Filed under: PRCA 3331, The North Face Project | Tags: corporate pr, Final Project, The North Face
This page is the culmination of my work analyzing the PR platform of The North Face Inc. The project was done as an assignment conducted through Professor Barbra NixonCorporate PR class at Georgia Southern University. I chose to focus on The North Face (TNF) because of my personal satisfaction in using their products and their unique insurgence into main stream pop-culture and fashion, even though their products are geared predominately toward a small faction of adventure enthusiast.
Table of Contents
From High Altitude: TNF Corporate Overview
Knots in the Rope: TNF Company Timeline
The 3 P’s of The North Face’s PR Strategy
The north face of The North Face: The Challenges Facing TNF
The Summit: Awards and honors of TNF
Feel the Vibrations: A Groundswell on The North Face
The Corporate Alphorn: TNF Online Newsroom
On Belay! Belay On!: Career Opportunities within TNF
Climbers, Campers, and Cold-weather lovers: The Community of The North Face
Clinging to a Ledge: Crisis within TNF
Should I Never Stop Exploring?
The Assent of 10 Things You didn’t know about The North Face Power Point Presentation
(This post is a duplicate of a similar page ; and was created to help organize post when using some blog themes)
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: adventure, Buckminster Fuller, duffle share, Half Dome, The North Face, VF Corporation
This was predominately an oral presentation. Below are my informal speakers notes; some of the information may have been omitted during presentation. As well, some information could have been added. I guess you just had to there.
Slide 2:
Doug Tompkins started a retail shop for high end hiking gear. San Fran altitude 150 above sea level
Slide 3:
1975 Geodesic Dome Tent Buckminster Fuller architect, inventor, engineer, EPCOT : Dissipates Stress, Hemispherical is the most efficient way to enclose space, aerodynamic shape sheds wind the best – Revolutionized back packing tent making, First to include flexible aluminum poles. Also, in 1975 first to develop shingled construction and synthetic insulation sleeping bags.
Slide 4:
The North Face logo was inspired by the Half Dome in Yosemite, revered as one of the greatest big walls in the world.
Slide 5:
World’s largest apparel company: Also own Lee, Rustler, Majestic, Eagle Creek Travel Gear, Aura, Red Kap, John Varvatos, Chef Designs, The Force, Lucy, Napapijri, Eastpack
Slide 6:
Products in 3500 Retail Locations. 30 TNF stores are in 17 states; Atlanta 35 A West Paces Ferry Road
Slide 7:
Together with JanSport, TNF sister company they manufacture nearly half of all small back packs sold in the US.
Slide 8:
Joe Flannery VP of Marketing: TNF wants to have their brand on the majority of products in your pack. This as lead to an increase focus in peripheral categories: footwear, underwear, accessories.
Slide 9:
Launched widget in November 2007 on iGoogle “Video of the Day” Give users a reason to come to the website. The widget is planning to be expanded to social networking sites. Sarah Gallagher senior manager of interactive marketing: “Social Networking is evolving into one the most dominant paradigms for how people interact online, and how content is distributed. To keep up, social networking will need to become a prime platform for us to interact with potential customers.”
The realization of this huge for me or anyone interested corporate PR with TNF. They are just coming into social media, and need people to monitor and develop strategies and profiles on sites like twitter or facebook.
Slide 10:
Showcases 20 to 30 expeditions from around the world. Daily video journal. Downloadable 2 -3 minute snippets. Filmed in HD by the athletes. This along with live streaming webcast are more cost effective. Joe Flannery VP of Marketing :“The only time it (backcountry snowboard competitions) is profitable for that to be on television is Saturday afternoons in winter at three o’clock on NBC, when anyone who is interested in snowboarding is out snowboarding.”
Slide 11:
A website was created in the winter of 2004 by a college student aggravated by purchase of a counterfeit North Face item, to educate consumers on how to shop smart, particularly online.
On March 26, 2006 an improved layout was launched with Whitelist and Blacklist sections to report the good and bad E-Bay vendors.
In August 2007, Business Week interviewed the owner and featured the site in one of their articles.
