The Q4 Machine
Head of Creative — Backcountry
For most ecommerce brands and retailers, Q4 isn't a season — it's the year. The holiday window drives the bulk of annual sales, and there are no second chances. Nailing the execution is everything. This is how we do it at Backcountry.
One Theme, Everywhere
Every holiday season starts with a single, comprehensive omni-channel theme — developed through color, type, tone, and feel, then held to standard across every customer touchpoint. The site experience matches the store. The store matches the commercial you saw on TV last night. When the whole brand tells one story, every channel makes the others work harder.
The World We Built
Set design · PhotographyFor FW24 the theme was traditional ski-cabin nostalgia — so we built the cabin. Real walls, hardwood floors, vintage furnishings and ski signage, dressed and re-dressed into multiple sets for each of the personas the campaign speaks to.
The Site Experience
eCommerce · Gift Guide UXThe theme became the shopping experience itself. Custom pennant flags turned price tiers into collectible signposts, and each persona's set became a visual navigation tile — so browsing the gift guide feels like walking through the world of the campaign.
The Same World, In Your Feed
Email & SocialThe theme carries straight into inboxes and feeds — lifecycle email, paid social, and organic content all built from the same sets, the same pennants, the same palette. A customer can go from an Instagram story to a gift-guide email to checkout without ever leaving the world of the campaign.
OTT & Streaming
Broadcast · Paid MediaThe campaign meets customers where they watch — broadcast and OTT placements bring each year's theme to life in motion. Below, two consecutive Q4s from the machine: the FW24 Haul-iday spot in the world of the cabin, and the FW25 campaign that followed — a completely new theme, built the same way.
"Combined holiday sales doubled the previous year."