In the fall of 2021, a new retail destination, Public Lands, opened its first two stores in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Public Lands is a new retail concept from parent company Dick’s Sporting Goods. And The North Face is the retailer’s most popular brand. With the synergies in the two companies’ shared values of community and exploration, Public Lands and The North Face decided to team up to tell a larger story about their joint mission to get more outdoors. Our primary goal was to engage a new generation of explorers and showcase how the outdoors fosters a sense of community and well being. The initiative was focused on local grassroot effort. By documenting our efforts, we would enable this initiative to tell a larger story to a wider audience.
“When you love mother nature, then you want to share that with other people. That’s the way that you build community.” - Manoah Ainuu
Belonging to something, or even somewhere, fosters an unspoken sense of community and respect. And while the outdoors belongs to everyone, the reality is not everyone feels welcomed. To spark change and welcome a new generation of explorers to the outdoor community, we partnered with The North Face and Public Lands to host a one-of-a-kind trip.
With the shared ambition of building community through exploration, we hosted a Field Trip unlike any other. We partnered with the Student Conservation Association (SCA), a national nonprofit which seeks to create the next generation of conservation leaders through their work in cities across the country including Pittsburgh and documented the journey of seven teenagers and three The North Face professional athlete mentors, climbers Ashima Shiraishi & Manoah Ainuu and freeskier Tom Wallisch, as they embarked on an outdoor adventure they’d never forget.
Many of the teenagers were leaving their hometown for the great outdoors for the first time, so with the help of our world class mentors and a school bus full of The North Face gear, we showed them the in’s and out’s of camping, hiking, and bouldering - all at a state park just a short drive away from where they live.
The trip took this group of teenagers on both a physical and mental journey - finding appreciation in a new environment, community amongst their peers, and a meaningful connection to nature. The weekend fueled their personal growth and laid the foundation for their growing appreciation for the outdoors.
We rolled out the short documentary with Outside Magazine as a distribution partner and with further promotion across the participating athlete mentors’ and brand pages. Ultimately, we garnered 1.3M impressions, 462K+ video views, and 25K views of the dedicated article on Outside.com (33% higher average time spent on the page), and received an overwhelmingly positive sentiment.
Field Trips is just the beginning of The North Face and Public Lands’ shared commitment to fueling exploration for all.