Slide 12:
Handsome Devil
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: apathy, excitment, life, life after college, real world, The North Face
The North Face corporate slogan is “Never Stop Exploring.” Should I take them up on it and see where TNF takes me? After conducting my research, Professor Nixon poses the question “Are you more or less likely to peruse a job with your company?” I guess my answer would have to be neither. I am intrigued about the possibility of working for TNF. I always said that it would be one of the many fish bowl companies that I would try to land with my ping pong ball resume. I have attraction to TNF because I am a firm believer in their products, I enjoy many of the adventure lifestyle activities, and I have the assumption that they have somewhat of laid-back corporate culture. However, I have no idea what role I would like within the organization. I can see myself doing a wide variety of task; I just don’t know which if any I WANT to do. Curse of a college student, I guess. I still have intentions of applying for some position with the company. I have been energized by many of things I found out about TNF; like its unyielding commitment to innovation. However, I have also been discouraged by some aspects too; like the TNF failure to maximize its potential in its communication functions. Overall I would say the ebbs and flows in my propensity toward TNF have resulted in a net sum zero. I am still just as enthusiastic or apathetic about a possible career with TNF depending on the day.
Ultimately as long I can find a job I don’t mind going to everyday in location that something to offer I will be happy. Whether I am working a Fortune 500 company or a 5 brother family business an opportunity at happiness is all I can ask for.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: accounting irregularities, buy out, James Fifield, mergers and acquisitons, take over, The North Face, VF Corporation
The North Face underwent a tumultuous time in 1999. The company was under attack by its CEO in his attempts to take The North Face private. James Fifield and his leverage-buyout-firm, Fifield and Leonard Green and Partners, attempted to buy the controlling majority of TNF at $17 and remove the company from public trading. The buyout was denied by shareholders who felt the price per share was undervalued. Just a few days after the buy-out proposal was announced TNF disclosed that it may have misrepresented its 1997 and 1998 financial statements. The company eventually divulged that it had overstated 1998 sales by $16 million, or 6%, and earnings by $6 million, or 42%. The adjusted sales for 1998 where $247 million dollars, with $8 million in profit. The company also said that 1997 sales had been overstated by $5 million and earnings by dilated $3 million. The preponderance of accounting irregularities by TNF impelled shareholders to bring about class action lawsuits against the company claiming that it had purposely exaggerated its financial fillings in order to drive up share price. Amongst all of the turmoil the CEO James Fifield left the company and TNF faced Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was then, that VF Corporation swopped in and acquired the fledgling outfitter. The VF Corp purchased The North Face for $24.5 million in 2000. The nation’s largest apparel provider purchased TNF at a substantial discount (90%) of its yearly sales ($240 million). The North Face would go on to post losses $100 million on $238 million in sales in 1999. However over the next few years with VF Corps influx of capital and restructuring its business functions, The North Face returned to profitability. In 2003 the company showed a 34% growth and a 61% growth in 2004 cementing itself as the cornerstone of the VF Corps outdoor lifestyle sector.
The North Face was able to overcome financial and leadership crisis by yielding to a company that had a proven track record in apparel manufacturing and distribution. The VF Corporation not only had the capital to bail out TNF, but it also had the expertise and managerial skills to reorganize the operational structure of TNF to get it back not only to sustainability but to profitability. The acquisition of TNF was somewhat opportunistic and predatory, but it has proved to be mutually beneficial to both organizations.
Morris, K. (1999, June 21). Egg All Over North Face. Business Week, online.
Peltz, J. Jeans Giant VF to Buy Outdoor Gear Maker. (2000, April 08). Los Angeles Times, p. C1.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: alpine climbing, community, endurance, endurance challenge, James Pearson, mountian gear, Pandora, The North Face, The North Face community
The North Face products inspire community. Whether its family and friends coming together around a campfire using a TNF Trailhead 6 cabin tent, or advance climbers discussing the advantages of their TNF Solar Flare – 20° sleeping bag. A place where outdoor enthusiast of all levels can come together is The North Face Community page. Athletes post journal blogs of their latest expeditions, tips on how to effectively use TNF gear, and posts on general adventure discussion. Community members can read and respond to athlete post; also you can find people with similar interest. The page is categorized by blog topics into Alpine Climbing, Endurance, Expedition Dispatches, Gear Watch, and A year-in-the-life blog of climber James Pearson. If you don’t like going to a blog every day to see if there is new content you can subscribe to the RSS feed, or download the Google or Yahoo widget and have new content pushed to your reader when it becomes available. You can also try your hand at the life of TNF athlete by registering for TNF Endurance Challenge, a series of foot races that take place throughout the year and vary in distance from 10K to 50 miles. While you are training for your big run you can subscribe to Pandora internet radio station developed by TNF, and listen to the same music that inspires TNF athletes. On the community page you can also signup for an email newsletter and get exclusive content; such as discounts, new product information, and TNF wallpapers.
