NoodleHaus
Cabela’s

The Challenge

 A 50-year-old outdoor retailer needed to connect with the digital and social world in new ways. The old-fashioned catalog, traditional TV, and local retail ad channels worked for the more mature audience but needed to seed the future with new and younger audiences. NoodleHaus was asked to create a campaign that would interest gamers who might or might not be outdoorsy.

The Campaign

In the early stages of the campaign, we had one key issue: hunting is polarizing; you’re either born into it or can’t fathom the idea. The NoodleHaus campaign brought partners together in funny and relatable situations that centered on friendship more than hunting.

Social Activities

The finding was, outdoor activities are 99% social. There isn’t a case where “going it alone” was recommended. We took that social aspect to a larger-than-life, lifestyle approach where friends could gather for some casual fun. That’s as deep as it needed to get.

Greatest Misses

In some core gamer markets, we knew players would want to see what it’s like to play the game, and along came Brody. A hired gun, so to speak, a character who explained away the honest truth. You shouldn’t show innocent animals getting shot in ads. So that’s precisely what he explained, and then he showed a highlight reel of him missing EVERYTHING.

Anyone's Turn

When research showed casual players liked to “plink” away when they had a few minutes, we created a series of friend spots that embraced that casual “anyone’s turn” kind of gaming. It’s a great feeling to play a game where the stakes are low, but the banter is high.

An Action Sport

Social, fun, and active, Cabela’s products are unique and sticky for a huge audience. We love creating bigger-than-life characters like Paul in our Hunting Party spot. His approach to gaming was quite a break from the couch-sitting glazed-over eyes that gaming scenes can become. This magical character Paul took players to an entirely new place, showing that your movement can change the gameplay. Using their arms, legs, and big beautiful bodies, Paul showed his party that gaming can be an action sport. Over the top? Definitely. Still, this spot was one of the most talked about in the campaign.

Turning Up the Heat

Of course, some element of danger would come into play with our outdoor adventures. We explored the idea of a plane crash, where the would-be hunter became the hunted. Once disarmed, injured, and hungry, a man becomes the weakest of predators. In our survival spot, we turned up the heat with a pack of wolves in the high mountains where our hunter, alone and desperate, would need to face his deepest fears.

Creative-Driven Results - NoodleHaus

Creative-Driven Results

  • Outselling all benchmarks in under a year
  • The series continued to grow from 2010 onward
  • A true crossover cult following for casual gamers who had absolutely no interest in hunting.

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