Nine LinkedIn messages. Four emails to recruiters. One reply, and it was automated.
“No industry experience.”
01the itch
The Basecamp Tour 2027 / presented by Patagonia
She knew
before
she knew
Madeleine designs for a tech company. She is Indigenous, and she has been going outside since before she could walk.
“I know I belong in this industry. I just don’t know anyone in it.”
This is who walks into your store. Not a shopper. A future colleague.
01 / the itch
She wants the work to mean something
Conservation. Trails. People who would rather talk about water than quarterly targets. She is very good at what she does. She just wants to do it somewhere that cares about the same things she does.
Great designer. Wrong industry. So far.
02the wall
It is not the work. It is the room. She does not know where outdoor industry people actually gather, she has no way to reach anyone inside a brand, and she has no idea how you find a mentor in a world you are standing outside of.
Who do I even talk to?
She is not unqualified. She is unintroduced. That is the gap your store closes in one evening.
70k
outdoor industry people read Basecamp Weekly every week
25
industry experts volunteered to be met at one gathering
100
attendee spots, free, and they go fast
Confirm these three figures before this goes to a sponsor. Anything we cannot stand behind comes out.
03the find
basecamp outdoor
@ Portland
Meet the outdoor industry, inside Patagonia.
A free, two-hour Basecamp Tour gathering with outdoor-industry experts ready to meet you.
Portland · 2027 · 6–8pm
Save your free spot →
Verna NezBegay Volker
Native Women Run
Nate Ptacek
Patagonia
Saisha Harris
Quality Bicycle Products
Andy Laguerre
ALSO.
Twenty minutes from me. Free. Inside a Patagonia store?
70,000 inboxes see Patagonia hosting the room this community has been looking for.
What she sees on the event page
campfire sessionsVerna NezBegay Volker
Nate Ptacek
Saisha Harris
Andy Laguerre
local brandsFree entry · 6 to 8pm
Win a Patagonia duffle
Everyone who shows up is entered. Drawn at the firepit.
![Free entry · 6–8pm · Win a [BRAND] duffle](/__l5e/assets-v1/c0dc7ba9-176c-4d1b-9b58-20ec60f3c8d4/patagonia-black-hole-duffel.jpg)
getting thereand the people who said yes to meeting her
Verna NezBegay Volker
Executive Director and Founder · Native Women Run
People & Culture
Ask me about
Building community for Indigenous runners
Nate Ptacek
Senior Film + Video Editor · Patagonia
Media & Content
Ask me about
Making films inside an outdoor brand
Saisha Harris
Director of Marketing Creative · Quality Bicycle Products
Design & Creative
Ask me about
Creating content for marketing in the cycling industry
Andy Laguerre
Sales Associate · ALSO.
Marketing & Brand Strategy
Ask me about
Getting your first job in the industry
She blocks the whole night off.
Real people, real job titles, already saying yes. Your name sits above all of it.
The form asks what she needs
What she is looking for. Whether she needs any accommodations. Then reminders, a calendar invite, expert cards, session signups, brand stories. She is not left guessing once.
Nobody has ever asked me that before.
Every one of those touches carries your logo and your story to a warm, opted-in list.
04the night
She gets there early
04 / the night
The queue starts outside your window, in your neighbourhood, at your address.
Basecamp host
You do not need to know anybody here. That is the entire point of tonight.
I did not think I was allowed in a room like this.
We run the welcome, the signage and the follow up. Your team hosts a recruitment marketing night without staffing one.
Three hundred people, two hours
Dwell time you cannot buy with media spend.
Career tracks by the racks
Design over here. Marketing by the window. Retail at the front. Supply chain at the back. She finds three people doing her job at companies she has admired for years, and they are happy to talk.
She is talking to strangers. On purpose.
The conversation she could not get on LinkedIn
Twenty minutes with two people who hire for a living. They look at her portfolio on her phone. One of them tells her exactly which three words to change on her resume.
Nine messages ignored. One evening, answered.
Experts walk into your store too, and some of them are quietly open to a new role.
