Premium outerwear brand Canada Goose recently released a short video on its social media channels, editing together awe-inspiring scenes from nature with people engaging in activities in unique and dangerous environments: tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, kayakers in rapids, and people gliding down from mountain peaks.

The video is part of the brand's new marketing platform, "Natural Intelligence," reflecting the brand's intention to return to a narrative centered on the external world. According to Victoria Freeman, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at Canada Goose, "Natural Intelligence" launched earlier this month, just after the summer solstice, coinciding with the peak of the natural calendar.

"We wanted to retell the story and rebuild a connection with the real world," Freeman said. "At the core of our entire brand is facilitating exploration and helping people thrive in the natural world."

Behind the new brand platform is a sentiment that consumers increasingly feel disconnected from nature. The brand cites a report released by Destination British Columbia in September 2025, which found that 46% of people believe there is a "nature deficit" in the media and culture they consume. The survey of 2,000 American adults also noted that while Gen Z yearns to escape screens, they spend less time in nature than Gen X did at the same age.

"We want to be advocates for 'breaking free and heading towards natural freedom,'" Freeman said.

Canada Goose's long-standing marketing platform, "Live in the Open," revolved around a sense of freedom and connection with the outside world, Freeman said. The new message builds on this, attempting to delve deeper into the meaning behind the concept of "Natural Intelligence."

"Natural intelligence is being in a place where no one else is, yet being fully present," a voiceover says over footage of a person descending a volcano. "Natural intelligence is the most primitive operating system," the voiceover continues rapidly. "Natural intelligence is sensing the change of seasons before the calendar agrees. Natural intelligence is reading clouds like subtitles. Natural intelligence is knowing that the best stories don't expire. Natural intelligence is being attached to nothing, yet connected to everything."

Bringing the luxury of the outdoors to consumers

Reconnecting with nature is neither a new concept in marketing nor a unique practice. But Freeman points out that the natural world is not a luxury accessible to everyone, and the digital world often pulls people away from it.

"(The platform) aims to capture the edges and wonders of the natural world and bring these new storylines to consumers and our audience," the executive said.

Canada Goose began rolling out digital storytelling content on its social media channels this month. The platform will run through the end of the year and likely extend into 2027. Summer promotional content primarily showcases diverse global terrains, while fall and winter versions will focus on people's activities within winter elements.

These stories will be published on Instagram and TikTok, covering global events and locations where nature serves as "a source of knowledge," Freeman said. Consumers will also get a glimpse into the lives and work of experts in various fields who interact with external environments that are often inaccessible or overlooked. Invited experts include a mushroom biologist, a storm chaser, and a firefly researcher, who will provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on the science and rhythms of the natural world.

"If you truly listen to the atmosphere, it will tell you when change is coming," storm chaser Paige Vincent said in a recent brand Instagram post, accompanied by her stunning footage of a tornado.

"(These are) niche areas of natural phenomena we hadn't thought of, and we're bringing them to the surface," Freeman said.

Creating more expeditions and offline activities

The origins of the new platform can be traced back several years. In 2024, to launch the Snow Goose collection designed by the brand's first creative director, Haider Ackermann, the brand showcased footage of him and a small group trekking through the remote, snowy, and mountainous landscapes of Iceland.

"That content absolutely blew up on our digital channels," Freeman said.

To continue sharing such experiences, but in a more accessible and regional way, the company began taking small groups to interesting locations to tell more stories on digital channels, Freeman said.

One of these excursions was to Haida Gwaii—an archipelago off the north coast of British Columbia, Canada, deeply influenced by the "power and fury of the Pacific," Freeman said. Content related to this trip began posting on July 24.

The brand also hosted an offline event in June to celebrate the summer solstice ritual of Acqua di San Giovanni in Tuscany, Italy. In this ritual, wildflowers are soaked in water and left outdoors overnight to create a mixture with cleansing, healing, and nourishing properties.

"That's a complete ritual in Italy that few people mention," Freeman said, "but it contains amazing wisdom."

The brand is also compiling a list of creators considered "field experts" across digital platforms like Instagram and TikTok, to post tributes and recognition of these creators' "Natural Intelligence" clips in their comment sections, Freeman said. The idea is to execute a more grassroots, guerrilla-style marketing approach.

Blending lifestyle with the external world

Before the new platform launched, the brand's spring advertising campaign centered on celebrating the return of the sun—a significant event for northern communities that endure months without sunlight. Canada Goose sent a group of people wearing the brand's apparel to Svalbard, Norway, to participate in its annual festival welcoming the sun's return, after over 100 days of darkness.

According to a company email statement, this campaign has been the brand's best-performing content of 2026 to date in terms of organic reach and engagement.

"That was a very grassroots, experiential campaign," Freeman said, "but it also had fashion advertising elements, incorporating the visual imagery of the sun's return."

The success of this campaign made the brand realize there is potential in the textures of the natural calendar and events occurring in the natural world, Freeman said.

About a decade ago, Canada Goose still had a cold, polar image, Freeman said. Over the past five years, the brand has evolved by testing the waters in fashion and luxury. Now, the brand is trying to merge these two images—reconnecting with the external world and developing into an all-season lifestyle brand.

"It's a natural process of growth and change, moving from a single-season, very specific product offering to a more lifestyle-oriented, more localized brand," Freeman said.

The goal is to remind consumers of the brand's origins.

"We were born in the North, but we are a brand for all natural places globally," Freeman said. "From a sales perspective, we hope this love and connection to our identity translates into business growth."