Boosting Face Time

If there was ever any question that The North Face was all about pushing boundaries and exploring uncharted territory, its footprint on the web should be answer enough.

Rather than rely on traditional one-way marketing to reach outdoor enthusiasts with its expeditions, gear and apparel, the company has been encouraging its consumer community to talk among themselves. Through a variety of unique technological applications — ranging from Google gadgets to microsites that encourage users to watch and upload videos — The North Face has drawn consumers in and opened up discussions about the brand.

“Back in the day, you would just build a website, get the content up there and try to drive traffic to it,” says Kent Deverell, a principal with San Francisco-based Fluid, a branded commerce and online retail solution provider that has been working with The North Face for four years. “But in the last year and a half, with the rise of social networking, consumers are becoming content-creators themselves. The new paradigm is to get people involved and allow them to own the brand.”

That might seem like risky business, especially since it means a lack of control: A consumer who mentions a product in a blog or on a site like Facebook can say whatever he wants. But the way Sarah Gallagher sees it, people have always talked about their likes, dislikes and favorite brands with others; social networking sites just “put it out there” in a way that lets companies like The North Face be part of the conversation.

“For us, it’s great to find that positive feedback,” says Gallagher, senior manager of interactive marketing for The North Face. “But even when it’s negative, we get a chance to respond to that. It opens up a dialog, a connection, which I think is always a good thing.”

The company has even gone a step further. With the use of gadgets, The North Face is allowing consumers to add an instant “mini-version” of the video of the day to their individual content hubs. Think of it as a branded widget, something like a regularly updated weather forecast or stock ticker. They can now be found on Google, My Yahoo!, Facebook, MySpace, and core ski and snowboarding sites around the web, and can be viewed without having to go directly to www.thenorthface.com or www.defy.tv, the company’s video microsite for skiers and snowboarders.

“People want to control their content wherever they are,” Gallagher says. “They want to decide what they see and when they see it. And now, with RSS feeds and podcasts, you can pull things into your site or into your hand-held device and take it with you wherever you go. The idea is to create something that lets people subscribe to our content, and put it where they want it.”

It is still marketing, however, and to stay true to the brand, The North Face needs to make sure the message is authentic. To pull it off, the company has enlisted a team of athletes to share their own experiences and videos. “When we create a marketing campaign, we run it past our athlete teams,” Gallagher says. “It’s coming from them and us. We want it to be a very real voice.”

The North Face doesn’t sell any merchandise directly through its website, but there are plans for that in 2008. Right now, the catalog is showcased online, but the site is really about “getting the content in front of people in the context of merchandising the products,” Deverell says. “And people will come to where there’s good content.”

In order for them to return regularly, however, the content must be fresh. That’s why, in addition to a “gear shop” that details items the company carries, there’s a section for “inspiration,” including videos of pros that can be easily downloaded, as well as another on “athletes & expeditions” that features a direct link to the snowsports video-of-the-day contest.

Community generator
Fluid is working with The North Face on ways “to go after that younger audience,” Deverell says. “There’s the phenomenon of YouTube, where users are creating their own content. You see it every day. So we put together this promotion with The North Face, all based on that user-generated content. But there are also videos from The North Face’s sponsored athletes, and people can rank and review them, too. It’s a great community generator for them, and helps them propel the brand.”

And who knows where those videos will end up? So far, the Google gadgets don’t allow for direct purchase, but Deverell can easily imagine a day that will be possible. “The technology can already do it, but it will be a little while before consumers get there,” he says. “If you’re successful in seeding your gadgets or widgets and getting them out there to where the end consumers are, it will have a ripple effect that won’t just be dependent on a single site. You end up with a much broader reach.”

The partnership between Fluid and The North Face has yielded increases in channel partner conversion, total sales volume, dealer click-throughs and site traffic. And there’s an ever-expanding Facebook community of thousands of people interested in The North Face products.

But a reputation for innovation means more must follow. The North Face plans to unveil a redesigned website in June, complete with “super rich media, lots of videos, lots of audio, and imagery across the site,” Gallagher says. “When people come to the site, we want to give them the most core outdoor experience possible online. The ultimate goal is to get people inspired to go outside.”

Brands must be authentic
Deverell and Gallagher are proponents of experimentation and a willingness to connect with consumers in new ways. “The most remarkable way this whole field has changed is the way it has opened up that dialog,” Gallagher says, “and encouraged people to think about how to talk to consumers and let go of the idea that you can completely control how consumers perceive the brand. This means marketers need to make sure their brands are authentic, because they will have to engage with their consumers on a very personal level.”

Those who spend their days programming websites will have to engage with others in the company network, as well. “We’ve been making the shift as a marketing organization,” Gallagher says. “We’re making sure we’re not developing print campaigns in a silo, separate from online. With print, outdoor, in-store, websites, e-mail, mobile, traditional online media and gadgets, we’re making sure that we create truly integrated campaigns, online and off.”

And the result is one that couldn’t have been imagined just a handful of years ago.

“The expectation is that we are going to deliver exactly what our customers are looking for, that our products will be easy to find and our videos will be fun to watch,” Gallagher says. “But every month, the bar rises higher and higher. And there’s an expectation that we will not only keep up, but that we will push it.”