Sustainability + The North Face Brand: Alignment and Authenticity
Leading lifestyle brand The North Face faced the challenge of many brands: given our initiatives around sustainability and corporate responsibility, what do we communicate, to whom and how? Do our consumers even care? And what do they care about? What is the opportunity for our brand?
The North Face needed fresh intelligence and brand thinking with a big picture approach to sustainability that would add value. The North Face sustainability and marketing teams turned to Ci’s model of looking at alignment between brand + sustainability as it is for The North Face consumer.
The SHIFT Report delivered custom insight on The North Face consumers’ relationship with sustainability. Looking specifically at The North Face consumer and their relationship with sustainability, from key issues of concern, attitude-action disconnect, motivation and more, The SHIFT Report delivered a robust, fresh and inspiring big picture findings beyond green. Leveraging this custom research, Ci’s model revealed where there was opportunity based on brand alignment and authenticity.
The North Face sustainability and marketing teams leveraged this for strategic planning and communications. They also brought in the product design team and commissioned additional custom research and brand thinking on those mainstream consumers who were looking specifically at product design (65%) and packaging (64%) as key characteristics to determine if a brand is socially responsible or not. The North Face product design teams are currently leveraging this in: innovation, product strategy, development and targeting to ensure that sustainability initiatives are selected and the story told with alignment and authenticity, to add brand value.
