• by Sara Guaglione , February 1, 2018

Adventure and outdoors magazine Outside partnered with Columbia Sportswear on a native ad campaign that experienced an average engagement rate of 2.15%.

Outside says that’s two times the average engagement rate for sites in the U.S., and the same engagement rate for editorial content on Outside’s site. To calculate engagement rate, Outside took the total number of in-app engagements, such as users adding activities to their calendars, or touching the filter button, and divided that by total number of Page Views.

The campaign, called “100 Days of Winter,”  totaled nearly 12 million impressions with a .09% click-through rate. It ran from November 1, 2017 to January 13, 2018.

“100 Days of Winter” is a custom-built digital hub designed to give users ideas on fun winter activities.

“It’s tougher to enjoy the outdoors in harsh winter weather,” stated Sam Moulton, vice president and director of marketing at Outside. “We want users to rethink all of the possibilities for outdoor fun and enjoy the cold temperatures without sacrificing comfort."

Users can sort and curate a list of winter activities that can be saved and accessed offline. The ad campaign has 100 different suggestions, including events, festivals, races and concerts. The activities range in difficulty — users can choose to look up uphill ski races or how to build an igloo in their backyard.

Each event can be shared in an email or social post, or added to a personal calendar or list. Activities are often paired with suggested gear from Columbia, like down jackets, parkas and boots.

Over the last five years, Outside’s digital revenue has grown by 20% annually, and the same is expected for 2018.

An affiliate program launched by Outside last year helped catapult revenue to six figures in a few months. The program includes long-form gear reviews and articles recommending products. In December, Outside launched a gear-shopping newsletter sent to readers twice a week.

“A big initiative this year has been not just to reach more people, but to engage with them in a more meaningful way,” Scott Rosenfield, digital general manager of Outside, told Nieman Journalism Lab.

Rosenfield was promoted to the position just last month. Previously digital editorial director, Rosenfield helped the magazine achieve a 365% traffic growth in the five years he has been at Outside, as well as earn five consecutive years of 20+ percent revenue growth, according to the company.