The North Face, Highsnobiety and Zalando on how a TikTok joke inspired a global campaign

Watch the first episode of the series.

It is the biggest campaign the three brands have worked on to date. “Highsnobiety brings the modern and cultural validation. And then Zalando brings, of course, the unmatched scale and, of course, the brand brings the DNA and the product,” adds Vittorio Franchini, senior strategic partner consultant at Zalando. “It was really the first time that the three of us were collaborating this closely for such a big project.”

Conversations began in May, and the timeline was tight, with production starting in August. “We went in super early with a lot of big thinking, and they [The North Face] gave us, obviously, a super ambitious brief,” adds Steph Morrow, lead strategist at Highsnobiety. “With internet-first ideas, you can find yourself in endless feedback groups, and each one makes the idea just a little bit less authentic to the audience. In this case, there was just so much trust and mutual backing between the three of us for this idea.”

Much of the success, she believes, comes down to the scriptwriting, developed by Highsnobiety’s senior creative and art director, Lara Casselman. “I’m very chronically online,” the writer jokes. She explains that the phrase “touch grass” has taken on a life of its own across TikTok, Instagram, and beyond, becoming the internet’s playful rebuke for anyone who is too online. But beneath the meme was a real opportunity to turn a digital in-joke into a genuine invitation to step outside. “It was surprising that that hadn't actually been connected yet. And it felt like the North Face was absolutely the perfect brand to take that on,” Casselman adds.

The brand was already speaking to a digitally savvy generation with bold, forward-looking campaigns, such as when it recruited the internet’s favorite trainspotter Francis Bourgeois in 2022. Casselman explains that the simple notion of “touching grass” has given rise to an entire world of creative potential.

For the two-part series, it was crucial to work with talent that had “cultural credibility” but that “fit in” with the storytelling, building the “juxtaposition” of the two worlds, online and outdoors.

“It’s all about meeting the customer where they are,” adds Thevenin. For this project, it is not about extreme adventures or pushing boundaries. For the chronically online Gen Z audience, it is simply encouraging a bit of time outdoors, enjoying fresh air and, quite literally, touching some grass. “It was all about democratizing the outdoors in a way that feels relevant to that Gen Z female consumer.”

In both spots, viewers see Berlin’s DJ Lovefoxy. For The North Face, she was not just an exciting emerging talent. With her latest EP freshly released and growing momentum by the day, she embodied the energy and personality that perfectly fit the niche they were seeking. “Which is somebody that would be really surprising to bring to that outdoor space that would clash perfectly with your expectation of who you would expect to be wearing a North Face jacket and boots and making their way through a difficult landscape,” says Casselman.

The team notes that Lovefoxy is known for the “tiniest skirts imaginable,” paired with the tiniest bikini tops, and for her ultimate “It girl style.” Casselman feels that the combination of her cultural relevance and personal style made her the perfect casting choice. In the second ad, viewers see the DJ interact with a David Attenborough-style voiceover. “It was freezing up at the top of the mountain, so we were really battling the elements during the shoot,” says Casselman. “But in a way that I think amplified the storytelling in such a perfect way. Within the days of shooting, we had really beautiful sun, pouring rain, wind, snow. We made it through all of that. So that was kind of a funny, unexpected experience.”

The two-part series also allows the brands to build on storytelling, with episode one focusing on footwear and the new ad highlighting outerwear. “Lovefoxy’s touched grass once she's tasted what it feels like to be in nature and to have that disconnection from being chronically online, what is she kind of bringing to the table the second time around?” says Casselman. “We wanted to test out her outdoor chops a bit more.”

For The North Face, this approach is part of a long-term strategy. “The appetite to keep talking to that [female Gen Z] consumer is there, and we've kick-started something great,” adds Thevenin. In terms of rollout, the campaign was designed to build excitement and anticipation by framing it as an episodic world. Each installment could generate hype and keep audiences engaged, looking forward to what comes next. The approach mirrors how audiences interact with their favorite TikTok creators, seeing them appear in various environments and moments.

Thevenin explains that The North Face truly believed in the campaign’s potential, but they were “ecstatic” to see how it was received on social media by consumers, as well as by “industry thought leaders.”

“To be completely honest, it is very different from what we've done in the past as a brand and so there was a little bit of nervousness on our end,” she says. “We navigated that beautifully with Highsnobiety and Zalando, because of this trusting relationship and very open communication that we had throughout the entire process.”