Time: 2018 - 2021
Project: Brand and marketing strategy, email marketing, social media, community building, event management, e-commerce
Impact: Transformed Gone. from a new retailer into a leading brand in the outdoor space with a strong, loyal community. Expanded from its original Cape Town store into three new locations in Constantia, VnA Waterfront and Johannesburg.

Gone. is the exclusive distributor for Patagonia in South Africa with stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg and an online store. Having known of Patagonia for many years, I met Grant Cleghorn (the owner) shortly after Gone opened their doors. Fast forward a few months, and I started working with Gone and I worked with Grant and the team for nearly 3 years.

RESPONSIBILITIES

I developed and led brand strategy and the marketing, as well as ensuring that every touchpoint reflected a strong, consistent identity rooted in the language and culture of the outdoor community in South Africa. My work involved managing the social media, email marketing, graphic design, website maintenance and e-commerce optimisation for the online store, as well as environmental and go-to-market campaign design and event management.

Gone. also required a tremendous amount of community engagement due to the sheer volume of events we hosted during the year, including film screenings, talks, trail races, monthly gear repair events, weekly group runs etc.

Key initiatives included:

Community-first approach: Hosted weekly and monthly in-person activations, including Duct Tape & Beer repair nights, film screenings, trail races, and talks, which created a vibrant and loyal community around the brand.
Cause-driven engagement: Partnered with projects like the Pangolin Working Group and Nine Mile Surfing Project, linking the brand to meaningful conservation and community initiatives.
Strategic presence at outdoor events: Activated at climbing, surfing, and trail running events, ensuring Gone. was both present and relevant in the spaces their audience valued most.
Micro Adventures Blog: A content hub where community members shared short, everyday adventures (“micro missions”). Submissions were rewarded with store vouchers, driving website traffic, inspiring outdoor culture, and reinforcing the idea that adventure doesn’t need to be grand to be meaningful. See the blog here.
Brand campaigns with a local spin: Adapted international Patagonia-led campaigns for a South African audience.
- R1 base layer launch, where we invited customers to recreate the “R1 song,” a campaign later highlighted by the international team. Watch the winning submission.
- Launched the Patagonia Yulex Wetsuit range with a review by South African comedian and surfer Nik Rabinowitz. Watch the video here.
- The #GoneSearch campaign was our Easter long weekend campaign with a twist on the classic Easter hunt. People hunted down a hidden geocache, signed the logbook, and got outside despite the chilly autumn weather.
- Introduced #OptOutside campaign on Black Friday by closing out stores and encouraging our customers to rather spend the day in the outdoors than shopping.
- Launched the #GoneIndoor campaign during lockdown, inviting the community to dust off their camping gear, share their best at-home adventure photos
- Launched the #Gone2Gone campaign just after lockdown; a point-to-point 21km across Table Mountain with race numbers, prizes, and free beers at the finish. It was our twist on the virtual run, but in person, and over 5,000 people completed the route in that first month alone. The campaign was such a hit that it’s been running every year since 2021.

Through this mix of storytelling, brand consistency, and real-world engagement, we transformed Gone. from a new retailer into a leading brand in the outdoor community. Within three years, the brand expanded from its original Cape Town store into new locations in Constantia, VnA Waterfront and Johannesburg, growth fuelled by a community who saw themselves reflected in the brand.

I’m extremely proud of the work and the depth of the community that I built for Gone.

Examples of some of the work I did:

I have developed a Newsletter strategy for Gone. Some examples can be seen via the hyperlinks: Newsletter Example 1, Newsletter Example 2 & Newsletter Example 3