Jerry Stritzke, REI’s CEO, decided to close all REI stores on Black Friday in 2015, the busiest retail shopping day of the year. Instead, REI created a marketing campaign called #OptOutside to encourage REI employees and customers to spend time outdoors. This might have hurt short-term profits, but it was squarely aligned with REI’s mission of helping people enjoy the outdoors. It sent a clear message that Stritzke truly believed in the company’s customer focus.
