In 2022, Obermeyer hired me as their Director of User Experience. Very quickly, it became clear that the role would more resemble that of a Brand Creative Director. Take a cruise as we go over some of the major milestone work that helped bring a heritage ski brand with nearly eight decades of history into the modern, brand-driven, digital world.
Before we got things underway, we set the stage. We were under an immense timeline as we had decided to shift off of dangerously archaic software in July, which is the first month of selling season. But it wasn't a time to forgo the initial work that would build the design system that would support the brand for the foreseeable future. The analysis led to the development of our design system, but in a collaborative effort with stakeholders, we set the following goals for the project.
Spoiler Alert ... we surpased them all.
Mobile-First Design Thinking
ADA Accessibility Compliance
A Dynamic Home For the Brand That Tells its Vibrant Stories
Development of a Confident, Modern, Brand-Driven Design System
Movement to a Best-In-Class E-Commerce Platform
An Increase of at Least 20% in Revenue in Season One
Obermeyer's new digital home would first and foremost be a place for the brand to share the stories from its enviable history as a pivotal American ski brand, and allow it to share its unique energy play as a brand positioned in Aspen, Colorado. The website would also be a modernized e-commerce market so the brand could expand into the modern era. Obermeyer had barely scratched the surface of e-commerce, so we wanted to help the brand make a splash as quickly as possibe. Spoiler alert ... mission accomplished.
"We work in the outdoor industry, and we frequently have potential clients come to us and say, "we love Obermeyer's site. Make our site like theirs."
We worked with our marketing partners to build our go-to-market strategy that was based on our initial website goal of being equal parts story telling channel and revenue channel. We attacked the market with our what we called "Mountain & Heart." Mountain would drive product discussions, and Heart would be where we told the world about our history, and the mark we intended to leave on mountain adventure moving forward.
The first year on the new Obermeyer.com saw the goals we set forth absolutely obliterated. What were set to be reasonable goals for a brand to expect with an overall were left in the tree runs behind us. This speaks to the power of collaborative design thinking based on shared business goals, and by putting the brand and the end user at the front of the line.
Increase in Revenue
Increase in Conversion Rate
Increase in Transactions
Increase in New Users
"Michael Stump is a master of his craft and always delivered when anything was needed for the brand. His ability to strategize, think holistically, and be quick on his feet with creative solutions is unmatched in my experience."
The following are some of the efforts that were taken on to give the brand a solid footing for the next 75 years of business. We were pivotal in the development of a new rider-driven outerwear initiative called Off Grid. We called in the big dog Aaron Draplin to help with the branding of the line. And a decision was made to begin an annual print version of Off Piste Magazine, with the intentional goal of expanding our brand awareness with direct outreach.
While operating as the director of User Experience, and de facto creative director, I also took on some of the logo work that was needed for a variety of projects.
