AdMiration feature: The North Face's “We Play Different”

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we looked at consumer response to The North Face’s “We Play Different” ad. The ad serves as a new anthem for the brand, shot on unbelievable mountaintops, glaciers and trails around the world, encouraging their consumers to defy the odds.

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data.

The ad opens to a mirrored split-screen view of a tent on a snow capped mountain top with The North Face logo. The tent is quickly unzipped with the sounds of wind whistling and scenes of snow and snow dogs play across the screen as the phrase “out here” echoes. Chaka Khan’s “Like Sugar” begins to play as scenes of extreme mountain climbing, skiing, snowboarding and more are shown, some mirrored and some not. 

A voice begins to narrate over these scenes: “Out here, we play different. Out here, we don’t play games. We don’t play with whistles. Or referees. We play with adrenaline and euphoria.”

Several more intense rock climbing, paragliding and snow sportscenes are shown as the narrator continues, “We play roughhouse. With failure. We play hard to get with boring. We play chicken with gravity. We don’t play games. Out here…” The ad concludes with a shot of two tents aglow beside a mountain with the phrase “We Play Different.” The North Face logo appears on the mountain and a snowboarder cuts across the camera.

3 facts

• The North Face’s “We Play Different” ad achieves peak heights with outstanding potential Sales and Brand Impact Scores in the top 1% of all US ads! It doesn’t matter who the audience is — younger, older, male or female — this spot has high scores among everyone.

• The highly distinctive and disruptive ad conveys the emotional and functional apparel benefits in an enticing way (showing, not telling) that drives viewer engagement, generates high brand appeal and creates good linkage to The North Face.

• Emotional engagement in this spot is very strong, eliciting strong love, surprise and even some sadness as the story showcases the peaks and valleys of high adventure sports. The soundtrack and music play an integral role in effectively conveying the exciting and adventurous tone that contribute to the success of “We Play Different.”

2 learnings

• Using a distinctive and disruptive style can effectively engage viewers emotionally when done in a way that entices viewers and fits with the brand. In this case, The North Face stands out from other apparel brands by using amazing cinematography to show thrilling extreme sports scenarios that keep viewers on the edge of their seat while clearly showing the brand benefits.

• Fast-paced vignette style ads can be more challenging for viewers to easily digest, but The North Face’s “We Play Different” illustrates that vignettes can be used effectively when done well and is the intended tone. In this case, the fast pace helps create the intensity they want to portray with extreme sports, showcases the effectiveness of the outerwear and creates the excitement intended. The well-liked music and soundtrack help further amplify the message and tone.

1 reflection

Have you considered how you can extend your brand and campaign to achieve new heights? The North Face is building upon their existing campaign of “Never Stop Exploring” and elevating it to new heights to challenge consumers to step into a total immersion in the outdoors. They take viewers on an emotionally engaging and experiential journey that exemplifies the benefits of their brand and apparel in a new and exciting way.

Everything about the ad embodies how The North Face enables people to “play differently” — the clever and beautiful cinematography, the extreme sports, the highs and lows and the soundtrack all showcase the brand and its benefits. When done effectively, this can generate strong appeal for your brand and take it to new heights.

The North Face’s new campaign “We Play Different” premieres as a new anthem for the brand, celebrating the brand’s fearless spirit and core values.

The campaign serves as a new narrative to challenge its customers to defy norms and explore new paths. This new brand anthem highlights personal triumphs and milestones achieved by its world-renowned global athlete team and was filmed in some of the world’s most epic playgrounds.

Caroline Brown, Global President at The North Face shares, “’We Play Different’ optimizes the very best of The North Face, inspired by athletes and explorers who push themselves to the limits of known capacity and beyond, inspiring us all. It is a mindset that embraces adventure and adrenaline in all forms. This is where The North Face was born, where it has grown since 1966 and where it will continue to lead moving forward.”

She adds, “Compared to traditional sports that have rules, referees, goals and white lines that confine them, The North Face views mother nature as its guide and goal keeper. Nature never lies and that’s the beauty of the risk the outdoor brand’s global athletes take on every adventure and expedition.”

The campaign will be seen across video and other content, including traditional media, and — similar to Maybelline New York’s “Only Icons” campaign we recently covered — in “wild posting campaign on the streets of Manhattan.”

The North Face’s “We Play Different” is a peak performer scoring in the top 1% of US ads tested in driving both sales (Sales Impact: 100) and brand equity (Brand Impact: 100). Its performance is outstanding across all ages and genders showcasing the broad appeal of the spot.

What are some of the key elements that help make The North Face’s “We Play Different” hit peak performance?

The North Face gets it all right: the idea, the message, the narrative, the perfected execution. Most ads get some of these but not all. This is how an ad gets a 100!

