The North Face's Fall Campaign Brings the Mountain to the Streets

For a brand born for the outdoors, The North Face has strived to show how easily it fits in with the land of luxury fashion and on city streets. The brand’s fall campaign attempts to bring these environments together with the theme “Never Stop Exploring,” creating a challenge for The North Face, along with its varied customers and partners, to define just what that state of mind entails. The North Face is focusing on the act and impulse of exploring, viewing it as an evolving, personal concept. The brand is attempting to convey those ideas—and ultimately, its brand identity—through the stars and partners assembled in this current promotion. Officially dubbed “It’s More Than a Jacket,” The North Face’s fall marketing campaign is “a call to explorers everywhere to honor the memories held in every piece of gear by participating in The North Face’s first-ever crowdsourced digital archive,” said Mike Ferris, the company’s vp of global brand management. At the Office or Home, Bonobos Bets on ‘Back to Business’ Style The company’s archive contains by dozens of famous names intended to reflect all the distinct parts of the brand’s identity and its wide-ranging consumer base. The exploration mindset New additions to the archive’s roster include skier Ingrid Backstrom and mountain climber Conrad Anker who speak for the brand’s outdoor face. Meanwhile, Wu-Tang Clan leader and rapper RZA is joined by the sisters of pop band Haim to connect The North Face’s notion of “discovery” to the city and suburbs. In addition to those athletic and music sponsorship deals, The North Face has had an alliance with luxury brand Gucci. While anyone can wear apparel from The North Face, was there a danger in mutual brand dilution with this kind of combination? To Ferris, the unlikely juxtaposition of The North Face and Gucci is actually the point: It allows both marketers to defy expectations and conventions, while reaching directly into each other’s audience. “'Never Stop Exploring’ is a mindset,” Ferris said. “Anytime you are looking to push the boundaries, there's going to be some kind of inherent tension. You have two brands like us and Gucci coming together, and figuring out how they're going to work in harmony.” If there’s a similarity in the brand messages of The North Face and Gucci, it’s in the way both attempt to signify a certain daringness, albeit in separate spheres. The partnership between Gucci and The North Face was initiated in January 2021. “We're both innovative brands,” Ferris said. “We’re more focused on the function and performance side of fashion. Gucci is more focused on the style side of it. But at the end of the day, I think we're still looking to solve problems for consumers. That’s where all that tension starts to diminish.” Gucci and The North Face first linked up in January. As the pair’s relationship has continued, they’ve sought to go beyond the brands’ devotees who might likely respond to images of glamping. (Though they don’t necessarily reject lush forms of sleeping in pricey tents under the stars.) Still, Ferris emphasized that this was a way for both The North Face and Gucci to respond to consumers’ expectations that fashion brands demonstrate a greater commitment to sustainability. On the face of it At a glance, consumers might not be aware of Gucci’s promise that 95% of the raw materials that go into its fashions are traceable to the source. Furthermore, high-end shoppers might not know of Gucci's Off The Grid collection of recycled and bio-based fabrics. (Gucci declined to comment for this article.) No brand says material goods like Gucci. This partnership helps evolve the brand into something more experiential.Adam Kleinberg, CEO, Traction “On the surface, the two brands may not seem like a fit: Gucci is urban chic, while The North Face is anything but,” said Adam Kleinberg, CEO and co-founder of ad agency Traction. "However, both their customer bases have a lot of overlap—and a lot of disposable income.” The reason the partnership works, at least for the short term, in Kleinberg’s view: Real people don't fit neatly into target audience segments like marketers want them to. Both brands can benefit from the borrowed equity of a partnership. For The North Face, the benefit is obvious. “Weekend warriors who want to flee the city but keep it luxurious will get the message,” Kleinberg said. “For Gucci, it's less obvious but more vital. Young people today value experiences over material goods. And no brand says material goods like Gucci. This partnership helps evolve the brand into something more experiential.” While its outdoorsy origins might give The North Face a natural appeal to environmentally conscious consumers, no marketer gets an automatic pass these days. The North Face is clearly aware of that, so in addition to touting its fashion-forward looks and celebrity partners, the fall campaign serves as a way to highlight the creation of its Explore Fund Council. The company regards the Council as a “second chapter” of the fund it started in 2010 to support nonprofit organizations that make camping and hiking on public lands accessible to Black and brown youth. The North Face has contributed over $500,000 in grants to groups serving kids in urban areas while promoting wilderness conservation. It’s another way The North Face is trying to connect the mountain to the streets. “Over the last 18 months, as we've looked at our brand and where we're going, we realized that the outdoors and nature can be such a powerful escape for people,” Ferris said about how the pandemic has shaped the brand’s identity. “It all brings together a group of key ambassadors, scholars and leaders from all walks of life, to really help us focus on developing ideas, plans or recommendations to help expand what the outdoors can look like into the future. And shaping that future is where we want to be as a brand.” This Campaign Trolls Tourism Sites With Negative Reviews to Promote Sustainable Travel