If mountains are open for everyone to climb, why is it that men are almost always pictured at the top? The Outdoor industry has long been criticized for lack of showing gender diversity. Our research showed an astounding 82% of images of explorers online are of men. Our main objective for The North Face is to drive purchase intent, but for this campaign, our brief was to achieve something much bigger. We needed to change “the male face” of exploration to champion women and create new female role models. Supporting women explorers was something The North Face believed was not only good for their business, but the right thing to do.

The idea for “She Moves Mountains” championed women’s exploration narratives and imagery. It elevated amazing stories of female explorers and inspired more to be created.

People are 80% more likely to achieve a goal when they have role models to look up to. More than ever before, women know they can strive to have an equal place in traditionally male-dominated industries and interests, but they are looking for more female trailblazers and achievers for inspiration and confidence building.

Our media approach to targeting female explorers was to work only with partners that shared our same mission: To increase the representation of women. Each media partner demonstrated real thematic shifts in their editorial and programming to feature women breaking norms vs. cliché beauty and lifestyle content.

Media and events became a canvas for inspiring stories of The North Face female athletes and trailblazers, such as Hilaree Nelson, Ashima Shiraishi, Fernanda Maciel and Margo Hayes - women climbers, skiers, mountaineers, runners, and even rocket scientists. In certain instances, the women’s stories were told from the third person perspective of an admirer (i.e. Ansel Elgort, Jimmy Chin, Lynn Hill) to make these heroes seem even more heroic.

She Moves Mountains showed just how badass these women are across events, digital, social, print and OOH.

In a first-to-market with NYT, we positioned The North Face around their “Gender” property, dedicated to expanding the coverage of women, gender, and society, including their “Overlooked” editorial and over 75 articles.

We wove the brand into NYT’s “Get with the Times” event series, attended live by thousands and millions more through livestreaming, so each one featured female speakers and The North Face women explorers and we encouraged attendees to share a photo naming another woman that inspires them.

We created an Instagram photography series with National Geographic of 30 posts across five of their handles featuring amazing images of female explorers - underwater photographers, dog-sled racers, rock climbers and more - accompanied by their unique stories and a call for viewers to share the story of their own role models.

She Moves Mountains changed “the face” of exploration by creating new female role models and empowering all women to explore.

Social conversations about female explorers increased 1,000% versus year ago, attributed to our hashtag #shemovesmountains, and Google searches for “Female Explorers” increased 25% during our campaign.

More than 5,300 people attended our live events with NYT and livestreams reached more than 2 Million viewers. The inspiring photos we encouraged women to take reached more than 32,000 people on social media. National Geographic photo impressions rose above 90 Million, with nearly 3 Million engagements in just three days.

The North Face saw a 200% climb in purchase intent among women and a 62% lift in the belief that the brand empowers women.