The North Face®, the world's premier supplier of authentic, innovative and technically advanced outdoor apparel, equipment and footwear, and Polartec®, the creators of the highest performance textiles available, today announced the launch of their ‘Eco Champion’ program. The campaign, located at http://www.brickfish.com/EcoChampion, is designed to recognize passionate people improving the environment and will honor an ‘Eco Champion’ with a $15,000 donation made in their name to a chosen green cause and a $1,000 gift certificate to The North Face online store.

“The Eco Champion campaign is a celebration of those individuals who dedicate their lives to making a difference in our world,” stated Nate Simmons, Director of Marketing for Polartec. “Both Polartec and The North Face are committed to reducing their environmental impact through programs like the recycled Polartec fleece in The North Face Denali jacket, and we are thrilled to recognize others who embrace the world we live in.”

The ‘Eco Champion’ program is a two-round campaign, created and managed by social media marketing solution, Brickfish®. The program invites entrants to submit videos or blogs showcasing people who deserve special recognition for their efforts to improve the environment. Twenty-five finalists, selected by The North Face and Polartec from round one, will advance to round two. Of the twenty-five finalists, one grand prize winner will be selected by The North Face and Polartec from the top ten entries in round two, to receive a $15,000 donation made in their name to a green cause of their choice plus a $1,000 gift certificate to The North Face online store. In addition to the grand prize winner, The North Face and Polartec will also award the second and third place winners with donations made in their names.

“The health of our planet and the outdoors is an integral part of The North Face brand,” said Letitia Webster, Director of Corporate Sustainability for The North Face. “We are thrilled to partner with Polartec for the ‘Eco Champion’ campaign to offer such a powerful program in recognition of the individual contributions of committed people and to demonstrate the tremendous collective input we can all have.”

All twenty-five ‘Eco Champion’ finalists from round one will receive a new Denali jacket by The North Face. The Denali, which debuted in 1989, helped introduce the warmth and functionality of Polartec fleece to the world. A certifiable classic, the jacket has sold millions of units and can be found everywhere from Everest base camp to college campuses worldwide. This year, The North Face has switched the Polartec fleece in the Denali to a new, recycled Polartec Classic 300 fleece, which contains 87 percent recycled content. The new Denali will save the energy equivalent of approximately .83 gallons of gas and 33 pounds of carbon dioxide per jacket versus a jacket made using virgin polyester fleece.

Round one of the ‘Eco Champion’ campaign ends March 25. Round two is expected to begin April 15 and end May 13. For complete details, visit http://www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/EcoChampion.

About The North Face®

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1968. Headquartered in San Leandro, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company's products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running, and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains. For more information, please visit www.thenorthface.com.

About Polartec®

Polartec, LLC is the developer, manufacturer and marketer of Polartec® performance fabrics. Polartec® products range from lightweight wicking base layers, to insulation layers, to extreme weather protection and are utilized by the best clothing brands in the world. In addition, Polartec® fabrics are used extensively by all branches of the United States military including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Special Operations Forces. For more information, visit www.polartec.com.

About Brickfish®

Brickfish®, a leading social media advertising network, enables brand advertisers to reach their target audience on the social Web through viral marketing campaigns that engage consumers in a meaningful brand dialogue. Consumers create exciting, personalized brand-focused user-generated content (UGC) and then virally share the campaign and their content with their vast social networks via widgets, blogs, IM, email, and hundreds more. Additional campaign participants interact with the brand by creating, reviewing, sharing, voting upon, and watching brand-relevant content. All of these brand engagements are tracked with patent-pending Viral Map™ and Geo View technologies, which provide detailed data on the reach, engagement, and viral activity of each campaign across the Web and geographically. Brickfish uses an exclusive Cost Per Engagement® (CPE®) model for pricing and measuring consumer participation in online advertising campaigns. Brickfish has launched successful campaigns for some of the world’s premier brands, including Microsoft, Estée Lauder, Samsung, Kodak, Nike, Coach, Givenchy, The North Face®, Intuit, Qualcomm and more. For more information about Brickfish, visit www.brickfish.com/company.

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