Never Stop Exploring

Not that traditional advertising is not important or does not exist anymore, what advertisers and marketers need to do is far more complex and complicated than what it was before in order to really cut through the marketing clutter that is present all around us. It is not enough to just communicate to the consumer through copy and visuals and expect them to understand our brand promise and personality. This thought is nothing new and everyone in the field is cognizant of how important having consumers “experience” and “engage” with our brand is, but it is not easily done. There are many ways of engaging the consumer, but I always love truly simple, yet creative experiences that allow consumers to understand the brand and create an emotional connection.

North Face in South Korea did a great job doing that with their latest activation campaign, albeit slightly traumatizing to the surprised consumer experiencing the campaign. In the North Face stunt, the unexpected consumer walks into a pop-up store whose floor begins to retract thus forcing the consumer to either fall or climb onto an indoor climbing wall. Then a North face jacket appears from the ceiling in a God-like manner, and as soon as that happens, a 30-second timer comes on and the consumer is encouraged to jump from the wall, grab the jacket, and fall into the cushioning below. [See video below. Please watch with subtitles on]

The stunt ends with the North Face tagline and ethos of “Never Stop Exploring.” This simple, quick and viral activation campaign did a great job embodying and communicating through the consumer experience what the brand stands for. It communicates the message that North Face challenges status quo (even in a store, the floor can disappear any minute!) and that the brand enables and encourages its consumers to do so. The video ends with quick shots of the customers having fun, experiencing the adrenaline, and feeling a sense of accomplishment for doing something they hesitated to- almost like “Yes! I did it! Even though it’s outside of my comfort zone.”

This is a much better way to communicate than through a print ad with a visual of K2 and telling us to Never Stop Exploring.