The North Face x UTMB Experience
Client
The North Face
When
August 25 to 31, 2025, climax on the Summit Run on August 30
Where
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
Industry
Outdoor premium equipment company
Touchpoints
The North Face Chamonix store, the mountains (Lac Bleu, Plan de l’Aiguille), Hotel Lyret
Audience
Trail runners, UTMB visitors, TNF community, XPLR PASS members, VIPs, media and influencers
Expertise
Brand Activation · Event Orchestration · Brand Scenography · Operational Management · Hospitality
Scope
Concept, experience design, activation planning, production and on-site delivery
The brief
Go beyond the “obligatory” presence at race week. Make UTMB a key activation moment for the Chamonix store and for the brand in Europe, while offering a selected group of XPLR PASS members (TNF Fidelity Programme) an exclusive outdoor experience worthy of their loyalty to The North Face. Strengthen the bond between the brand, its athletes and its community through a series of activations, in-store and in the mountains, with the level of craft and finish that a premium brand demands.
Objectives
Showcase the Flora Alpina collection through multiple angles. Let XPLR PASS members and consumers live it, not just see it. Add a deeper layer of connection between the brand and its athletes through multiple activations. Deliver a sport-and-nature experience that sticks.
The concept
A two-headed programme across the whole week, a store layer for the local community and UTMB visitors, a VIP layer for ten carefully selected XPLR PASS members flown in from six countries. Two rhythms, one single narrative, a brand bringing its products down from the mountain so it can take customers back up to it.
Key Moments
The Summit Run at Lac Bleu / Plan de l’Aiguille, a guided mountain run with a naturalist reading of the actual alpine flora, followed by a culinary-designer-led food moment, with a products display set directly at altitude.
The in-store activations, from yoga to DJ sets, from shoe testing sessions to athlete meet-ups, from daily community runs to treasure hunts. The store turned into a living HQ for seven days straight.
An exclusive serigraphy run on site with an artist who crafted his own pigments from real alpine flowers, printing colourful, playfully offbeat patterns onto TNF products. One unique piece per participant, impossible to replicate.
An immersive VIP journey for the ten XPLR PASS members, built like an alpine road movie, threading mountain runs, recovery rituals, athlete moments and local discovery.
Cheering moments orchestrated along the UTMB route for both TNF teams and XPLR PASS members, because the race gets won in the head as much as in the legs.
Sensory Signature
Sound: in-store DJ sets, the brand’s pulse between two community runs.
Taste: a high-altitude culinary break curated by a culinary designer during the Summit Run, designed as an extension of the Flora Alpina story.
Sight: bold serigraphy prints made live on TNF products using pigments from real alpine flowers, plus a products display set directly in the mountains.
Mastery
Activations conception, planning and coordination. Graphic adaptations aligned with the brand’s creative direction. Permits and Health & Safety report. Content capture and wrap-up video. Scouting of shoes-test and activation experts. Artist scouting for the serigraphy. On-site setup, follow-up and tear-down. Stock management. Full debrief report.
Operational complexity
A dual programme to run in parallel, store activations and the VIP XPLR PASS experience, each with its own codes and pace. Multiple activations stacked across the week, Summit Run, yoga, race-party, serigraphy, that had to chain without overlapping. A high-stakes weather call, with a key mountain activation hosting one hundred people rescheduled from one day to the next without losing a single scenographic detail. And athlete moments woven into the journey, with all the planning and discretion that requires.
On-site team
Three people on site throughout UTMB week to manage production, operations and real-time adjustments.
Results
The Flora Alpina collection became a story people could live rather than a range to browse, with a clear narrative arc from city to summit.
A unique, memorable Summit Run, fully connected to the collection.
A coherent experience across three touchpoints (store, hotel, mountains) that sidestepped the classic trap of disconnected activations and reinforced brand consistency.
A tighter community/brand bond, built through shared effort and shared rituals (runs, recovery, athlete encounters), which is exactly where The North Face plays its strongest card.