And when she needs a minute
A test spin on an e bike. Glitter on a ski boot. The new Patagonia shoes, on her actual feet, no salesperson hovering. A nonprofit table she did not expect to care about, and now does.
She is trying things she came in nervous about.
She is handling your product with her guard down. That is a different kind of trial.
All night, in your aisles
At the fire
A Patagonia athlete tells the story of climbing with a disability. Nobody checks their phone. Somebody is filming it, and it will live online long after tonight.
She will never forget who made this room possible.
One evening becomes an evergreen recruitment asset you own.
Your people, telling it themselves
Two Patagonia employees talk about how they got in. One of them started in a completely different industry. Madeleine writes down her name, and learns what Patagonia actually funds and defends, from someone who does it Monday to Friday.
So it is possible.
Your employer brand, told by employees, to a room that came to listen.
05the table
Nobody wants to leave
05 / the table
Sales discovery without a single discount ad.
Six of them end up at dinner
People who did not know each other three hours ago, splitting a table and swapping numbers. This is the part she will describe when someone asks how she got into the industry.
A network, made on a Tuesday.
And the store stays with her
“Send me your portfolio.” Three people say it. One of them means it enough to follow up on Monday.
06the after
The next morning, in five frames
Every frame of this morning has your name in it, posted by her, not bought by you.
What changed overnight
- She has a network. She did not have one on Tuesday
- She can name five companies she would work for, and why
- Her application is stronger because she finally understands the industry
- She has walked your floor, worn your product and met your team
- She tells nine people where she was last night
None of this existed 24 hours ago.
The goodwill becomes action
First she tells people how the brand made her feel. Then she considers building her career there.
The offer
Here is exactly what your name buys
Four groups. Eighteen specifics. Nothing vague enough to argue about later.
01
On the route
What keeps you visible while hiring is tight, without adding a line to a recruiting budget that is already shrinking.
Hosted inside your own stores
Every stop happens in a Patagonia location, not a rented hall. Hundreds of people spending real, sustained time in your space.
Category exclusivity
No direct competitor anywhere on the 2027 route.
Naming rights, all 5 stops
“The Basecamp Tour, presented by Patagonia,” on every piece of signage, every listing, every recap.
First pick of the route
Swap in whichever market matters most to you before any other sponsor sees the calendar.
The fireside chat moment
A named, announced slot at the fire at every stop: an actual person from Patagonia telling their own career story.
The experts are yours to shape
Fill the lineup with your own people and it is your employer brand all night. Mix in outside voices and your name still carries the room, including with the experts themselves.
Product seeding, year round
Worn and talked about across all twelve months, not just tour week.
Target draw: 300+ per stop
Our 2026 average across comparable markets. A target we build toward together, not a number guaranteed on paper.
02
Beyond the tour
Where the equity commitments you want to fund loudly become fundable, not just aspirational.
Bonus access to two existing hiring fairs
Outside Days (Denver) and our Portland hiring fair, both separate from the Tour route.
Women focused edition, by request
36.9% of survey respondents told us they would show up for a women’s gathering track. Option to run any stop as one.
After party sponsorship, first look
Wherever we lock in a venue partner for a stop, you get first look at sponsoring it too.
03
Digital, year round
The always on visibility that does not compete with the contractor recruiting line already getting cut.
Expert Sessions, filmed at every fireside chat
Every conversation filmed and cut into a running archive: mentorship people can watch anytime, not just the night they were in the room.
Newsletter, Basecamp Match and job board placement
Featured story to 70,000 newsletter subscribers, ad space across Basecamp Match, a dedicated job board page, and reach across 180,000 social followers.
04
Working with us
What it takes to get one HQ level yes, instead of ten separate conversations that quietly stall.
Direct access to Basecamp’s founders
At every stop: a real relationship with the people building this, not a hired events crew.
Post tour impact report
Attendance, engagement and hiring funnel data by city, so this is provable internally.
Content and photo/video rights
Usable footage and stills from every stop, for your own recruiting and marketing.
Reciprocal promotion
We tell our audience about Patagonia. You tell yours about the Tour. This runs both directions.
First right of refusal on 2028
Lock in next year’s category at this year’s rate, before we take it to market.