Columbia challenges Flat Earthers to find the edge of the world

Columbia Sportswear has invited Flat Earthers to prove the planet has an edge, with the promise of winning the company if they can find it.

The new campaign, Expedition Impossible, builds on the brand’s Engineered for Whatever platform and continues its knowingly playful approach to outdoor marketing.

Created with adam&eveDDB, it centres on a short film starring Columbia CEO Tim Boyle, who issues a challenge to conspiracy theorists: locate the edge of the Earth, photograph it, and do it wearing Columbia kit.

Filmed at the company’s Portland, Oregon headquarters, the spot sees Boyle walking through the office and pointing out what the winner could own, from coffee machines and whiteboards to a mounted deer’s head and gondola cabins. Staff repeatedly interrupt to clarify the finer details of the prize.

The campaign is supported by an open letter in The New York Times, with Columbia also set to join online conversations across Reddit, YouTube and social media.

Boyle said the work reflects Columbia’s “bold, irreverent energy” while underlining the durability of its gear. “It illustrates our legacy of durability and innovation,” he added, “even to the ends of the Earth. Which don’t actually exist.”