Bare Naked’s provocative name, bold iconography, and naked product (stripped of all the bad stuff) has always set it apart. And, although granola is favored among outdoor enthusiasts, Bear Naked Granola wasn’t top-of-mind. We decided it was about time we leaned into our name - Bear Naked – to highlight how we are the all-natural option that helps fuel an unparalleled closeness to nature.

In our research with the American Association of Nude Recreation (AANR), we learned that people choose nude recreation to embrace the joy of living and experience nature in the most natural way possible. Being naked outside has grown in recent years as attitudes about nudity, mental health, and self-expression have shifted in the U.S. However, while nude hiking is legal under Federal Law in America’s National Parks, it’s not always embraced by park rangers who often ticket people. As a result, it’s challenging for nude hikers to know when or where they can safely hike naked. By targeting the small community of naked hikers, we knew we could simultaneously spark consideration of fully clothed hikers, and deliver on our objectives of increasing brand favorability and purchase consideration.

To demonstrate that Bear Naked Granola fuels outdoor enthusiasts’ deep connection to nature, we created the first-ever community-supported trail system, designed specifically for naked hikers, and launched it on National Nude Day. To discreetly mark trails, we hijacked the review section of the popular hiking app Gaia, and created an emoji code for nude hikers to leave as a public review in order to label a trail naked-hiking friendly (🐻🍑✅) or not naked-hiking friendly (🐻🍑✅). We then disseminated this code, creating an integrated ecosystem in partnership with Outside Inc. Using channels including film, social, influencer, OTT, display, and ecommerce, we not only narrowed in on our nudist niche target but connected with the wider outdoor lover community as well.

Naked Trails successfully got Bear Naked back into cultural conversation. We achieved incredible results among those “exposed” with a +20% increase in brand favorability to 34%, and +8.4% lift in purchase consideration. Our “go micro to get macro” approach delivered 374MM earned impressions, getting our message to naked hikers and beyond.