Watch: Floor Disappears at The North Face Store
Marketing stunt turns shoppers into climbers
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Customers at The North Face pop-up store in South Korea were treated to a cruel surprise. Shoppers were admitted one at a time, and after they spent a few minutes looking around and trying on apparel, the clothing racks ascended to the ceiling and the floor retracted into the wall. This left them with two choices: grab onto the conspicuously placed rock-climbing holds or drop into a padded pit.
Those who managed to hang on before the floor disappeared completely were greeted with another surprise: A jacket on a wire dropped from the ceiling, and a timer counted down the 30 seconds the shoppers had to jump from the wall and grab it.
Innored, a Korean agency known for its edgy brand footage, developed the pop-up store stunt as part of The North Face’s “Never Stop Exploring” campaign, according to Complex. “Consumers are used to comfortable city lives and are losing their natural strengths,” The North Face said in a press release about the climbing-wall trick, according to Campaign Asia. “Based on this brand philosophy, The North Face Korea induces customers to face an unexpected challenge and encourages them to overcome the situation with their own strength in order to begin their journey to explore.”
It helps that a fancy new jacket makes enticing bait. Have a look at the video: