Mossy Oak Shadow Grass® Blades™ is out of this World!
Earlier this year, Mossy Oak released its latest pattern, Shadow Grass Blades, to the outdoor industry. With the new pattern available to consumers this fall, Mossy Oak set out to show the world its latest waterfowl pattern.
“Our partners have been hard at work getting their Blades products ready to hit the shelves,” said Chris Paradise, Senior Vice President, Chief Sales Officer. “We we wanted to do something extraordinary to put Blades in front of the consumer.”
On June 5, after several weeks of research and preparation, a crew from Mossy Oak literally launched Blades into the atmosphere. A couple of carefully mounted cameras, one aimed at a Blades covered arm, were released into the air by a large weather balloon. The second camera pointed down to film the Earth as the balloon floated upward into space. The footage it captured was awesome, to say the least.
“First of all, we were ecstatic when we recovered the cameras, but then we saw the footage and were in awe,” said Steven Bush, New Media Producer. “To see the curvature of the Earth and the Blades logo spotlighted by the sun was truly amazing. The footage it captured was better than we ever could have expected.”
The balloon was released early in the morning and after over two hours of flight the cameras hit the ground in a corn field, surrounded by a few blades, approximately 30 miles away. The payload carried a GPS transponder that made the flight tracking and recovery a breeze. The local air traffic control even gave clearance for the flight.
Having a Shadow Grass Blades billboard floating in space is a first for Mossy Oak’s 27 years of pattern marketing. A multitude of camo patterns have been launched during that time using the tried and true methods of reaching hunters. The way information is viewed and shared has changed significantly over the years.
“Simply, we wanted to take a new approach to marketing that really plays off social media and the connectivity that occurs in those online spaces,” said Ben Maki, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer. “The idea was so out-of-the-box that we thought, why not?”
