Outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear supplier The North Face Inc. has rolled out a free, branded application to help consumers locate trails, track their progress and share their adventures worldwide.

The North Face Trailhead application, powered by EveryTrail, dynamically locates trails, including hiking loops, bike routes and backcountry ski/snowboard trails, based on location. The initiative is focused on enabling exploration and giving consumers inspiration to get outdoors, all the while keeping its brand top of mind.

?I believe that branded apps are the future of apps?over time, branded apps will be the vast majority of what we see,? said Mark Beccue, senior analyst of consumer mobility at ABI Research, Oyster Bay, NY. ?The reason is they are so sticky and useful.

?The trick is brands have to be very clever and use all of their marketing powers to think why a consumer would want it, what they can offer that would be useful or convenient,? he said. ?It?s a great opportunity for brands.?

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor Inc., is an outdoor product company specializing in outerwear, fleece, footwear and equipment such as backpacks, tents and sleeping bags.

Helping iPhone users find trails
The North Face Trailhead application features route tracking with a real-time interactive map via GPS that monitors distance, speed and elevation.

Users can search trips by location, activity, length of activity or user ratings and, upon selecting the trail, can instantly view driving directions to the trail head.

Route, distance, speed and elevation are captured in real-time for sharing with friends, family and other users via Facebook, Twitter and EveryTrail.com.

To download The North Face Trailhead application at no cost, consumers can visit http://appsto.re/tnftrailhead or go to the App Store.

Here is a screen grab of the Trailhead application:

This is not The North Face's first branded application.

Last year, the outdoor apparel giant launched Snow Report 2.0, a free branded iPhone weather application for skiers and snowboarders that aggregates resort-specific Twitter updates, as well as weather and snow condition feeds (see story).

In addition, The North Face ran one of the first-ever location-based mobile marketing campaigns in February in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Seattle (see story).

?Branded apps can be extremely useful, but it?s not just slapping something up there,? Mr. Beccue said. ?People will vote with their thumbs, and if it?s not useful to them, they won?t download it, or they may download it but they won?t use it.

?It?s such a great component of a multichannel strategy, and a brand can promote it a lot of different places?for example, on the Web site it can tell people to go to the App Store to download it,? he said.

?The challenge is fragmentation, and many brands are going to platform companies to take care of that for them?they can go to one company to support multiple platforms.?

Please let me know if you have any other questions or if you need anything else.

TNF exec talks mobile strategy
Mobile Marketer's Dan Butcher interviewed Aaron Carpenter, vice president of marketing at The North Face, San Leandro, CA. Here is what he had to say:

What's the strategy here?
The North Face is dedicated to getting more people outside to have fun and explore the world in ways that are meaningful to them.

Our goal is to enable outdoor exploration and the Trailhead Application provides users with a free digital tool to enhance and improve their outdoor experiences. 

What challenges does EveryTrail address for the North Face?
The North Face worked with EveryTrail to power the content behind the Trailhead Application.

EveryTrail?s user-generated trail database offers a wide variety of trail information covering more than 300,000 trails across the globe.
 
What is the target demographic of the app?
Our goal is to enable more people to get outdoors. Any person who uses technology as a way to enhance their outdoor experience is part of our target demographic.
 
How will The North Face get the word out about the app? Will there be any ads across the mobile Web or within other apps to drive downloads?
The Apple App store badge icon is featured on all of our print advertising for this fall.

We have also spread the news through TheNorthFace.com, Twitter, Facebook, The North Face retail stores and other online channels.

The Trailhead Application is also being highlighted as part of our geo-targeted mobile campaign through Summit Signals.
 
Will the app include a store locator or a shopping/commerce feature?
Yes, it includes a store locator that directs users to the closest The North Face retailer. It also directs users to TheNorthFace.com.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer

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