North Face's hilarious response to woman’s waterproof jacket complaint during New Zealand hike

After complaining about her North Face jacket that soaked right through during a New Zealand hike despite being “waterproof”, a woman has teamed up with the brand for a hilarious marketing ploy. 

Taking to TikTok last month, Texas woman Jennifer Jensen explained she was hiking in Aotearoa for her 30th birthday and purchased a black waterproof rain jacket from outdoor clothing brand North Face with DryVent fabric as heavy rain was predicted during the time of her hike. 

Unfortunately, once the rain started coming down, she realised her jacket wasn’t waterproof at all, “I’ve got a bone to pick with North Face,” she started the video, explaining she purchased the jacket a few days ago specifically for its waterproof ability, “well listen, I’m 100 per cent sure that it’s raining outside and I’m soaking wet.” 

Stopping to show off the “pretty” New Zealand scenery, she continued to say she doesn’t want a refund but instead of the brand to “redesign this raincoat to make it waterproof and express deliver it up to the top of Hooker Valley Lake in New Zealand where I will be waiting”. 

The video quickly went viral earning over 11.6 million views and thousands of comments with one person noting the outdoor clothing brand’s silence, “North Face has left the conversation.” 

However, their silence has now been met with an extraordinary marketing video involving a helicopter, a replacement jacket and Jensen herself. 

Replying to the person’s comment, the brand posted a video to their TikTok page showing a worker grabbing a red jacket from what looks to be their Queenstown store before getting in a helicopter and meeting Jensen to deliver the new, non-faulty jacket. 

Captioning the post, “We were busy express delivering @Jenn her jacket at the top of mountain. Thanks for the help Jossi!” they earned over four million views and thousands of comments including one from a very happy Jensen, “You guys definitely came through for me. We’ll give the new jacket a shot on my next rainy day hike,” she said. 

Other comments included, “Well done marketing team, perfect response,” with another adding, “They saw an opportunity and absolutely smashed it.” 

A third said, “This is customer service.” 

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.