Launched on 14 October, The North Face’s ‘Reset Normal’ initiative and associated marketing campaign aims to tackle inequality in the great outdoors.
During a time when people everywhere are seeking some form of a reset from the pandemic and the turbulence of 2020, The North Face’s ‘Reset Normal’ is a global initiative encouraging people everywhere to reset their lives through exploration in the hope of progress and discovery.
As part of the project, the outdoor and adventure wear brand has created an ‘Explore Fund Council’: which it describes as ‘a global fellowship with the goal of bringing together passionate experts across culture, entertainment, academia, and the outdoors to develop ideas and potentially scalable solutions to help support access to exploration’.
The initiative was informed by research which found that communities of colour are three times more likely to live in nature-deprived places and regularly are subjected to racism and other systemic challenges when they do explore the outdoors.
So, in its first 12 months, the ‘Explore Fund Council’ aims to focus on how to create more culturally relevant exploration opportunities and connect diverse communities to the benefits of exploration.
The global association will work with passionate experts from culture, entertainment, academia and outdoor activities to develop scalable ideas and solutions that drive access to exploration. These are lessons, conclusions and recommendations from this group of experts that they will use to help guide how The North Face allocates its $7m financial commitment to these types of organizations.
The program starts with support and input from two lead experts who have both been resetting their own industries for years – Emmy award-winning screenwriter, producer and actor Lena Waithe (who has devoted her career to championing underrepresented artists and communities through her production company Hillman Grad) and The North Face athlete ambassador, champion climber and Academy Award winning director Jimmy Chin.
Waithe and Chin will work alongside additional creatives, academic experts and outdoor industry partners, and more so that collectively they can develop ideas to help create meaningful change.
The associated promotional campaign was created by agency Sid Lee and the creative aims to introduce the project and also seeks to encourage people everywhere to reset their lives through exploration in the hope of progress and discovery.
The campaign kicked off in mid-October with a video anthem film by Sid Lee that brings to life the crucial turning point we are experiencing culturally in 2020 and shows how people can reset through the power of exploration.
The voiceover was directed by Lena Waithe with music by Aloe Blacc singing ‘My Way’
As the narration and copy state: “Reset. Something has to change. Let’s be the change we seek. We are challenging ourselves, our athletes and everyone to do the same. What’s your Reset?”
A set of stars from The North Face’s official endorsers and associated ambassadors stable will also have a leading role in this campaign and they will all be in charge of creating personal engagement videos where they will share their own stories and aspirations on how they would like to get back to normal.
The brand also plans to launch of augmented reality filters and lenses that will be available on both Instagram and TikTok to encourage people around the world to participate and share how they are committed to restoring normality in 2020.
“2020 has shown that we need to radically accelerate our work and collaborate with a broad community to achieve this,” explained Steve Lesnard, Global Vice President of Marketing and Products at The North Face. “In doing so, the brand plans to address the need for equal opportunity for the industry, which involves working with other partners and charities that help train other explorers who are curious, interested, and passionate about the outdoors, dog that do not have facilities such as access to equipment or contact with experts to admire.”
“I am very excited that our perspectives can help diversify activities in nature and make this a more equal space for everyone,” explained Waithe stating that exploration is the only real way of seeing that change occurs by helping to create it herself.
While Chin added: “Throughout my life, exploration has been a continuous source of positivity. I think it is part of what makes us all human and is capable of coming together and changing lives.” Add to that his view that not everyone has the same access or opportunities for outdoor adventure.
Comment:
This North Face project encourages us all to continue practicing our outdoor passion but with a new normal to reinvent ourselves in this unusual year.
The 2020 pandemic has made us appreciate our social life away from home and our time in the great outdoors more than ever and at Activate we also pledge to reactivate our lives through exploration and reassess inequality outdoors.
Links:
The North Face
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNorthFaceVideo
https://twitter.com/thenorthface
https://www.facebook.com/thenorthface
https://www.instagram.com/thenorthface/
http://thenorthfacejournal.tumblr.com/
Sid Lee
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