Robert Irwin doesn’t take himself too seriously, and neither does Columbia Sportswear.
So it’s not surprising that the two teamed to create a comedic mockumentary for the brand’s spring campaign. Irwin, the Australian television star, zookeeper and conservationist, was named Columbia’s global ambassador last fall.
The 22-year-old son of The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, was just 2 when his father was killed by a stingray. But with his mother and sister Bindi, the family has kept the elder Irwin’s memory alive by following in his footsteps.
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Robert Irwin, who won the 34th edition of “Dancing With the Stars” earlier this month, was featured in Columbia’s irreverent “Engineered for Whatever” campaign last year. In that campaign, he was joined by Aron Ralston, the mountaineer who had to amputate part of his right arm to survive a climbing accident, and others who were bitten by rattlesnakes and hunted by hungry vultures.
In the new ads, Irwin — dressed in Columbia shirt and shorts and wearing the brand’s new Tellurix Titanium OutDry footwear — dashes through the outback chased by 100 crocodiles. But in this case, the crocodiles are green blow-up versions of the reptile. And while they are “formidable,” as the narrator relates, they don’t have shoes, which gives Irwin the advantage and allows him to hurdle over their heads, somersault over the pack and ultimately escape.
The video, which was filmed in Australia, ends with a real crocodile crawling toward Irwin, prompting him to say: “Lucy, how did you get out?”
“We’re having a blast bringing ‘Engineered for Whatever’ to life, and Robert’s sense of humor, love for mother nature and his taste for adventure make him the perfect star for our spring campaign,” said Matt Sutton, head of marketing for Columbia Sportswear. “He never holds anything back — wrangling wildlife in the outback, owning the dance floor, or outrunning a herd of rabid inflatable crocodiles.”
“I’ve spent my entire life around crocs, but I’ve never faced a challenge quite like this,” Irwin said, tongue firmly in cheek. “I never thought I’d be outrunning dozens of crocodiles in the middle of the Aussie outback. I’ve been putting Columbia’s gear to the test my entire life, so when they asked me to help show how it holds up through my unexpected adventures, I was all in.”
Irwin teased the video on social media, showing an image of him starring in “Max Impact, the Ultimate Race for Survival” from Omni Pictures. The fake teaser included activations on billboards, a fictitious website, projections, YouTube channels, and other channels.
“As we were filming, Robert mentioned how the chases and stunts made it feel like he was at the center of an action movie,” Sutton explained. “We thought he was onto something and leaned into his ‘action hero’ idea to introduce the spot. Robert has such a great sense of humor and was excited to play along with the ‘trailer’ we leaked. And given his incredible talent, we have zero doubts that we’re looking at the next Hollywood action star.”