Social Connect: Pop-Up Store
VR Experience in Korea
The North Face gave a VR experience to consumers through an in-store virtual reality in Korea in 2015. This video attracted 5 million views on YouTube.
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​When shoppers tried wearing the The North Face jacket, they were asked to have a VR experience by wearing goggles to feel the extreme cold-weather location with a dog sled. The North Face, presented in a crazy virtual adventure, came with a pack of huskies pulling shoppers through a gorgeous snowscape. When they took the goggles off, an unexpected experience occurred by riding on a real sled through the mall in a higher gear. This experience shows the potential of the winter gear of The North Face and presents the brand in a creative way with high technology.​
Pop-Up Store
The North Face has put effort into building its brand image of 'exploration'. The pop-up store is one of their social connections with customers that provide the experience of using The North Face products in order to have great impacts on the public. This helps to enhance the relationship with consumers and allow people to understand the professional aspects of North Face, in addition, to create an innovative and adventurous concept for the brand. ​
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​The North Face understands the cultural differences between various countries; the marketing strategies between them are different. As a fashionable country and with a high consumption of Internet use, Korean pop-up stores are mainly focused on interaction with consumers; this stimulates consumers to post or comment on the Internet, in an attempt to gain greater feedback for the brand. On the other hand, The North Face focuses on limited editions and collaborations with different countries such as Japan and Hong Kong, therefore the pop-up stores in the US, is urban exploration concept shops, are used to present an updated and limited version of the products.
Experience concept pop-up store in Korea
The pop-up store in South Korean in 2014 has created an environment to allow consumers to have an experience offered by The North Face. In the video, it is shown that the pop-up store was decorated by rock-climbing walls, the floor began retracting, the shoppers were unexpected by that movement, they were forced to climb the rock-climbing walls in search of the perfect The North Face jacket that descended from the ceiling. Finally, the shoppers had to jump and catch the jacket to meet the aim of The North Face "Never stop exploring". It is not only to promote the outdoor brand's vibe but also advertise the brand image of entering into a danger zone to challenge and explore oneself.
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​As mentioned previously, The North Face tried to attract more potential consumers by recording different videos and posting them on the Internet. This video has gained over 10 million views on YouTube, proving that people are fascinated with this experience and love watching the reaction of other people.
Concept, idea of pop-up store
YouTube Video
YouTube Video
"The whole point of this spot was really to tap an emotional chord with people, to connect with people emotionally about the idea of exploration,"
Aaron Carpenter, VP-global marketing at The North Face.
Urban Exploration shop in the US
In 2016, The North Face opened a concept shop in San Francisco aimed at the city explorer. It mainly focuses on the label's premium street wear range to attract young consumers and fashionable target groups. A similar space will be featured within The North Face New York Flagship store; it shows that the North Face is going to reshape its marketing strategies by opening prevalent concept stores.
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​Open for a limited time only, the Urban Exploration shop provides the protective gear that is suitable for modern urban explorers. New products will regularly be updated and dropped in-store in the coming months, also including limited editions, the special Japanese fashion line, the collaborations, and Hong Kong collections.