Add strategic vision & vigour
to your
marketing.

Creative intelligence for outdoor brands and tourism destinations.

We craft strategy that elevates brands to the forefront of outdoor culture.

Beneath the surface of the most impactful brands and creative campaigns lies a strategic architecture few people see. Vision, insights, positioning and messaging strategy provide clarity of thought that empowers great creative and deeply resonant brand storytelling.

Black Ram builds that foundation. Our work sits behind some of the leading brands and marketing efforts in the outdoor sport and tourism industries, quietly shaping the role they play in outdoor culture.

We embed directly within internal marketing teams and external creative partners alike, supplementing strategic capacity where it matters most. From brand platforms to campaign frameworks, and content strategy to distribution planning, we plug in seamlessly to sharpen thinking, align execution, and drive momentum. All while minimizing the friction and overhead often associated with agencies.

Strategy Services

01 / Business & growth strategy

02 / Brand strategy

03 / Marketing strategy

04 / Campaign development

05 / Content strategy & storytelling

06 / Social & influencer strategy

07 / Distribution strategy

08 / Execution guidance

“Andy is a strong, collaborative partner. His strategic planning process, paired with the market insights he brought to the table, provided invaluable guidance to our internal team and external creative partners and helped us focus our marketing efforts. ”

Marshall Rutman, VP Marketing
Fox Factory / Race Face

'RACE FACE' logo, a client of Black Ram Consulting

What
We Make

The bulk of our strategy work is client-proprietary, however it manifests in a variety of ways, from internal documents to creative executions like video content and advertising.

Every deliverable is bespoke, but examples include:

  • Brand platforms and positioning

  • Strategic marketing plans

  • Integrated campaign plans and brand creative concepts

  • Content marketing concepts and video treatments

  • Content distribution plans, partnership strategy and influencer/creator collaborations

  • Website content strategy and UX wireframes

  • Tourism Kamloops <br>Mountain Bike Brand Positioning

    On the back of prior brand strategy work for Kamloops, Black Ram developed a brand strategy for Kamloops’ mountain bike audience. The positioning leverages Kamloops’ reputation as the birthplace of freeride mountain biking, and was launched in 2025 through an multi-channel campaign.

  • Rocky Mountain Bicycles <br>Brand Platform

    It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

  • Kamloops Freeride Fund <br>Freeride Ain't Free Launch Video

    Launch video for the Tourism Kamloops Freeride Fund. Black Ram developed the launch strategy, concepted the video treatment and partnered with New Parallel Studios on production.

  • Cohaesive Garment Technology <br>Brand Messaging & Website Integration

    We worked with the innovative design team at Cohaesive Garment Technology to elevate the positioning and messaging around their product and strike a better balance between a highly technical B2B-focus and an emotionally resonant B2C focus.

How We Work

Our workflow is nimble and bespoke, built around the realities of each individual client.

From solopreneurs and startups mapping their go-to-market journey, to established market leaders seeking to inject fresh strategic thinking, no two engagements are the same. That’s why we’ve designed 3 distinct levels of collaboration to simplify how and when we plug in to our client’s businesses.

3 Levels of Collaboration:

  • We facilitate a variety of bespoke envisioning workshops designed to encourage creative thinking, and bring together brand leaders and stakeholders to imagine the opportunities the future holds.

    Examples:

    • Brand envisioning & articulation

    • Audience profile development

    • Market positioning

    • 1/3/5 year business vision

    • Desired outcomes, goals & KPIs

    • Stakeholder listening & engagement

Visionary Focus

  • For clients with existing goals or specific hurdles they're looking to overcome, we employ our strategic planning process to identify how the tools of branding, marketing and storytelling can achieve tangible, metric-driven solutions.

    Deliverables include

    • strategic marketing plans

    • customer journey mapping

    • campaign planning & development

    • go-to-market strategy

    • content & social strategy

    • comms & media planning

Strategic Focus

  • We know different clients have different levels of internal and external resources at their disposal:

    • For organizations with in-house marketing teams and/or existing creative partners, we can provide fractional marketing direction and leadership to keep everybody delivering on strategy and on brief.

    • For organizations with limited or maxed-out resources, we can build an external execution team from our network of industry experts, from creative directors to content creators and digital marketers to media buyers.

Execution Focus

"Our work with Andy, on our overall destination brand strategy and targeted mountain bike and fishing campaigns, has been a critical part of our marketing over the past few years.

His combination of tourism marketing expertise and connections in the outdoor industry is truly unique .”

Erik Fisher, CEO
Tourism Kamloops

Tourism Kamloops logo, a client of Black Ram Consulting
Andrew Bethune, founder and principal strategist of Black Ram Consulting

Meet the Founder

Andrew Bethune

Black Ram Consulting was founded by outdoor industry veteran, Andy Bethune. Andy’s prior work experience includes developing brand platforms and strategic marketing plans for a who’s who of alpha outdoor brands and world-class tourism destinations.

With decades of experience in the industry, Andy brings deep vertical expertise, an inherent understanding of outdoor and travel consumers, and an extensive network of industry experts and content creators.

Endemic Expertise

Andy’s prior work experience includes brand development, marketing strategy, and campaign planning for major brands in the following verticals:

01 / SNOW

Arc’teryx

Salomon

OnX Backcountry

Outdoor Research

Korua Snowboards

02 / BIKE

Rocky Mountain Bicycles

We Are One Components

Fox Factory / RaceFace

Mountain Biking BC

Sun Peaks Bike Park

03 / HUNT & FISH

Mystery Ranch

L.L.Bean

Eat Wild

Fishing BC

04 / SURF & WAKE

Endless Surf

MasterCraft Boats

05 / MOUNTAIN RESORTS

Whistler Blackcomb

Squaw Valley

Taos Ski Valley

Park City Resort

Breckenridge Resort

06 / DESTINATIONS

Tourism Whistler

Tourism Kamloops

Visit Sun Valley

Tourism Squamish

State of Vermont

**Includes work performed with or for other agencies**

Talking Strategy

Listen to Andy share his perspective on the following podcasts:

“Andy's industry experience, insight, and strategic feedback was hugely helpful in our brand vision workshop.

He's a great brand partner and provides invaluable support as we build our business and brand presence globally. ”

Nick Simmons, Director of Possibilities
Cohaesive Garment Technology

Cohaesive logo, a client of Black Ram Consulting

Ready to Scale?

To learn more about what we do, or to chat about your upcoming projects, please send us an email: