5ones.com interviewed Nate Bosshard, Action Sports Brand Manager for The North Face. The two part interview has some very interesting insights into how segment leaders approach their work.
The idea of marketing to inspire follows our continuing conversation of commodity v. product. The North Face isn’t selling you coats. They sell you the access to your dreams that their gear provides.
The next time you write ad copy about your new shiny thing or event, think more about the impact that thing will have on your customer’s life, the benefit of that impact, and the importance of that benefit – then speak to that place. You’ll go much further than a conversation about polyester fills would take you.
We hold ourselves to higher standards. Consumers want to aspire to be in that special place. In an ad, you don’t want to show someone walking to class in a fleece, they want to be inspired. The mountains and the outdoors in general are an inspiring place. The goal is to show people the ultimate thing that you could or would do in that specific gear. Show people the brand and product in its purest form; in the environment it was designed to thrive in. That inspiration to “never stop exploring” is what The North Face was founded on and we will continue to enable people to do just that
Interview with Nate Bosshard, Action Sports Brand Manager for The North Face: Part 1
Interview with Nate Bosshard, Action Sports Brand Manager for The North Face: Part 2
