Bruce Pettet, President & CEO, Leupold & Stevens, Inc.
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Bruce, I am infatuated with Marcus, the Llama. The outfits! The hair! Did I just see him ride a jet boat?! In all seriousness, I know this is a big campaign for Leupold and your partners (Randy Newberg and onX Maps) to reach people about our public lands – from everything on how to access them to showcasing a few of the lesser known, but yet strikingly beautiful – places in these United States. With that said – how on earth did this come about? A little birdy told me (Randy) that you are a big factor of this campaign happening – can you share more about how you came up with this idea? Why the name Marcus? Why a llama???
Randy and I were hunting together last year in New Mexico and he couldn’t stop talking about how versatile and useful llamas were in the backcountry. He’d recently had a chance to work with them through Wilderness Ridge Trail Llamas, an Idaho-based organization run by Beau and Kristin Baty. He was impressed with how much weight they could carry and how low-maintenance they are. When he mentioned that he intended to use them to help traverse the remote public land backcountry that he’s renowned for hunting, I offered to sponsor the lead llama, so long as we could name it. The name Marcus pays homage to Marcus Leupold – son of our legendary co-founder Fred Leupold and the man who changed the course of the company more than 70 years ago by vowing to build a better riflescope when he had one fog up on him during a hunt.
As to why a llama – horses are great pack animals, but the smaller body on a lama means they eat and drink much less in comparison. They’re an easier companion to care for, and you lose none of the benefits of a larger-bodied pack animal. That we’ve been able to build a campaign out of Randy’s experience with Marcus is just a bonus – this isn’t a publicity stunt. Randy was going to use llamas on his hunts this year regardless. They’re bonafide pack animals that all backcountry hunters should be taking a closer look at.
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What has been the response from the public on Marcus? I can imagine seeing a llama showing up in their social media feeds has made people stop and look – and click?
We’ve gotten very positive feedback on the campaign that our team has built around Marcus. And while it’s definitely a fun human interest piece, there’s a lot more to it. Many of our core consumers are relentless hunters, anglers, and explorers in their own right. They’re excited to be able to engage with a campaign that’s designed to highlight and call attention to the public lands and activities that they’re passionate about.
What are your goals for the campaign? Action? Awareness?
No optics company does more for sportsmen's rights and conservation across the United States than Leupold & Stevens – and we’re excited to partner with onX Hunt and Randy to continue that tradition by raising awareness for public land opportunities with a little help from Marcus in 2018. Over the next several months, our team will be chronicling Marcus’ public land adventures through our social media platforms – notably Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube – and will check in with him and Randy throughout the fall as they tackle new public land hunts.
Can you share with us where we’ll see Marcus heading later this year?
Randy’s planning on spending most of the fall with Marcus at his side. Together they’re going to be hunting elk in the Cibola National Forest in New Mexico, bison in the Henry Mountains of Utah, mule deer in the Gallatin-Custer National Forest in Montana, elk in the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest in Montana, and elk in the Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. Every trip is a fair chase hunt on publicly-accessible lands – places that our consumers, who are known for their own relentless pursuits, could hunt just as easily.
What will 2019 bring for Marcus and this campaign? Does Marcus have a younger brother or sister ?
Marcus is very much in his prime, as he’s only just started serving a lead pack llama. He has years of hiking, hunting, and fishing ahead of him, and I know Randy intends to keep utilizing llamas on his own adventures. We’ll probably check in on Marcus somewhere down the road – but either way, you can count on Leupold to continue its relentless commitment to conservation and encouraging our consumers to utilize their public lands.
Editor’s Note – if you are as curious about Marcus as I am, follow Randy Newberg at http://instagram.com/RandyNewbergHunter, Leupold Optics at http://instagram.com/LeupoldOptics and oXMaps at http://Instagram.com/onXHunt Who knows, the llama might get his own Instagram handle one day….