The North Face brand’s key growth barrier is the perception that it is for outdoor enthusiasts only, but irrelevant to the everyday consumer. We needed to show these everyday consumers that the Thermoball jacket is a product for their everyday situations, no matter the weather or location.

Context would be key to driving relevancy and receptivity to Thermoball’s product benefit of protection in any weather. The perfect context therefore was in weather content. People check the weather through smartphone apps wherever and whenever they demand, and during winter months because
they fear the worst. CCS (our proprietary global survey) data showed us that weather app usage is second only to TV for weather updates – so we could seize the most relevant moment to efficiently reach only those receptive, but at scale.

Quite simply, we wanted to get people most receptive to messaging about TNF’s Thermoball jacket to understand its product benefits to protect them in even the most extreme weather by targeting them at the most relevant and receptive moment – when checking the weather on their smartphone.
But we knew that simply placing some product messaging within an app wouldn’t likely capture people’s attention. We needed to tangibly demonstrate the value of Thermoball in these environments and encourage people to seek the jacket online or instore.

This would require an innovative creative solution that amplified the synergy between the content and the context to really drive cut through amongst our non-adventurer target.

The campaign reinforced TNF’s competitive lead in purchase intention over their two key competitors: 58% would buy TNF, 23% Jack Wolfskin, 18% Patagonia
53% were compelled to act as a result of the campaign, with those interested in outdoor activities the most likely to act (by act we mean – visit a store, visit a website, search for information online, talk to others about it, compare Thermoball to other jackets).
The campaign delivered a 13.2% Engagement Rate (benchmark 7%)
The overall CTR for clicks on the Shop Now button was almost 5.7% versus the benchmark of 1.5%

Brand performance was boosted across the whole brand funnel:
150% uplift on Brand Awareness
16% uplift Purchase Intent
57% of consumers that saw the ad were compelled to act as a result of the campaign

“With weather being a considerable sales driver for The North Face and the Thermoball jacket being a versatile product choice, we challenged Vizeum to deliver an innovative solution to reach consumers during those key moments in their everyday life routines where weather is influencing their behaviour.
The Vizeum team came up with a solution to use data-driven media innovation to clearly link our brand together with those weather relevant moments. The achieved results speak for themselves, and we are now considering ways of using similar mechanics for upcoming campaigns.”
Anders Øllgaard, Senior Brand Communications Manager The North Face EMEA Brand/product logo represented in campaign