The North Face
North Face
The outdoor industry’s own ‘superbrand’ is surely The North Face. We caught up with Timo Schmidt-Eisenhart, Vice President and General Manager for The North Face EMEA, to ask him all about it…
SGB Outdoor: Timo, you used to work at Nike – it’s interesting that you are now at The North Face, which some might consider to be the Nike of the outdoor world.
Timo Schmidt-Eisenhart: We’re not Nike, and we don’t want to be Nike, but there are some similarities in terms of growth, status of the brand compared to where Nike was, say, 20 or 30 years ago. There are some similarities, but we must be careful that we don’t copy Nike as it’s a different business, a different industry, a different company and a different brand.
You’re right in that The North Face is by far the leading outdoor brand around the globe; in Europe depending on the country we are the clear market leader, or are in a position to become the market leader in the next few years, and we have a plan attuned to help make that happen. I do take that as a compliment, if that’s
26 SGB OUTDOOR NOVEMBER 2010 how you see the brand!
SGBO: It is, in its near-ubiquity on the high street. Walk down any UK High Street and you will see outdoor gear that’s crossed over to become an everyday item; the leaders in that are The North Face, it’s the brand you see the most. When a brand reaches the level you have reached, where do you go from here? TS-E: Of course we have meetings in regions, or in global meetings where we discuss how big the brand might become, the brand cycle, that kind of thing. We are not done as a brand at all – at all. We still talk about tripling or quadrupling the business in EMEA [Europe, Middle East and Africa] in the next five to ten years for sure. Having said that, it’s absolute crucial that we employ proper brand management alongside that, because the last thing we want to do – and we are very conscious of this – is become a mass
brand on the High Street. That’s where some of my big brand experience comes in, perhaps. We will make absolutely sure we stay very core and very authentic in terms of innovation and being the newest and best, with the best new fabrics and construction brought to the marketplace. We still do more - and sponsor more – expeditions than any other company in the world, including even National Geographic. This is our brand, this is our heritage and it’s where the brand was born 42 years ago.
We still want to expand within that identity though, by bringing more people to the outdoors. That’s one of our missions and strategies, to bring people outdoors with us. Take people away from computer games and TV, get them out into nature and enjoying nature. If people do that, then they may wear the jackets for walking the dog or shopping as well. These things come along with the size of the brand, but
The
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