The North Face’s “Reset Normal” initiative and campaign tackle inequality in the outdoors
During a time when people are craving a “reset” from the pandemic and the turbulence of 2020, The North Face launches “Reset Normal,” a global initiative encouraging people everywhere to reset their lives through exploration in the hope of progress and discovery. The campaign kicks off with a video anthem film by Sid Lee that brings to life the crucial turning point we are experiencing culturally in 2020 and shows how people can reset through the power of exploration.
As part of this initiative, The North Face launched the Explore Fund Council, a global fellowship with the goal of bringing together passionate experts across culture, entertainment, academia, and the outdoors to develop ideas and potentially scalable solutions to help support access to exploration. Currently, communities of colour are three times more likely to live in nature-deprived places and often face racism and other systemic challenges when they do explore. In its first year, the goal is for the Explore Fund Council to focus on how to create more culturally relevant exploration opportunities and connect diverse communities to the benefits of exploration.
The program will launch with the help of two experts who have been resetting their own industries for years, Lena Waithe, an Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, producer, and actress who has devoted her career to championing underrepresented artists and communities through her production company Hillman Grad, and Jimmy Chin, The North Face Global athlete, climber, and Academy Award-winning director. Waithe and Chin will work alongside additional creatives, academic experts and outdoor industry partners, and more so that collectively they can develop ideas to help create meaningful change.
Learn about the initiative from The North Face's Steve Lesnard, Global VP of Marketing and Product, and our very own Nicolas Van Erum, Managing Partner, Sid Lee LA, in their interview in Forbes.
Delve deeper into the campaign's creative process with Sid Lee’s Bradley Getty, Senior Associate Creative Director in his Communication Arts interview here.