Grounding a new brand in consumer truth
for:
Venom
SPECIALTY OUTDOOR APPAREL
2025 | NORTH AMERICA & Europe
Value Summary:
A full funnel campaign system for Pearl Izumi's FW25 water protection line, built on one insight: the riders who buy cold weather gear aren't chasing suffering, they're protecting joy.
The brief
Pearl Izumi needed a seasonal campaign for its FW25 water protection collection, anchored by the AmFIB range. CSR Lab was brought in through The Public Works to lead creative direction and campaign architecture across digital, social, ecommerce, and out of home.
The landscape
Every cycling brand runs a fall/winter campaign. Nearly all of them default to one of two tones: the sufferfest narrative, where bad weather is a test of character, or the technical product story, where waterproof ratings become the selling proposition. Both are rational, neither is memorable. And in a social feed, they look identical.
Pearl Izumi's target rider doesn't stop when the season turns. Road, gravel, and mountain bike; ages 28 to 45; concentrated in harsh/wet climate markets (the Pacific Northwest, Colorado front range, the Northeast, British Columbia, the UK). They're skeptical of brands that lead with specs because they've learned that comfort and feel matters more than fabric weight. The opportunity was a campaign that matched their attitude rather than the category's.
The campaign platform
The platform was built around a single provocation: there's no such thing as bad weather. Just better stories.
Three headline families, each serving a different emotional register. "The Forecast Can't F#ck With Fun." Pure defiance. "Go Ahead. Steal My F#cking Sunshine." Confrontational playfulness. "There's No Such Thing As Bad Weather. (Just Better Stories.)" Warmth, community, the stories you tell after the ride. Each scaled from a construction site banner to a product card without losing its tone.
the decision
Lead with joy–not in a soft way–in a defiant way.
The insight: riders who buy cold weather gear don't ride in bad weather because they love suffering. They ride because the ride itself is the reward, and weather is just context. The campaign took that truth and built a voice around it that was loud, irreverent, and instantly distinguishable from everything else in the category.
visual language
Earthy and rich. Pine greens, cold blues, warm skin tones, and gear that pops against fog, dirt, or low light. Natural light, shallow depth, honest frames. Grins over grimaces. Camaraderie over conquest.
Three parallel stories across Pearl Izumi's core disciplines: road, gravel, trail. Each followed a group of riders through a full day in off season conditions. From that first layer up in the cold garage to shared smiles and gear dump rituals at the end. The texture of a real ride, not a produced one.
The System
Awareness
Messaging: The brand voice arrives with a point of view.
The job is interruption. Maximum type scale, maximum color contrast, maximum attitude.
• Out of Home
OOH was placed where the riders are: urban cycling corridors, trailhead access roads, and bike shop districts in wet climate markets. Portland, Seattle, Denver, Brooklyn, Vancouver, London, Manchester. Construction site banners were a deliberate format choice: massive, temporary, and embedded in the exact environments where all weather cyclists commute. A rain soaked transit shelter reading "THE FORECAST CAN'T F#CK WITH FUN" is contextual proof, not just advertising.
• DTC Homepage and Paid Social
The DTC homepage became the campaign's loudest owned channel. Full bleed photography, oversized pink typography, single CTA: Shop Water Protection. Social executions split the campaign across swipeable formats, opening with an arresting photograph, then introducing the headline, then layering the visual world of the ride.
Consideration
Value and Accessibility: Connect the attitude to the rider's world.
The job is relevance. The campaign earned attention, now make it specific.
• Discipline Navigation and Ecommerce Modules
Road, gravel, and MTB each received their own visual lane and entry point. Mid page ecommerce modules extended the campaign deeper into the shopping experience, pairing secondary headlines with product callouts. "Drizzle Don't Dull Us" alongside the AmFIB collection. "Down Pour? Down For." framing the seasonal essentials. The voice stayed consistent. The job shifted from disruption to navigation.
• Product Storytelling Cards
Individual product cards carried the campaign's editorial energy into the merchandising grid. "Lock In. Full Gas." for road and gravel arrivals. "Cheaper Than Therapy" for mountain bike. Irreverent tone, clear CTA.
Conversion
Solution: The product delivers on the promise the campaign made.
The job is confidence. The campaign voice stays present. The product leads.
• Collection Landing Page and Email
The water protection collection received a dedicated landing experience: campaign hero into structured product grid, organized by discipline. PI Dry technology and AmFIB fabric descriptions were delivered in the campaign's voice rather than clinical product language.
Email sequences extended the campaign into CRM with geo targeted logic. When a wet weather system hit a target market, the campaign's creative deployed with localized relevance. "Rain, Check." turned a weather event into a timely product prompt. The medium reinforced the message.
• Retargeting
Even at 300x250, the campaign held. Pink typography, environmental photography, Shop Water Protection. The creative didn't degrade into generic product shots at the bottom of the funnel.
Why it matters
This is what a campaign system looks like when every execution has a strategic job.
One insight. One emotional territory. One visual language. Deployed from a construction site banner to a retargeting ad without losing coherence, attitude, or commercial intent. The awareness layer interrupts. The consideration layer connects. The conversion layer closes. And the brand sounds like itself at every stage.
The forecast can't f#ck with that.