YETI’s Holiday Film Turns Gifting Into a Gateway for Adventure

This holiday season, YETI, in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy Portland, has launched a new film to highlight the unintended consequences of gifting a YETI product to someone you love. 'Don’t Get Them a YETI,' is a punchy cautionary tale with a wink, warning those considering gifting a YETI not to, because a world of adventurous highs and lows awaits and it might just be more than they bargained for.

Directed by Daniel Wolfe and Jess Kohl of Love Song, with VO by Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and Yellowstone actor Ryan Bingham, the hero film opens with a YETI Tundra Cooler flying off the back of a truck and tumbling through the mud. This kicks off a kaleidoscopic fever dream of worst-case scenarios in the mind’s eye of the female lead. As she imagines what could unfold, bites to burns to rashes, to wet dogs to never ending slideshows, the witty voice over rattles off reason after reason why giving a YETI is a terrible idea.

But the truth is, every 'disaster' looks kind of amazing. And as the adrenaline builds, so does her resolve. By the end, she commits. This might be the worst idea she’s ever had, but it’s also the best. She’s getting the YETI.

The campaign embraces YETI’s core truth: it’s not just gear, it’s a gateway. A catalyst. And commitment to whatever comes with it. And YETI clearly has no problem beating up their own product in the process. Because they know it’s built to take it. From the mud to the rodeo to the back of a bush plane, these products are made for the ones who go too far—and the loved ones who enable them.

'Don’t Get Them a YETI' flips the holiday script. It’s not just about gift guides and wrapping paper. It’s about understanding what you’re really giving someone when you give them a YETI: permission to go all-in on what they love. To chase obsession into the wild. To bear the hard stuff in favour of an awesome adventure.

The campaign is the first from YETI and W+K Portland. The agency has been tasked with developing new creative platforms for the brand, as well as media services that will span linear, connected, and digital media - a significant step towards elevating YETI’s always-on brand presence and impact, connecting both to their powerful foundational audience and also broadening engagement at a local level.

The campaign will launch during a peak holiday shopping window and sustain through Black Friday & Cyber Monday. The :60 will debut in Big Ten College Football on November 15 and the :30 in some of the biggest moments in live sports, music and entertainment including College Football, NFL, NBA, NHL and the CMA awards. You will also see it featured in the Series Premiere of Landman on Paramount+, and aligning with other big streaming hits throughout the holidays across Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Paramount +, Hulu, Disney, and Peacock.