To commemorate the recent opening of their new flagship store in Austin, Yeti wanted to create a pair of billboards to hang above the store and around town. The first image of a bikini-clad bear was a spoof on billboards run by a local dermatology company.

“Westlake Dermatology placed billboards all over town of models in a white bikini. So we wanted to put a Yeti bear in a swimsuit for our own version of a bikini-clad model,” said Randal.

They found a taxidermy bear (which Randal said wasn’t hard to do in Texas) and custom-made a white string bikini. The images were shot on the bank of Lake Austin. But when the client showed the images to the billboard company, they refused to hang them without the approval of Westlake Dermatology.

“Westlake Dermatology actually approved the images. It was kind of a win-win. It was very clear what they were doing to most Austenites,” Randal said.

The second image required a taxidermy bear sleeve flown in from L.A. and the signature Yeti Rambler stainless steel mug. The image will hang indefinitely above the store in Austin.

The project was produced by McGarrah Jessee in Austin. See below for the BTS.