Such a goal is an ambitious — and tricky — task for any company, even one as innovative as Gore, said Tom DeSanto, executive vice president of the Wilmington, Del., advertising, marketing and public relations firm Aloysius Butler & Clark.

"That's a difficult thing to do because different cultures value different attributes," he said. Successful global branding identifies the places where those cultural attributes intersect, he said.

The campaign is also coming at a time of increasingly energetic maneuvering by outdoor apparel manufacturers, Shanley said.

"There is a concerted effort being launched by a number of different companies ... to differentiate their products in the marketplace," he said. Retailers in particular are looking for branding advantages to stand out in the fairly static niche of outdoor apparel, he said.

That's where the animals come in. The beasts used in the Gore ads are the kinds of images that hold the potential to make people stop and stare — especially when they seem to morph into human form, Shuster said.

"We want to stop and engage them, make this emotional connection and have them do something," like visit the Web site, Shuster said.