I served as Global CMO of The North Face from 2016-2019. We had a mandate to make the brand more relevant in culture. This campaign book through.
With all of the discussion of the role of walls in culture, we felt like we had something to say. The North Face had, in fact, been climbing walls for over 50 year. Heck, even the logo is based on Half Dome, one of the world’s most famous walls.
We took our belief that walls could unite people, create community and challenge the human spirit to overcome obstacles and we put it into action.
I love music. It is an amazing way for humans to connect, share stories and find common ground. Here are a few examples of how I have used the power of music to create movements
I served as the interim CMO at Rothy’s in 2022. In addition to launching the first national brand campaign, we launched a collaboration with Vogue that featured an exclusive bag designed by an up-and-coming design student. It sold out in minutes.
I took over a sophomoric brand in a serious business slump. We went back to the core brand asset—the Captain himself—and created great storytelling and innovative new products leading the brand back to growth for the first time in 5 years.
Creating the new industry standard with crazy high performance and crazy low environmental impact. In 2019 we decided to challenge the industry standard (Gore-Tex) and created a new material from the ground up. We launched with a partnership with BMW on a futuristic camper, and then followed up with a product marketing campaign that told the story of FutureLight and sent the product to do things that humans had never done before. This launch was a game-changer for The North Face and the outdoor industry.
Imagination was our ode to youth and the dreams that we all had growing up. As a brand that inspires exploration, The North Face brought this story to the world featuring our TNF athlete Tom Wallisch in an ode to a classic ski film by JP Auclair.
In 2017, I identified an opportunity for the brand to connect more deeply with our female consumer. Although she was our best customer, we almost never spoke to her and were losing a ton of business with her. Furthermore, the outdoor industry suffered from a male-dominated mindset. We had a huge opportunity to recruit a new generation of explorers—a generation of girls and women— but we had to walk the walk. We did this by highlighting the amazing female role models in The North Face community, by partnering with The Girl Scouts to create a new outdoor curriculum and by starting a movement internally to promote and reward women in the organization.
In the early 2000’s, Diageo acquired a craft tequila brand selling a couple hundred cases a year. I helped design the brand fundamentals and launch campaign. Through brilliant package design, an authentic tequila-making process and an aspirational positioning Tequila Don Julio became a juggernaut in the space. It is now one of the leading tequila brands by value in the US.
In Spring of 2019, we reimagined what The North Face retail experience could be and launched a new flagship design. This store balanced deep brand storytelling, amazing product presentation and had elements of consumer surprise and delight. It launched in NYC and quickly rolled out globally.