What Outdoor Brands Get Wrong About Storytelling
The playbook for brand storytelling - and how to make the most of it.
Starting Line
We are so excited to have Matt Trappe back on the podcast, this chat was overdue to say the least. He made his first appearance on a 2025 predictions podcast, and for some reason, it’s taken us until now to get him back in the mix. We hope you’ll agree that it was worth the wait: Matt delivered the goods on this episode. Today’s pod is a literal playbook for brand storytelling.
What Outdoor Brands Get Wrong About Storytelling
Matt Trappe is a photographer, filmmaker, creative strategist, and the voice behind the Matter of Brand newsletter: one of the most consistently sharp reads on brand building in the outdoor space. In this conversation, Matt and Aaron dig into why leading with innovation and tech has become table stakes rather than a differentiator, the three elements that make a brand story actually stick, and why the most powerful thing a brand can do right now is invest in longer attention channels rather than chasing short-form reach.
The Struggle Is Real, But It Doesn’t Have To Be
Today’s episode covered the pain points that brands face when it comes to storytelling - but one of the tools to make things easier for brands is a platform called Popfly, which connects outdoor brands with creators and athletes. Popfly supports Second Nature, and we are partnered with them because we believe this is truly a valuable solution for our industry. Have a look (or get a custom demo) and you’ll see what we mean:
Job Of The Week
🏔️ HOKA has multiple roles open: Sr. Director, Global Brand and Product / Sr. Designer, Digital Concept Design / Sr. Brand Planning Manager.
❄️ The Snow League is adding two roles to their events team: Event Production Coordinator / Event Operations Manager.
👟 Veloci Running is looking for a Footwear Product Developer.
Article Of The Week
Matt Trappe was our guest on today’s podcast, so we’re definitely going to highlight his Matter Of Brand article on our newsletter. What perfect timing, too - he’s got a fresh article about this week’s biggest event.
Show Notes
BPC - Brand, Product, Content
BPC is our closing segment where we share brands we’ve discovered, products we’re using and content that we love.
⚡️ Are.na: Matt Trappe shared this website, which is a way to collect and organize design inspiration. Sort of like an updated Pinterest for design and branding.
👓 Smith ODS5: If you have glasses (or contacts) and have been looking for a better way to ride/run without them, these new prescription inserts for shield-style sunglasses are Aaron’s recommendation.
Thank You
Wait…it’s May already? The season is officially in full swing, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve got some really fun episodes coming up that we can’t wait to share, stay tuned!
Another banger. Good stuff from Matt as always.