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The North Face
Case Study
About The North Face
Since 1966, The North Face has been the definitive outfitter for explorers and adventurers worldwide. Beyond providing premium gear for backpacking, expeditions, and outdoor pursuits, the brand has consistently pushed boundaries in both performance and retail innovation.
Following sustained growth at its Regent Street location in London, The North Face seized the opportunity to reimagine its retail presence, expanding its flagship store by 33% to create a 10,000 sq ft immersive space across two floors.
Objective
Mood Media was tasked with transforming a prime retail location into an escape from London’s urban bustle. The store needed to become an environment that would inspire exploration and adventure.
Solutions
Through strategic collaboration, Mood Media and The North Face developed an innovative retail environment that seamlessly integrates digital technology with tactile experiences. The result is a pioneering space that engages all senses and redefines experiential retail.
Let’s take a look at the highlights…
The Dome Tent
At the heart of the store sits a technological marvel — a custom-engineered 360-degree projection dome that serves as an immersive basecamp. This installation, only the second of its kind worldwide, transforms a The North Face tent into an extraordinary digital canvas.
Five synchronized Optoma projectors utilizing advanced Vioso projection technology create an immersive experience through AI-generated content that flows through day-to-night transitions and seasonal changes. The 30-minute visual journey, enhanced by nature soundscapes and custom scenting, transports visitors from the city streets to remote wilderness locations.
Sensory Innovation Through the Power of Scent
The store’s olfactory experience centers around “White Pepperwood” — a custom-developed fragrance that enhances the immersive journey. This sophisticated scent profile combines top notes of Green Citrus and Bergamot to capture the freshness of outdoor air, middle notes of Lily and Rose for natural warmth, and base notes of Cedarwood, Patchouli, Musk, and Amber to ground the experience in earthen elements.
Dynamic Visual Storytelling via LED Wall
The outdoors zone features a striking 12.75-square-meter LED wall that serves as a dynamic canvas for brand storytelling. With high-precision 2.5-pixel pitch display technology, the wall delivers sharp, vivid imagery that complements the store’s atmosphere. The content seamlessly blends brand narrative with product storytelling, creating an engaging visual experience that draws visitors through the space.
Sustainability Corner
The North Face’s commitment to exploration comes to life in the store’s dedicated sustainability corner. Moving beyond mere display, this area celebrates the brand’s dedication to environmental stewardship through dynamic digital content. The corner’s displays mirror the textures and colors of nature while educating visitors about The North Face’s initiatives in recyclable product design and wilderness preservation. Interactive elements encourage customers to engage with the brand’s reuse, refill, and repair programs, making sustainability tangible and actionable.
Audio Innovation: Soundtrack for Adventure
The North Face’s carefully curated playlists blend genres traditionally associated with nature-based activities — indie rock and energetic electronic music — with metropolitan styles like nu-soul, nu-funk, and contemporary forward-thinking pop. A sophisticated peak and off-peak playlist structure ensures the energy matches the store’s rhythm throughout the day. This immersive soundscape, delivered through a comprehensive Q-SYS audio and control system, creates a cohesive atmosphere that extends across all The North Face EMEA stores.
"For us the store is a place for curiosity and exploration,” said Cerletti. “We want the consumer to be transported into the outdoors when entering our store; that’s why we have worked on the five senses, and this is key for an immersive experience that can inspire our customer to go outside and explore.”
– Martina Cerletti, Retail Marketing Director for The North Face EMEA
Results
The reimagined Regent Street store has created something extraordinary in London’s retail landscape. The location offers exclusive The North Face Regent Street branded apparel, providing a compelling reason for brand enthusiasts to visit. However, the true success lies in the store’s transformation into an innovative retail destination that celebrates both natural and urban landscapes.
Rim Posthumus, Global Account Management Director of Mood Media, oversaw the project with the wider Mood Media and The North Face team. He notes, “This truly is a project to be proud of. So many other brands would use the center of the store as a sales opportunity, but The North Face has dedicated it to being a fully immersive space. The attention to detail is incredible.”
The store’s impact extends beyond traditional retail metrics. The innovative approach has shown remarkable results in customer engagement, with the immersive elements significantly increasing dwell time and repeat visits. The combination of cutting-edge technology and thoughtful design has created a space that resonates with both outdoor enthusiasts and urban explorers, proving that experiential retail can successfully bridge the gap between product showcase and brand storytelling.
Through a carefully curated combination of sights, scents, and sounds — blended with the tactile experience of shopping for The North Face’s premium gear — the Regent Street location has established itself as a landmark of innovative retail design. It stands as a testament to how physical retail spaces can evolve to meet changing consumer expectations while staying true to brand heritage and values.
Experience this groundbreaking retail environment for yourself at 290 Regent Street, London, where The North Face’s spirit of exploration comes alive in the heart of the city.
Featured Stories
The North Face ‘reimagines’ Regent St flagship with tech additions
Expect experiential retail to be a key driver to draw consumers in-store this year. And at the forefront is US outdoor brand The North Face which has embraced artificial intelligence (AI) to introduce “transformational… breakthrough projection technology” in London at its Regent Street flagship store.
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Mood Media erects projection dome tent at The North Face
A bespoke dome tent featuring 360° projections, sound and scent has been installed at a flagship The North Face store by Mood Media. The “AI-powered visual and sensory oasis” which offers “a true basecamp vibe” forms part of a Regent Street, London store which has expanded in size by 33% to 10,000 sq feet (929 sq metres).
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The North Face teams with Mood Media on immersive basecamp experience
The North Face has partnered with Mood Media to create an immersive basecamp experience in London that combines AI-generated content with projection technology. The transformation of the outdoor retailer’s Regent Street flagship store in London demonstrates the future of experiential retail, according to a press release. The expanded 10,000-square-foot store features a first-of-its-kind 360-degree projection dome that creates an immersive basecamp experience within the retail environment.
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The North Face Appeals to All 5 Senses to Bring the Outdoors into its London Flagship
Want to enjoy the outdoors without, you know, actually going outside? Then the recently opened London flagship of The North Face is the place for you. The retailer, working with Mood Media, has created an experiential retail location equipped with a large-scale LED visual wall displaying curated content, carefully chosen music and even a custom fragrance, White Pepperwood, carrying the scent of the outdoors through the air.
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EXCLUSIVE: The North Face deploys immersive tech in London flagship
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Martina Cerletti, retail marketing director, The North Face EMEA (Europe/Middle East/Africa), about how the outdoor apparel and gear retailer revamped the London store space to go beyond traditional shopping in partnership with in-store experiential media provider Mood Media to provide an integrated space that combines realistic virtual simulations of nature with the physical shopping environment.
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