YETI wanted to stoke its core community of niche BBQ enthusiasts while also expanding the reach to a larger culinary audience.

To do so, Backbone partnered with Bon Appétit for YETI to sponsor the “It’s Alive” series with Brad Leone, test kitchen manager. YETI had one fully integrated episode and brought in Rodney Scott, a pit master in South Carolina and friend of YETI, to BBQ a full pig.

Backbone’s PR team built off the success of the YETI/Bon Appétit content partnership and partnered with Brad Leone in 2017 for the Camping Edition of his “It’s Alive” series, featuring authentically placed YETI product. With Brad’s charismatic personality, his highly engaging content and his reach within — and beyond — Bon Appétit’s audience, product integration made perfect sense for YETI’s PR efforts.