The Brief

Since they didn’t have any loyalty or affinity to The North Face brand yet, we targeted new outdoor-hobbyists and walk-in visitors of outdoor retail stores. The North Face needed to stand out in stores that house thousands of competitive products. However, space for large advertising displays. In a tongue-in-cheek way, these novelty items showed outdoor hobbyists how tough it is to survive outdoors without the proper gear from North Face.

Creative Execution

Since we can’t do advertisements, we had to do something else. Or at least pretend to do something else. So instead of making ads, we created products that were so peculiar, they called attention to themselves. The client will finally be able to “advertise” in the said famous outdoor store. The targets, meanwhile, will be exposed to the client’s promotion, giving The North Face an edge against competitive brands inside.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Rocks, twigs and leaves were packaged as retail products and placed at areas that can’t accommodate large advertising displays. In a tongue-in-cheek way, these novelty items showed outdoor hobbyists how tough it is to survive outdoors without the proper gear from North Face.

Results

Store patrons were instantly drawn to the merchandise. Some even wanted to buy them! Outdoor Essentials was such a hit that we had to refill the racks within a couple of hours. Better yet, purchase of The North Face products increased by 38%. That’s a big boost from last year’s efforts. Not bad for a campaign built on rocks, twigs and leaves.