🥾 Bringing an outdoor gear brand closer to consumers

Shaping a digital platform that supports outdoor adventures and builds customer trust.

Note: To respect client confidentiality, some project specifics have been intentionally left out.

Project Summary

  • Client: Global leader in performance textiles (US Market focus)

  • Timeline: 3 months (2019)

  • Industry: Performance Apparel | Outdoor | B2B2C

  • My Role: CX Strategist 

  • Team: Strategy Lead + Business Analyst + Visual Designer+ Tech Delivery Manager

  • Expertise: CX Research • Product Strategy • Service Design • Capability Mapping • Facilitation

Challenge

The client, a well-known performance textile brand, had no direct relationship with end-consumers. While trusted for quality, their brand remained largely invisible to users, as the outdoor apparel brands using their fabrics owned the direct customer connection and brand affinity.

With growing pressure to differentiate and extend their value, the client aimed to explore a consumer-facing digital platform. But the idea raised complex questions: What value could they uniquely offer? Would it compete with or complement their brand partners? And how would this work, operationally?

The goal: Define a credible MVP for a digital lifestyle platform that supports outdoor consumers, creates brand value, and fits within a B2B2C model.

Approach

We ran a three-phase strategy sprint to define MVP platform features based on consumer needs and business impact. As the CX Strategist, I led the consumer research, pulled together key insights, ran workshops with stakeholders, shaped the service design and experience strategy, and created the capability map while helping build the business case.

Research & Opportunity Framing

  • Surveyed 1,000+ US consumers and mapped current journeys to understand status quo and identify opportunities for relationship-building in the customer journey

  • Benchmarked 20+ outdoor and lifestyle brands to understand market trends

  • Identified 11 opportunity areas and prioritized 3 of these with client teams for further exploration: loyalty, product support, and sustainability

Design Sprints & Concept Testing

  • Led 3 cross-functional Google Design Sprints on the prioritized opportunities: loyalty, product support, and sustainability

  • Co-created prototypes with stakeholders, aligning consumer and business needs

  • Tested high-fidelity prototypes with consumers to validate desirability, usability, and inform MVP scope and business impact

  • Surveyed 1,000+ consumers to assess likelihood of adoption

Business Modeling & Capability Mapping

  • Defined key MVP features and mapped consumer and business value exchange

  • Estimated revenue potential, marketing costs, and investment requirements

  • Developed a detailed capability map and high-level roadmap outlining operational enablers across technology, people, and partnerships

Capability Map, illustrating key MVP features, value exchanges, and operational enablers to guide platform implementation and scaling.

Outcomes & Impact

  • Defined a clear, high-potential MVP, deeply grounded in consumer needs, business objectives, and core brand values

  • Delivered a comprehensive capability map and strategic roadmap to align leadership and guide future development

  • Built crucial internal buy-in across business, product, and marketing teams, empowering the client for implementation.

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