The North Face launched its Autumn/Winter ‘It’s More Than A Jacket’ campaign in Australia and New Zealand with work honouring and celebrating memories and adventure stories from the brand’s 55-year history.
Rolling out from late April through the Southern Hemisphere’s Autumn and Winter season, this regional variation of the global marketing effort promotes both the brand and its five new collections which all draw inspiration from the company’s past whilst simultaneously looking towards the future.
The five new collections all pay homage to the brand’s DNA and draw inspiration from The North Face’s rich past to inspire and enable exploration in the future.
The integrated campaign’s anchor sees The North Face seek to share and spread the meaning and experience behind its gear through a crowdsourced digital archive which encourages and enables customers to submit their own stories and images of their ‘thoroughly explored’ products. Thus giving users and brand fans a chance to tell their own story.
The brand called on ‘explorers everywhere’ to post to social media using the hashtag #MoreThanAJacket and incentivised participation by giving $100 vouchers for those whose content is featured.
The campaign also championed a set of pillar products: including the Belay Jacket and the Nuptuse Jacket.
To front the initiative, the outdoor wear brand team up with three Australian musicians and creatives – Barkaa, B Wise and YO! Mafia – to post about their own brand-related experiences and stories.
“The Nuptse Jacket represents that sense of community, coming together and hip hop,” said rapper Malyangapa Barkindji (Barkaa) in the campaign PR. “As a First Nations female rapper, I feel like the Nuptse Jacket is relatable to me, seeing as we hold our communities close, and at the same time paying homage to hip hop that relates to us as Black First Nations people in a colony we now call so-called Australia”.
Alongside the three artist collaborations, The North Face also aligned with regional brand ambassadors, such as freestyle skier Janina Kuzma, to create content based on endorser brand-linked narratives. Kuzma shared her own The North Face history and its impact on her ‘pursuit to explore further and deeper’ shining the spotlight on the Belay Jacket.
“As an athlete, you have some pieces in your kit that you keep all the time, they are a symbol of your progression and a companion of comfort in the mountains” commented Kuzma. “For me, my Belay Jacket is more than a jacket. It’s been with me on all my travels. This jacket has helped create the athlete I am today.”
“For more than 55 years, The North Face has enabled exploration and helped people strive for greatness by providing the best gear to get them there,” said The North Face Global Brand VP Mike Ferris. “Our customers, the feats they have achieved, and the memories they have created are such a big part of our brand’s rich DNA.”
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This marketing burst follows on from The North Face’s March 2022’s ‘Never Stop Exploring’ campaign, its ‘World’s Coldest Pop-Up’ in China in February 2022 and a previous 2021 North American regional ‘More Than A Jacket’ promotion.
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