源自于60年代的户外品牌The North Face（TNF），现在被W公司渲染出了一股现代色彩，现以全新大胆的方向展现在中国面前，激起了强烈的蒙太奇电影般的生活运动。
W公司创始人及创意总监李三水（李3水）解释道，开始时就是一条普通的方案简述，“The North Face非常直接地告诉我们，他们想为具有变革性又独树一帜的冲锋衣FUSEFORM产品打造一场宣传活动。”
但是，W公司从来都不会循规蹈矩，他们想要做的可不只是帮助客户多卖几件衣服。三水说道，“我们没有严格遵照客户给我们的方案简述，相反，基于信任和大量的沟通，W提出这样的想法：利用这次机会，重新打造TNF的品牌识别，从而提高销量。”
TNF于60年代中期诞生于加利福尼亚，这一地区在当时经常充斥着嬉皮士运动。当年，Doug Tompkins和一群长头发又自由奔放的年轻人在他们所钟爱的优胜美地国家公园（Yosemite National Park）露营爬山，公司由此诞生。1966年，Tompkins和Kenneth “Hap” Klopp在旧金山开了第一家店，玻璃上贴着鲍勃·迪伦（Bob Dylan）的海报，后来1968年品牌被命名为The North Face。
不用多说，1968年中国的文化气候和西方的嬉皮士浪潮完全不相称。原始的嬉皮士运动对中国社会毫无意义，但W公司想要重新捕捉TNF创立时的精神，构建它和中国社会的关联性。品牌重塑想要联通现代的户外运动爱好者，这些人被W公司称为“中国嬉皮士”。
如何能使这一概念行得通呢，三水解释道，“中国嬉皮士一定要有活力”。所以他们剥去了那些令人厌倦的陈词滥调，如反战游行、自由恋爱、引起幻觉的毒品、迷幻音乐，而是要保留原始嬉皮士运动的核心价值，即和平抗议、自由、重新拥抱自然。“精于战略”的三水说道，“我们定位的中国嬉皮士是那些热爱户外运动、勇敢、思想开放、会玩的人。”这样的描述自然而然就确定了此次宣传活动的口号，大致可以解释为“#最会玩的人#”。
宣传最开始只是一个15秒的悬念预热视频，出现在网络和国内主要城市地体站大屏幕上。各大城市地铁站内的大屏幕如同被黑客侵入，经常“窜线”到安全监控录像：一伙身份不明的黑衣人分头组装三个巨型箱体，随后监控镜头立刻被喷漆，信号被切断。最后，出现的是The North Face的logo和Fuseform字标。
神秘的预热视频埋下了悬念，后续的长视频着重给人们解开谜团。广告1分15秒，由李静波担任导演，令人全神贯注，镜头活力四射，剪辑急速飞驰。
三水解释道，“正是条件限制给我们带来了灵感，我们原本计划去国外拍摄，营造全球户外运动的氛围，但是日程有限，预算也有限，所以没能实现。所以我们就对TNF原有的素材进行剪辑修整。目标就是为了迅速吸引目标市场的关注，三个目标是剪辑快速、信息全面、步调独特。结果做出来的东西就是意识流和轰动性的广泛结合。”
审美和刺耳的配乐结合在一起，就像恐怖片一样刺激。“这是我故意做的，目的就是要符合广告的基调，也就是“没有什么能阻挡你探索的步伐”，三水笑着说道。
创作过程就是“导演和剪辑师的合作”，他补充说道，“整个创意过程很不容易。”大量的后期制作，用他的话来说尤为“紧张”。
W公司之前为New Balance所做的广告以其自己的原创歌曲尤为突出。TNF的现场声音是由经常和他们合作的音乐制作人创作的，这次同样引人注目。三水解释说，“音乐的力量，以及完美音轨的重要性，一直以来都是W公司为人熟知的地方，这也是为什么我们公司有自己的音乐部门，这在广告行业非常少见。”
视频好评如潮，所以后来又加上了英文字幕，在亚太地区播放。收到的反响不言而喻，看销量就知道了。“我们不只是为TNF打造了全新的品牌识别，实际上还促进了产品销量。很多人看了广告之后，都表示愿意购买产品。TNF对此充满热情，将此后市场的系列推广标语都改成了“你最懂玩，它最懂你”，彻底贯穿“最会玩的人”这一概念。W公司对品牌的巧妙重塑，带来了这么多有意思的工作。
W has put a modern spin on The North Face’s 1960s roots to set the outdoor brand in a bold new direction in China, sparking the campaign to life with a high-octane montage film.
