https://www.bdma.org/categories/brand-voice/Recent content in Brand Voice on BDMA.orgHugo -- gohugo.ioenbdma.orgThu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.bdma.org/post/eddie-bauer-vs-rei-brand-voice/Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://www.bdma.org/post/eddie-bauer-vs-rei-brand-voice/ <h2 id="same-city-same-gear-two-voices">Same City, Same Gear, Two Voices</h2> <p>Two outdoor outfitters were founded in Seattle within eighteen years of each other. Both sold serious gear to serious users. Both built their early businesses substantially through the mail. And yet a customer reading an Eddie Bauer catalog and an REI catalog side by side would hear two completely different brands talking. Eddie Bauer speaks in the first person of a single expert outdoorsman. REI speaks in the collective first person of a membership. That grammatical difference — &quot;I made this&quot; versus &quot;we own this together&quot; — is the root of everything that separates the two voices.</p>