The North Face/TikTok
- Popular apparel brand The North Face posted a crazy marketing stunt on TikTok recently.
- In a video, they delivered a rain jacket to a woman at the top of a mountain in New Zealand via helicopter.
- The woman had complained in a viral TikTok that her waterproof jacket got soaked in the rain.
The North Face pulled an elaborate marketing stunt on TikTok and delivered some rain gear via helicopter to a woman in New Zealand, whose complaint about the brand went viral on the platform.
Jenn Jensen posted a TikTok video on November 17 showing herself on a hiking trail in the rain where she's soaked whilst wearing a rain jacket sporting The North Face logo.
"I've got a bone to pick with North Face," Jensen says in the video which has racked up over 11 million views. "I bought this 'rain jacket' a couple of days ago and the tag for the advertising said that it's waterproof. Well listen, I'm 100% sure that it's raining outside and I'm soaking wet."
She added: "Listen… I don't want a refund. I want you to redesign this rain coat to make it waterproof and express deliver it to the top of Hooker Valley Lake in New Zealand where I will be waiting."
She tagged The North Face's TikTok page in her caption. In one comment a user named @timbrodini wrote: "*Northface has left the conversation."
The popular outdoor clothes brand made their own TikTok video in response to @timbrodini's comment in which they said: "We were busy express delivering @Jenn her jacket at the top of mountain."
In the TikTok video, a North Face employee can be seen grabbing a red jacket from one of its physical stores and then hopping onto a helicopter where he's flown out to New Zealand. The man then jumps out of the helicopter at the top of the mountain and runs out to throw the jacket to Jensen who is waiting.
She says "thank you" at the end of the video, which has also gone viral and gained 4.1 million views.
Jensen then made a follow up video on her page explaining that The North Face's marketing team saw her video and wanted to make "amends." She said they flew her out by helicopter to the top of a mountain in New Zealand to give her new rain gear.
"At this point the ultimate test will be if the new rain gear they gave me at the top of that mountain will hold up to the very high bar that North Face has now set for themselves," she concluded at the end of the video.
Some users speculated whether her original video was also a part of the marketing stunt but Jensen responded that she "turned down" the opportunity to be paid for the company's follow up video.
"I'm not an influencer, I was just a disappointed customer."
The marketing strategy appears to be a new way for brands to connect with customers by showing their care whilst also providing an entertaining video on social media.
The North Face seems to be following the steps of the Stanley cup brand which recently went viral after gifting a woman a new car. The woman's own car had burnt down, but in a TikTok video she showed that her insulated Stanley cup had survived the car fire and that the ice inside hadn't even melted.