Role: Writer, Creative Director
Some things don't need a campaign. They need a moment of respect.
When Alex Honnold free soloed El Capitan in 2017 — no ropes, no margin for error, just three thousand feet of granite and total command of his own mind — it wasn't a marketing opportunity. It was one of the greatest athletic achievements anyone had ever witnessed, and The North Face wanted to mark it the right way.
So we didn't build a campaign. We took out a single full-page ad in the New York Times Sunday paper the following weekend and said what needed saying — nothing more.
Sometimes the biggest move is the smallest one.