Mekanism officially makes its mark, so to speak, on North Face this week with the brand’s first official global campaign, titled “Never Stop _______.”
The debut spot features “cinematic footage collected from around the world” that primarily features a group of North Face-endorsed athletes doing all the (extreme) things that might fill in that blank.
The ad, which went live yesterday, will air in the U.S., Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, France, China, Korea, Australia, Nepal and Singapore throughout Q4…so basically everywhere in the world.
Before you ask about the origins of this footage, Mekanism San Francisco shot most of the video on location in South Africa and the final rock climbing scene in Yosemite; snow scenes were filmed “on North Face expeditions in Antartica, Burma, Nepal and Alaska.”
Beyond the TV spot, there will be the requisite online and OOH executions for the brand, which seeks to expand its audience globally. This campaign is bigger than “Your Land,” the first spot created by Mekanism last November.
At the time, we heard that the business was in review. North Face had called Colorado’s Factory Design Labs its creative AOR since 2007 but then shifted to Mekanism for its TV campaigns, and now we can confirm that the New York shop has completed its takeover of creative duties for the client as Factory Design Labs is no longer on the account. (North Face does not appear to have conducted a formal review and does not technically have a creative AOR at the moment.)
“Your Land” saw the client increase its marketing spend by 50 percent; April’s “I Train For” was its largest spring campaign to date, and this one is obviously even bigger.
This ad’s debut also marks a continuation of the brand’s relationship with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps via a $100,000 donation. In the press release, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell writes:
“We appreciate our continued partnership with The North Face, this year highlighting conservation heroes who are making a difference in their communities. Today’s donation from The North Face will help create opportunities for young people and veterans to engage in important work on our nation’s public lands, nurturing lifelong connections to these special places.”
Expect more work to come from Mekanism, then.
Credits
Client: North Face
Agency: Mekanism
ECD: Tommy Means
Writer: Michael Grant
Managing Director: Michael Zlatoper
Director Brand Management: Anna Boyarsky
Head Of Production/Executive Producer: Kati Haberstock
Brand Manager: Emily Brody
Senior Producer: Bob Samuel
Producer: Kara Bello
Production
Executive Producer: Tomer Devito/Native Content
Director: Tommy Means/Mekanism
Producer: Brendan King
Director of Photography: Mattias Rud
Service Company: Moonlighting SA
Executive Producer: Shayne Brookstein
Line Producer: Leila Reinhardt
Post Production
Editor: Cali Bondad/Mekansim
Assistant Editors: Paul Jarolimekproner,
Russel Fong, Dana Laman
Senior Post Production Supervisor: Jen Szeto/Mekanism
Associate Post Production Supervisor: Kara Bello/Mekanism
Graphics & Animation: Christopher
Bernal, Cosmo Ray, Darren Orr
Colorist: Gregory Reese/The Mill
Sound Mix: Andy Greenberg/One Union
Music & Sound Design: David Wittman/Travis & Maude
Finishing: Darren Orr/Spy Post