Case Studies

Driving Growth at Scale Through Strategic Paid Media Planning For MEC

Mountain Equipment Company (MEC) is dedicated to inspiring and enabling people to lead active, outdoor lifestyles. Offering durable, high-quality clothing, gear, and equipment for activities like hiking, camping, skiing, and climbing, MEC makes the outdoors accessible to everyone - promoting both physical and mental well-being.

1 Year With MEC

Over the course of one year, MEC’s paid media program helped them connect with customers and promote their products across different ad channels.  

Backcountry Camp

With the camping season on the horizon, this campaign was intended to drive awareness and increase sales by promoting their camping gear and equipment through a multimedia approach.

Recognition becomes trust

Showcasing different rainwear products, as we’re heading into spring season to increase sales in rain gear. Deliberate creative tests to determine what design sticks.

Mountain Days

Increase traffic and sales by promoting great deals to kick off the start of the summer season.

Footwear

With trail running and hiking season fast approaching, Footwear campaign allowed MEC to be top-of-mind for customers exploring different footwear options.

Water Sports

Highlighting the latest summer gear for all outdoor enthusiasts and water adventurers.

Gift Guide

With the holiday season fast approaching, the Gift Guide campaign was intended to encourage customers to purchase the perfect gift for their loved ones. This campaign was also able to attract new customers by showcasing MEC’s products and increase brand awareness.

Outerwear

As we got into the rain season, the Outerwear campaign allowed MEC to highlight its warmth, durability, and style to encourage customers to purchase new outerwear for the fall and winter seasons.

Black Friday/Cyber Monday:

Promote and drive sales for the business during the Black Friday shopping event.

Winter Warmth

Drive sales and increase awareness towards MEC’s Insulated Jackets and Hut Booties, through specialized regional targeting, pending weather conditions.

Snow Shop

Generate early-season awareness for MEC’s Snow Shop Products with the Winter season approaching.

Base Layers

Highlighting key products for the winter season by utilizing relevant audiences in social.

Main Campaigns

Showcasing the campaigns that stemmed from data-driven decision making and resulted in real impact for the business.

Mountain Days
  • Six week long, multi-channel campaign to drive awareness and conversions (Native, Display, Discovery, Youtube, Social)

  • MEC's biggest sale of the year

  • Drove efficient CPMs to maximize reach.

Branded lift

+4%
Increase in branded search ROAS YoY

Traffic performance

-22%
Decrease in CPM

Traffic performance

+571%
Increase in impressions

Traffic performance

+176%
Increase in clicks

Conversion performance

+268%
Increase in conversions

Conversion performance

+336%
Increase in revenue
Dates measured: 15 July - 23 August 2022 against 29 July - 26 August 2021
Apex Collection
  • Driving brand awareness to MEC collection at the start of 2022

  • Heavy focus on video ads

Youtube ad effectiveness

+5%
In absolute lift favourability

Youtube ad effectiveness

+16%
In relative lift favourability

Conversion performance

+35%
Increase in branded conversion value

Conversion performance

+15%
Increase in branded search conversions
Dates measured: 25 Jan - 2 Feb 2022
Black Friday
  • Heavy on social placements

  • Rely built a media plan that extended the Pre-Black Friday period ahead of competitors

BFCM Impressions YoY

+125%
Impressions

BFCM Impressions YoY

+76%
Clicks

BFCM Peroid YoY

+13%
Increase in paid booked revenue

BFCM Peroid YoY

+9%
Increase in paid booked transactions

BFCM Peroid YoY

+65%
 Increase in new users (paid)

BFCM Peroid YoY

+58%
Increase in traffic sessions (paid)
Dates measured: 3-29 Nov 2022 against 19-28 Nov 2021

Processes

We use a data-driven approach to paid advertising that covers campaign alignment, media planning, audience targeting, budgeting, launch monitoring, and post-mortem insights to continuously optimize performance.

Since partnering with MEC in 2021, Rely Digital has supported 50+ campaign launches, built a proven evergreen Google Ads strategy, and driven consistent year-over-year revenue growth. Our tailored planning, efficient budget management, and real-time optimization have delivered measurable impact, highlighted by record-breaking sales and sessions from campaigns such as Mountain Days, Apex, and BFCM.

Summary

Since partnering with MEC in 2021, Rely Digital has supported MEC with over 200+ campaign launches and implemented both evergreen and performance focused strategies, allowing MEC to achieve year-over-year business growth.

Rely Digital’s unique approach to media planning, streamlined budgets management, and ability to make data-driven decisions has allowed the paid media program at MEC to scale while driving real business impact. The ability to execute on high-impact campaigns for MEC was demonstrated by the successful launches of Mountain Days, Apex, and Black Friday - Cyber Monday, resulting in record-breaking sales and sessions.

Elodie How Tak Pin
Performance Marketing Manager

From the very beginning, it was evident that Rely has a deep understanding of our business and its unique needs. They bring a keen analytical perspective and remarkable problem-solving skills to every challenge. Their strategic insights have proven invaluable, and their ability to execute quickly is impressive. What really sets them apart is their unwavering dedication, expertise, and enthusiasm! Thanks for being such fantastic partners.