In brilliant experiential marketing, or maybe better dubbed experimental marketing, The North Face Korea dropped the floor out from under shoppers. While some just plummeted to what appears to be foam, others took the challenge, scaled the climbing wall and jumped for a free jacket under the pressure of a clock ticking away the 30 second countdown.
The North Face, named for the coldest and most unforgiving side of a mountain, delivers high performance apparel, equipment and footwear. But what do you do when the bulk of your customers don’t leave their urban environment?
You force them to climb or fall obviously!
And that’s why I love this campaign. The North Face brand stands for extreme, high intensity outdoor activities marketed to customers who don’t do those things.
So many brands find themselves in this position. The brand is aspirational. The customers like the idea of being a rock climber, yet, a flight stairs is about all they scale.
Through this admittedly PR stunt, The North Face allows customers to experience for a fleeting moment what they only envision themselves doing. Hence the title of the campaign – Never Stop Exploring.
And it’s contagious. The more than 2.5 million viewers love seeing common folk have to climb and then jump for a free jacket (93% of raters gave it a thumbs up).
Kudos to The North Face and their agency Innored.