Taking Google Street View Way Off the Street
Google has mapped 98% percent of the world, 100 countries, and 10M miles of concrete roads. But naturally, wilderness enthusiasts prefer the paths less paved. For YETI, this posed an opportunity: to take the Hopper M20 — its most versatile cooler yet — and map hidden trails across the globe, making the outdoors more accessible for everyone.
YETI partnered with Code and Theory — as part of our ongoing digital product partnership since 2020 — to design, develop and launch the digital experience anchoring Map The Gaps, YETI's campaign designed to take the “street” out of Google Street View — by locating and integrating some of the world’s last uncharted trails.
Impact
- 300% Increase in Hopper sales
- 1B Monthly users accessed through Google API
- 78M Impressions from press Across Forbes, Ad Age, The Drum, Gear Junkie and more
- 75 Miles of newly charted trails added to Google Street View
- 3x Gold Winner in The Drum Awards for Marketing, Webby Award Winner for Best Use of Online Media, Merit Winner in The One Show and ADC
Key Takeaways
- Hacked Google’s API to provide value and reach more customers
- Created an integrated campaign anchored by a first-of-its kind digital experience
- Transformed Google Street View into free ad space
- Designed, engineered and launched in less than eight weeks
Where the street ends, the journey begins
YETI tracked down 15 pure wilderness trails that had gone under Google’s radar and then equipped 13 of its global ambassadors with GPS-enabled 360º cameras and the YETI Hopper® backpack cooler before sending them to hike the undocumented trails.
Code and Theory led UI, UX and strategy for the Map The Gaps experience, designed to make these previously hidden gems discoverable by allowing users to easily preview and explore unmapped landscapes through video walkthroughs and immersive 360-degree views.
Hacking Google Street View
Once YETI's ambassadors had trekked through the rainforests of British Columbia, hiked up the hillsides of Victoria, Australia and crossed the deserts of Santa Fe, Code and Theory uploaded their personal footage through Google’s open platform. Their adventures are now permanently planted on Google Street View with YETI's Hopper front and center.
Essentially, Map The Gaps hijacked a platform with over a billion active monthly users, and transformed it into an interactive advertisement and demo for YETI's most versatile cooler yet.
An experience built from the ground up
Our engineering team used the countless hours of raw GoPro footage to create an immersive 360° experience — allowing visitors to watch, pan, navigate to key moments, and plan a full adventure — all from their device. We then extended the build-out to numerous video players and streaming solutions, ensuring seamless platform responsiveness.
The outdoors are for everyone to share. Go try a trail you haven't tried, then wonder where else you could go. Search and find.
Making the outdoors more accessible for everyone
Map The Gaps is meant to spark thrilling new adventures for nature enthusiasts everywhere. So naturally, it was vital for us to design for a world as diverse as the terrains we explore.
We followed AA guidelines closely, ensuring clear labels, landmarks and a structured layout for easy voiceover and keyboard use. We also added a mode to reduce motion for users with ADHD or motion sickness, keeping YETI's brand promise of truly making the wild more accessible in every sense of the word.
Code and Theory worked with YETI to design a new modular design system using familiar iconography, bold colors and intuitive user interactions to bring together an experience that delivered surprise and delight to users. The experience was also custom engineered so that YETI — and users across the globe — could easily add new trails by simply uploading their video to Google Street View.
Immortalizing with impact
In the end, for an audience obsessed with exploring the world, we gave them more of the world to explore. And in a way – no brand ever has – we ensured the YETI Hopper was officially, and firmly, placed on The Map … forever.
