The North Face Supports Brave Trails

The North Face brand is once again renewing its sponsorship of Brave Trails, an organization that runs summer camps for LGBTQ+ youth. While Brave Trails creates these safe camps in California and New York, there are also activities year round to promote leadership, bonding, outdoor activities, belonging, family, and counseling. All of the above. It’s quite an organization. And I just love the name. And since The North Face is all about the outdoors, makes total sense. And as the brand says, “the outdoors is for everyone.”

The North Face has taken proceeds from its Pride Collection to fund the sponsorship, which to my mind is exactly the kind of place where those initiatives should flow. As many brands do similar “flow” during Pride Month and year round.

Has this brand and others faced some backlash? Sure has. In this case both The North Face and Brave Trails has stood strong on their commitment to support LGBTQ+ youth that they both know need it. It’s such a great lesson learned in making a commitment, holding your ground, understanding any “feedback,” and carrying on with your mission.

And yes I said “feedback” for a reason because from a marketing perspective, the commentary that results from such programs is indeed feedback on how various audiences react and behave. It’s feedback that as marketers we can use for future programming to shape the program and plan for how it will be received across groups of people. Each and every program that comes out becomes a lesson learned for how to proceed in the moment or next time.

Clearly The North Face and Brave Trails had a sense of what was to come from such commentary, and planned to hold their ground. Ground … in this case outdoor activities!

Brave Trails, I salute you. If only you were around back in the day, how things would have been different. And The North Face, I salute you too. If only brands supported these causes back in the day, how things would have been different. You are both guiding progress, one camp and one day and one outdoor activity at a time.

What’s your experience? JIM