The community page is great page in function, but it lacks in effectiveness. I only found the community page by happen stance; you have to click on a blog post on TNF’s Facebook page to be directed to the community site. There are no links from TNF’s corporate retail homepage to TNF’s community page. Many of the same blogs, podcast, and press articles are available through the Explore tab on the corporate page; but the information is not as well organized and the page is less appealing than TNF community page.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: corporate communication, PR Jobs, Ruder Finn, The North Face, VF Corporation
When mountaineering a person climbing or rappelling will shout “On Belay!” to signify that they are ready to traverse the rope; in response the belayer (anchor person) if ready will retort “Belay On!” Starting your career in PR can seem like climbing a mountain, and while you may ready to shout “On Belay!” there may not be the echo of “Belay On!” from PR arms of The North Face.
The North Face Corporate
There are four jobs currently listed on the TNF Careers page that have a strong relation to PR, corporate communication, or marketing. The jobs that are currently listed are: an eCommerce Senior Merchandising Manager, Retail Marketing Manager, Copywriter, and Merchandise Coordinator-Field. There are more jobs listed that entail some peripheral PR functions most of them are in retail such as a product specialist, assistant store manager, or sales associate.
The VF Corporation: Parent Company to TNF
Even less communication job opportunities are available through the holding company online career page. A few human resources positions are available, and a few merchandising positions are available; but it unclear what if any interaction one would have with The North Face.
Ruder Finn, Inc.: The North Face PR Agency
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: corporate newsroom, corporate pr, The North Face
The functionality of The North Face online newsroom leaves something to be desired. The page is visually appealing and organized with a tiled list of articles in chronological order. Within each tile there is a brief synopsis of the article and a relevant picture. The newsroom consists of 18 articles ranging from March 26, 2008 to November 18, 2008; there is no archive link to view previously posted articles. Within the 18 articles, I felt like only seven belonged in the newsroom; these articles where related to new store openings, recently received awards, the sponsorship of a ski competition, and articles relating to innovations in facility sustainability. The remaining 11 articles revolved around accomplishments of TNF athletes. While many of these feats are impressive and newsworthy, I don’t think the corporate newsroom is the appropriate place to post these articles. The corporate online newsroom should predominately revolve around the business functions of an organization. The North Face could place the athlete articles on its community blog page with the rest of its athlete information; or it could restructure its current newsroom to provide for categories of news (e.g. Personal, Facility, Athletes, Products, New Opportunities, Archives, Recent, etc.) The online newsroom could also provide an excellent venue to shed light on new products and technologies, corporate strategy, and new business opportunities and partnerships, which are currently lacking from the current news page.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: AMGA, cat's meow, Gear of the Year, industry award, Outdoor magazine, polartec, The North Face
The North Face is the 2008 recipient of the American Mountain Guides Association’s (AMGA) Industry Award. The Industry Award is presented annually to an outdoor company that has shown outstanding support through scholarships, products, and sponsorships of professional mountain guides. The North Face has partnered with the AMGA to provide educational support for the past twelve years and became a Diamond Partner in 2004. The North Face is the official sponsor of all AMGA Alpine Guide Certification exams, helping to reduce tuition costs. The North Face provides one full tuition scholarship each year for an AMGA Alpine Guide course or exam. This scholarship provides financial support for mountain guides seeking training and certification in the United States.
The North Face products are constantly receiving awards for leading in innovation and functionality. Here are some of the recent ones:
MARCH 2008 – German Outdoor magazine gives coveted Editor’s Choice Award to The North Face
“Cat’s Meow” synthetic sleeping bag
APRIL 2008 – TNF Primero 60 backpack wins the prestigious Gear of the Year by Outside magazine
JULY 2008 – TNF wins two OutDoor INDUSTRY AWARDS for its innovative work on the Minibus 23 two-person tent and the Reversible Mercurial Jacket.