The entire ad portrays the brand and its benefits using a highly distinctive style (ad distinctiveness 4.3 vs 3.8 US norm) that is unique for the category and very emotionally engaging. This leads to a high potential for the ad to go viral (Viral potential 72% vs 56% norm), a feat that is not easy to achieve.

People love this ad. They find it highly enjoyable (Enjoyment score 4.4 vs 3.9 norm) and like the music (music appeal 4.4 vs 3.8 norm) which plays a critical role in setting the emotional tone for the spot.

The craft and tone of “We Play Different” is very well-liked. People spontaneously mention that they like the look and feel (the energy, adventure, beautiful cinematography, mirroring effect, the soundtrack), the variety of sports activities and people, as well as how well the apparel (product) works in extreme conditions. 

Here’s what some of the people shared:

• "I liked the different outdoor scenes, which made it more watchable. I liked the variety of gear that was shown in the ad. I like the "feel" of the ad which is confident, maybe a bit defiant. I like the overall theme which is inspiring."

• "I loved seeing all of the different sceneries. Loved the video - how it showed the mirror image. Very creative video to put together all that North Face can offer. The snow scenes were so cool. Everyone looks super adventurous."

• "I liked that it was eye-catching, and visually appealing. The sounds also made me feel more engaged and inclined to watch the ad. I think in general they did well at the designing aspect of it. They chose a great setting that represents the purpose.”

• "I loved the music and showing people's highs and lows."

• "Variety of extreme activities, showed achievement and failure, get back up and do it again."

• "That they are tough through all tough weather situations and in the harshest conditions."

• "I love that they showed different scenarios where the clothes would fit in."

• "It was high energy. I was shocked that the people and their gear were so extreme."

• "It showed several different types of weather conditions and people of men and women and different sizes and it working out for them."

The fast-paced vignettes feature a myriad of extreme sports and weather conditions that take viewers on an emotional journey, with highs and lows that never let them sit back or look away.  This results in strong emotional intensity (Emotional Intensity: 18.4 vs 15.5 norm) throughout the ad, particularly evoking love and surprise but also some sadness as intended.

• The initial scenes of unzipping the tent and the severe winter storm quickly draw viewers in and elicit strong love and surprise. Emotional reactions remain high as people are shown doing many risky and adventurous outdoor activities.

• The strongest surprise elements are when we see people falling or crashing, like the rock climber falling and after the skiers flip in the air and fall.

• As intended, sadness is evoked when we see the woman crying after discovering that she has a broken bone and has to sit out from her activities.

• The last third of the ad continues to generate strong love and peaks on the screen shot of The North Face with a tent in the background. 

What’s so brilliant about this ad is that the brand is central to the story and evokes the highest love reaction because The North Face is the hero. It provides apparel that can work in extreme conditions no matter what they are.

This results in a good connection to the brand with 69% (vs a norm of 68%) playing back The North Face after watching the ad among a clutter of other ads. Viewers spontaneously mention the brand, logo as well as how people use the brand as key elements that help them recognize the brand. 

The uniqueness of the ad also creates strong brand distinction (4.2 vs 3.6 norm) for The North Face.

One thing that is incredibly clever about “We Play Different” is that both the brand and message benefits play an integral role in the thrill seeking adventures that are shown.  The key messages are well conveyed and ladder up to the category entry point.

The North Face demonstrates that their apparel works effectively across a variety of sports and in a myriad of extreme conditions. This clearly conveys that The North Face is “a brand you can trust for extreme conditions” (mean score 4.6 vs 4.2 norm), “is designed for serious outdoor enthusiasts” (mean score 4.6 vs 4.2 norm), and “built for real adventure, not play” (mean score 4.5 vs 4.2 norm).

Importantly, these messages ladder up to the key category entry points of high quality (71% vs 37% norm), durability (62%) and comfort (51%). This is not an easy task, so we’d like to give praise to the creators for accomplishing this implicitly and very effectively.

These messages are highly relevant (mean score 4.5 vs 4.0 norm) and believable which contribute to strong appeal for The North Face (mean score 4.4 vs. 3.0 norm).

The North Face’s campaign has successfully elevated the outdoors beyond all other traditional sporting environments with beautiful cinematography that shows extreme sports in thrilling, distinctive and emotionally engaging ways. This demonstrates the power of their apparel and generates strong appeal for the brand.

The North Face has broken the rules with this extraordinary ad, using a strong insight to create a visual, distinctive and energetic ad that primarily evokes love. They create high emotional engagement with compelling and thrilling adventures that show the power of the brand and product benefits.

To top it all off, they’ve done this effectively across all audiences. We believe that The North Face has truly achieved new heights with this ad. 

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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