces.
“Parker and I both have backgrounds in conservation and natural resources, so while this guide is designed to cover any and all businesses, our roots and passion are in the outdoors. Partnering with NEMO is a perfect example of building bridges between businesses and the outdoors, to cultivate and promote safe, welcoming experiences for anyone who experiences discrimination,” said Crystal Egli.
Camp Yoshi was founded by Rashad, Ron, and Shequeita Frazier, with the intent to help diversify the outdoor space. Since its inception in 2020, Camp Yoshi has helped create safe spaces for people of color, allies, first-time campers, and enthusiasts alike, by curating trips that allow them to explore the art of camping through their unique lens. With an emphasis on leisure and aspirational experiences, Camp Yoshi is intent on being all-inclusive for their campers, using the most premium gear possible, and serving up chef-prepared campsite meals.
“NEMO understands and is deeply committed to our mission of building a diverse community in the outdoor space, and taking care of the Earth in our pursuit of embracing it. We’re so excited to welcome them into our family and join efforts,” said Rashad Frazier.
In an industry-first step, the models chosen to represent NEMO on the Adventure Resources page and in its 2022 brand campaign are also adventure resources themselves. Each was chosen because they’re authentic outdoor businesspeople who represent historically underrepresented perspectives in the outdoors. The models were paid top modeling rates and all expenses were covered. For this exponential equity lift, NEMO goes beyond just cutting a check and also uses its marketing resources to drive traffic to each of their sites to provide additional resources for its customers.
“NEMO recognizes that to create a sustainable business it needs to invest in outdoor organizations who build pathways to adventure for people of all ability levels,” says Josey.
About NEMO
NEMO is a New Hampshire-based outdoor gear company known for creating award-winning products that are built to last, comfortable and fun to use. Named the fastest growing camping brand in 2021 by NPD Group, NEMO has also been recognized by New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility as a small business leader for the environment, and recently won the 2021 Sustainability Slam for its 100K Polybag Elimination Project which commits to removing 100,000 polybags from the brand’s product line by 2023. NEMO’s reputation for design innovation across its product lines—tents, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, camp accessories and furniture—is an outgrowth of its design philosophy to never bring anything to market that doesn’t offer a meaningfully better experience. NEMO’s team of designers and engineers are motivated by a passion for outdoor adventure and sustainability.
Adventure Anywhere. Adventure for Anyone. Adventure Always.