JULY 2008 – TNF wins the APEX award for its oustanding design and use of Polartec fabric.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: corporate outlook, counterfiet, The North Face, The North Face Guru
The North Face derives its name from side of the mountain that typically is the most the challenging to climb. The North Face business structure also faces challenges. In times where most companies are experiencing a regression in financial productivity, TNF seems to be prospering. At the April 2008 Lehman Brothers Retail Conference, Senior Vice President and CFO of VF Corporation Bob Shearer discussed how the outdoor division of VF Corp continued to show profitability despite an overall slowing of the economy. Mr. Shearer identifies TNF’s biggest challenge not with economic fluctuations but with staying on top of new technology and product development. Mr. Shearer says “we’re never satisfied with what we have at The North Face. We’re always looking for that next new (technological breakthrough)… more than anything else it’s just absolute devotion to having the best product out there.”
It is often said that imitation is the highest form of flattery. When you are the technological leader you are blueprint for imitation. The North Face isn’t red from blushing; however, it is red from anger over the imitation of its products. TNF products are some of the most counterfeited products on the black market today. Over the past few years The North Face has received multiple multi-million dollar counterfeit lawsuits judgments in its favor. The North Face has over a hundred employees who work on investigating and uncovering these misrepresented goods. For some that is not enough. In 2004 a college student developed a website, www.thenorthfaceguru.com, after being ripped off when he unknowingly purchased a counterfeit TNF jacket. The website has been featured in Business Week; and gives tips, forums, and pictures to help other consumers spot fakes.
Reference:
Casabona, L. (2007, February 2). North Face Gets $7M in Counterfeit Suit. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily, 193(24), 19.
Casabona, L. (2006, March 6). Legal Breifs. WWD: Women’s Wear Daily, 191(47), 31.
Guru, (2008). The North Face Guru. Retrieved October 26, 2008, from The North Face Guru Web site: http://www.thenorthfaceguru.com/
Hawker, Lizzy (2008). The North Face. Retrieved October 26, 2008, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Face
McClintock, M. (2008).VF Corporation at Lehman Brothers Annual Retail Conference – Final. Fair Disclosure Wire (Quarterly Earnings Reports). Conference transcription, Accessed online November 25,2008, from EBSCOhost database Georgia Southern University.
Filed under: The North Face Project | Tags: adventure, Outdoor, The North Face, The North Face Executives, VF Board of Directors, VF Corp Executives, VF Corporation
The publics of The North Face are multi-layered; here is a brief overview.
Internal Publics
The VF Corporation Board of Directors
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Eric Wiseman Chairman, President, and CEO
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Charles (Chip) Bergh
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Ursula Fairbairn
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Barbara Feigin
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George Fellows
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Robert Hurst Jr.
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W. Alan McCollough
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Clarence Otis Jr.
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M. Rust Sharp
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Raymond Viault
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Juan Ernesto de Bedout
VF Corporation Executives Relevant to TNF
- Eric Wiseman Chairman, President, and CEO
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Robert Shearer SVP and CFO
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Bradley Batten VP, Controller, and CAO
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Martin Schneider VP CIO
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Frank Pickard VP and Treasure
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Cindy Knoebel VP Financial and Corporate Communications, VF Services
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Ellen Rohde VP Branding Planning
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Paul Mason Director of Corporate Communications
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Dave Gatto President, VF Outdoor Americas
The North Face Executives
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Dave Gatto President
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Steve Rendle President, Americas
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Topher Gaylord President, Outdoor International, VF Coporation
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Dan Templin CFO
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Joe Flannery VP, Marketing
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Jim Gerson VP, Research, Development, and Design
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Todd Spaletto VP, US Sales
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Patty Pierce Directory, Human Resources
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Michelle Barth Director, Marketing
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Sumi Reddy Product Manager, Tekware
The North Face employs about 860 workers across the world.
External Publics
The customers of TNF are sprinkled across the outdoor activity spectrum. On one end are the hardcore adventurists that push the limits in the extreme conditions TNF gear was designed for. On the other end of the spectrum are customers who are drawn to TNF products because of emerging fashion trend of wilderness chic. The North Face products are by everybody from explorers to weekend warriors.
References:
Boyd, K. (2007). The North Face, Inc.. International Directory of Company Histories, 78, Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5202/is_2007/ai_n19123745/print?tag=artBody;col1
Hawker, Lizzy (2008). The North Face. Retrieved October 26, 2008, from Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_North_Face
The North Face Apparel Corp.(2008). In Hoover’s Company Records – In-depth Records (online ed.), Saint-Laurent: Hoover’s Inc.
V.F. Corporation. (2008). In Hoover’s Company Records – In-depth Records (online ed., Saint-Laurent: Hoover’s Inc. .
Sharkey's Machine 