W founder and creative director Li Sanshui explains that it started out as a run-of-the-mill brief, “TNF was pretty straight-forward with us. They asked to create a campaign for their revolutionary and one-of-a-kind FUSEFORM products.”
Never one to stick to the rulebook, however, the agency looked at how they could do more than simply sell a few more units. “We didn’t exactly follow the client’s brief” says Li, “Instead, based on trust and a ton of communication, W proposed an idea – to use this opportunity to re-create TNF’s brand identity in order to increase sales.”
TNF was born in the mid 1960s in California, a time and place often characterized by the hippy movement. The company started out with Doug Tompkins and a group of long-haired, free-spirited youths camping and climbing in their beloved Yosemite National Park. Tompkins and Kenneth “Hap” Klopp opened up their first store in San Francisco in 1966, the window adorned with a poster of Bob Dylan, renaming it The North Face in 1968.
It goes without saying that the Chinese cultural climate in 1968 was utterly at odds with the hippy wave enveloping much of the west. W wanted to recapture the spirit of TNF’s beginnings, all the while making it relevant to a Chinese society for whom the original movement had no meaning. The rebrand sought to connect with a modern day generation of outdoor enthusiasts, defined by the agency as “Chinese hippies”.
To make the concept work, Li explains, “the Chinese hippies had to be alive”. Stripped away were the tired clichés – anti-war demonstrations, free love, mind-bending substances, psychedelic music – leaving the core values of the original movement, namely peaceful protest, freedom and reconnecting with nature. “Strategy-wise” Li says, “we identified these Chinese hippies to be those who are outdoorsy, courageous, open-minded, and know how to have fun.” The description for this group naturally informed the campaign tagline, translated loosely as “#fun-loving thrill seekers#”.
The campaign first emerged as a 15-second teaser that appeared online and on screens in metro stations in major cites across China. It appeared that hackers had channeled surveillance camera footage of a group of unidentified men in black separately assembling three giant boxes, before painting over the camera lens and cutting the signal, leaving us with the North Face logo and Fuseform wordmark.
If the mysterious teaser raised questions, the subsequent long form film emphatically provided the answers. Directed by Li Jingbo, the spot is one minute and 15 seconds of extreme, adrenaline-pumping action, with dynamic camera work and rapid-fire editing.
“The inspiration came from the limitations”, explains Li. “Due to our tight schedule and limited budget, we couldn’t film overseas and achieve the global outdoor vibe we planned. Instead, we edited and retouched TNF’s existing original footage. The goal was to quickly draw our target market’s attention, so fast editing, comprehensive information, and a unique pace were the three things we were aiming for. The result was a broad mixture of streams of consciousness and sensationalism.”
The aesthetic, combined with the grinding soundtrack, jars like a horror movie. “I did it on purpose in order to match the “if you want to explore, what is there to be scared of?” tone of the campaign” laughs Li.
The creation process was “a collaboration between the director and editor” adding that “the whole creative process wasn’t easy.” The extensive postproduction work in particular he describes as “intense”.
The agency’s previous campaign for New Balance was especially notable for the in-house composed original song. The TNF spot audio, created by a music producer with whom the agency frequently collaborates, is again striking. “The power of music and the importance of having a perfect soundtrack has always been something for which W is known”, explains Li, “that’s why we have an in-house music department, which is pretty rare in our industry.”
The film has been so well received that it is being re-edited with English subtitles for the Asia Pacific region. The results have spoken for themselves in the form of sales. “We not only created a new brand identity for TNF but also actually sold the product. A lot of people have expressed their willingness to purchase after seeing the commercial.” W’s smart rebrand has set the stage for some intriguing work to emerge.
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