What a Nonprofit Can Learn From Patagonia’s Brand
Innovative clothing brands engage with their customers by talking about their impact. Nonprofits should do the same.
Are you familiar with Patagonia’s brand?
The clothing brand caters to lovers of the outdoors. But more importantly, it caters to lovers of the environment. This is a screenshot of their homepage.
When you first land on any website, the first thing that you see is an area referred to as “above the fold”. This is basically any information or images that you initially see without having to scroll. This is valuable real estate because you are always fighting for your audience’s attention. Anything that distracts from your main ask or call-to-action could be costly.
But take a look at what’s above the fold for Patagonia. It’s not a product. It’s not an item. It’s not a sale. They choose to focus on their cause.
This has been a recurring theme within their company.
The founder of the company, Yvon Chouinard — an avid rock climber and advocate for the environment — found himself in an interesting predicament when it came to scaling their business. He knew that it was hard to manufacture clothing without harming the environment. So, the company looked for a new way to create clothing, sourcing natural and recycled products. They even went as far as to encourage their patrons not to buy their products in order to reduce consumption.
They famously used this ad:
But what happened? Their sales went through the roof.
Patrons of the brand were falling in love with what Patagonia stood for, and supported the company because of their values. Wearing their products essentially became a badge of honor for people — a declaration to the world that they care about what Patagonia cared about: the environment.
So what does Patagonia’s brand mean for my nonprofit?
