Social Connect
According to Kantar Media, The North Face spent $13 million on U.S. media in 2014.
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​The investment included a 30-second TV advertisement that was shown on ABC, ESPN, Comedy Central and TBS, as well as print, social and digital elements. Besides, it also sponsors Xbox's fitness app and a Spotify playlist generator. Working in partnership with a fitness organisation, The North Face sponsors free outdoor workouts such as those in Boston, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Facing a fast-changing fashion industry, to fit the market, technology is essential. For promoting and marketing, Mountain Athletics app was launched. It provides goal-based training programs and tracking tools.
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​Obviously, The North Face is demonstrating year-round marketing efforts. The aim of the strategy is to shift from an outdoor clothing retailer to an active and lifestyle brand, especially to attract a younger consumer group, in a bid to gain a significant connection with various consumers.
"Your Land", the first campaign that reflected this shift. It launched in 2014 and proved to be the company’s largest marketing spends ever.
North Face sponsors free outdoor workouts to promote the brand images and open a connection with different target groups
Campaigns
In 2013, The North Face reached $2 billion in sales, it has stepped up its marketing efforts and increased spending 50% on the current campaign, compared to its last main brand campaign in 2014. Focusing on expanding the target consumer group, The North Face are trying to promote the brand images to a wide range of customers. North Face is not only focusing on the professional core products such as cold weather apparel, backpacking and mountaineering, but also to fit the needs and advertise to everyday people, like gym enthusiasts and joggers.
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“The year-round strategy is part of The North Face’s shift from an outdoor apparel retailer to an active and lifestyle brand.”
The app provides the brand updated status to consumers, and lets athletes track their workouts effectively
YouTube and Apps
The North Face is trying to stand out by appealing to a wide group of athletes, not just the hard-core sports fans its competitors focus on. Whereby campaigns are always focus on various sports categories. To enhance the brand values and a greater impact of the brand images, The North Face demonstrate on posting video on the Internet, one of the successful platform is YouTube. For the advertising, The North Face shows its active, energetic and explorative messages to target consumers. Besides, as social technology is popular in the market, The North Face also focuses in mobile and digital aspects like Nike and Adidas do. Mountain Athletics app is an function device to lets athletes track their workouts with calendars, tutorials, videos and virtual rewards for meeting goals.
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