The North Face

Advocacy - DEI | Print Media | Brand Storytelling | Retail Advertising

"Break Free."

OBJECTIVE:

Create a triplet poster campaign which aims to inspire the next generation of young female outdoor enthusiasts using powerful brand storytelling. The concept should focus on diversity and inclusivity, to help draw in in a new target market for the brand.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Young progressive, ambitious women interested in the outdoors

(Ages 20-30 yrs old)

AWARDS RECEIVED:

AAF's "American Advertising Awards" (ADDY)

for Student Awards — Poster Campaign

⇀ GOLD Award (District 2)

Graphis Institute Competition's "2021 New Talent Annual" — Advertising Category

⇀ SILVER Award

Spring 2020

Art Director •
Lilian Broyles

Copywriter •
Lilian Broyles

Breaking Stereotypes

The North Face’s primary aim in this project was to enable female empowerment and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) through strong brand storytelling. The creative brief also outlined the brand’s desired tone of voice, simple and honest.

I pursued the idea of "breaking past adversity" for this campaign. Women would be visualized in extremely athletic situations with words of adversity, such as negative/offensive stereotypical phrases + nicknames, surrounding them as they quietly fade into the distance. Both literally and metaphorically "breaking past adversity."

For this campaign, I didn't want to over-saturate the message with "femininity," or stereotypical feminine appealing imagery. Not all women are the same, look the same, or are into the same cliché-interests like: cutesy, fashion, makeup, pastels, etc. There's absolutely nothing wrong with females (or males, etc.) liking those things, but trying to target women using that form of imagery would be extremely banal and seem insincere.

Young women can now view The North Face as a viable brand to invest in because it supports their journey, not just in outdoor activities but also in life. The adventure of self discovery.

Posters

I tried maintaining the tone of voice as directed by The North Face's guideline in my copy – simple, yet confident.

In the tagline "Break Free." the period is a subtle, but an essential aspect of the text. It ends in a period to resolutely state how you (women), and only you, can break away from the world’s expectations and be who you want to be and there is no question about that.

The small scale of the tagline allows the whole image to breathe and flow easily, a very airy sensation. This feeling accompanies the ad's message by conveying this sense of freedom and life.