Marketing Behind Patagonia’s Vote the A**holes Out
Patagonia’s ‘Vote the A**holes Out’ Tags
This year Patagonia printed the label “Vote the A**holes Out” on the shorts of the “Regenerative Organic” series. The spokesperson said, “because we have been standing up to climate deniers for almost as long as we’ve been making these shorts.” This label attracted countless people to watch, and the comments received were generally positive. Patagonia’s creative marketing moves made these shorts sold out.
Marketing POV with Patagonia
Patagonia shows the meaning of brand goal-oriented. For a long time, people’s environmental awareness has continued to increase, and the company has further committed to environmental protection actions. One year ago, they changed their mission from “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis” to “Patagonia is in business to save our home planet.” The new mission statement puts more emphasis on “Why” instead of “What.” Companies that are marketing around “What” adopt the push market strategy to attract consumers with price, quality, and products. For example, Nokia promotes its products through retailers and promotes product sales and profits through subsidies. While companies that focus on “Why” use a pull marketing strategy to attract customers. For instance, Apple responded to people’s demand for photography on Instagram and established the hashtag #shotoniphone to attract customers to take the initiative to learn more about the product and further interact with the brand. Returning to the theme of Patagonia, it further emphasized the importance of the environment this time. The unfavorable bill and the opposition of the parliamentarians attracted many outdoor sports enthusiasts and environmentally-conscious people to learn more about their brand and make purchases. And those wearing Patagonia also have the same social labels that pursue quality, durability, and innovation, so they find a sense of identity on Patagonia. In this marketing campaign, it is not difficult to see Patagonia’s brand image construction and persistence.
Storytelling
Patagonia establishes a stronger brand identity in storytelling. They believe that only an unconventional business can make a difference. Therefore, Patagonia has moved from advocating for the destruction of underused dams to “Fight for America’s Public Lands” in recent years. Patagonia is trying to convey its story to the audience in different ways, and this kind of story often connects people and the company better. In other words, organizations and consumers are no longer sellers and buyers but partners in a movement. The side touching the two is the sense of identity in storytelling. Analyzed from the perspective of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people’s purchase motivation has also changed from the original basic physical need to love and belongingness need or even self-actualization need. In the process of creating the story, Patagonia aroused more of the resonance of the target audience, making them feel that they can find themselves in this brand and support the brand through consumption, and then think that it is the environment that they and Patagonia pay attention to together. Simultaneously, the company has gained sufficient exposure in such PR Activity, allowing more people to join this movement. Good marketing allows the company to achieve profitable growth and has given more social significance and multiple benefits.
Conclusion
No matter Patagonia or Apple, all brands are seeking their position in the market. It is not so easy to be the special one among countless brands. Organizations need to use deep-rooted narrative methods with eye-catching actions plus a sufficiently innovative idea to expand the brand step by step. Marketing is an art :)
