Competitive hiking in Southern Nevada: Find a flag and win

By Samantha Rea, Special to The Sunday

Sunday, May 8, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Blake and Flyn Cooley are the brothers behind Kazoom, the adventure company that sends its clientele on hiking missions with the chance to win up to $1,000 if they find a hidden flag. Hailing from Chicago, the Cooley brothers moved to Las Vegas in January 2015. Blake is the man behind the marketing and sales, and Flyn works on the creative side. They’re both big fans of hiking, although Blake admits, “I get afraid when there’s a big cliff to climb.” Flyn, who’s hoisted himself up sailboat masts, says, “I’m used to height, it doesn’t bother me.” Since the business launched in August, Kazoom has secured a loyal fan base and local sponsorship. The Sunday spoke to the men behind the brand.

Is it just you two, or is anyone else on board?

Right now it’s just us two. We have a third partner who helps with marketing, but we’re the ones doing hikes. Like any brothers, we’re at each other’s throats half the time, but something good always comes out of it — and because we’re family, we always get over it.

How did you initially spread the word?

The first thing we did was put it on Facebook and boosted the post. People started signing up almost instantly. We have Instagram and Twitter too, but we focus mainly on Facebook.

What makes Las Vegas a good place for hiking?

There’s more to Vegas than people realize — Mount Charleston, Mummy Mountain, the Red Rock area, Lake Mead, which is really cool, and a whole bunch of parks.

What was the inspiration for setting up Kazoom?

We enjoy hiking, so we thought it would be a fun way to get people outdoors, doing something healthy. We’re also an Internet marketing company, so we envisioned Kazoom being a cool and unique marketing channel.

How long does a flag hunt last?

It lasts until the flag’s found, which could take a few hours to a few weeks. If no one’s found it after a week, we give a bonus clue. If another week goes by, we pretty much give it away.

When it comes to finding a flag, what are the most important skills?

Identifying the area; we give users picture clues to match up to the surroundings. The picture clues are in order, so if you look at the first clue and head in the wrong direction, the second clue won’t match up. Intuition is important — you have to think what spaces the flag could be hidden in. Fitness matters, but because we want everybody to try this, the fittest person won’t necessarily have an advantage.

Do you have to be super fit to take part?

Anybody can do it; we want everyone to get off the couch and get out there. We say, “If you challenge yourself, you’ll impress yourself.” The hikes vary; some are super challenging, some are for kids and families. We rate the difficulty and say what’s difficult, like if there’s an incline, or if it’s going to get really hot.

Is there a community spirit among flag hunters?

Yeah, people meet each other while they’re out on the trail; they become friends and work together the next time. We had a booth at UNLV, and this guy who won a flag came by. He was talking to the students with so much passion, like: “When you see a little bit of orange flag, you go crazy!”

How many people typically enter a competition?

Anywhere from 100 to 150 is typical. We’ve had 200 and it’s growing every time we do a flag.

How competitive is it?

Some people camp out overnight, so they can start early the next morning. There’s a $1,000 prize for the person who wins the most flags at the end of the year, so that gets competitive. Last year, one guy used decoys to stop another guy from getting the flag. The winner posted a video on Facebook of a gold cup, a big fake check and all his flags wedged into a vase on top of his TV. A lot of users post pictures of flags to taunt the competition.

How did you first persuade companies to sponsor you?

We’ve got three sponsors so far; one is Nevada State Parks. They approached us, and said they wanted to get involved. We’re not actively approaching sponsors yet; we’re working on growing our user base and making the experience awesome.

Will you aim for big brands or local businesses?

The long-term goal is to work with big brands on quarterly and yearly competitions, but we also want to tie in local businesses, because there’s a value to having a local user base — say if someone owns a restaurant, and we have users nearby. The game is customizable, so say the sponsor was REI, we could wear their gear during the hike, and they could offer gear in addition to the prize money. Sponsors can also give away raffle prizes; we’ve given away a Bluetooth headset and a Nevada State pass, so the raffles are pretty cool.

Where do you see the business going?

The goal is to expand into multiple cities and regions, and develop variations on the game — so, focusing on kids and families, and on the flip side of that, an elite competition for people who can do 20- to 30-mile hikes, camping out overnight.

How much are the prizes?

The prizes vary depending on how difficult it is. Lately, we’ve made it easier, to get more people involved, but our goal is that every flag be a $500 prize, because we think that will bring more people out. For some people, it’s not about the money – one guy who won a flag said: “I want to give you the money back, so you can plant more flags!”