RALLY’s Hot Take: Patagonia, the Monumental Protagonist
By Rachel Horning and Salman Akhtar
Patagonia nailed it. Just last week, the outdoor retailer cast a banner over their home page, featuring a provocative, all-black page with the simple message: “The President Stole Your Land.” The bottom link prompted you to “Take Action Now” where you were directed to add your name and email address to auto-tweet the President, as well as Utah Senator Orrin Hatch and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
Beneath the pointed homepage headline, Patagonia wrote, “In an illegal move, the president just reduced the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments,” the message continued. “This is the largest elimination of protected land in American History.” And this wasn’t an empty gesture. Patagonia followed up on its online campaign message with a lawsuit aimed at the Trump administration for its rollback of national monument protections.
Our national monuments offer us solace in an otherwise chaotic world, replete with natural beauty, teachable moments, and space for bonding with those you love. So here’s why the Patagonia response is so hot: Their blend of activism and content is the perfect response to what many of us feel is a personal attack on our nation’s most sacred ground. In today’s brave new world for brand activism, Patagonia did everything right.
Our RALLY Hot Take:
1. It’s okay to piss people off. Over the last 18 months, conventional wisdom about brand engagement with politics has shifted from “don’t make anyone mad,” to “do what you need to do to connect your core consumers and your values, even if that makes some other people mad.” In the past, brands tended to follow Michael Jordan’s blunt assessment of engagement on political issues: “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” In 2017, brands are running out of room on the sidelines — political questions and value judgments have seeped into almost every aspect of public life. Consumers increasingly expect the companies they buy from to take a stance on issues of the day. According to a June 2017 survey, consumers are 30% more likely than just three years ago to make a purchase decision based on a brand’s beliefs. Younger consumers especially are tying their values to their bank accounts even further: 66% of American millennials say a brand’s beliefs drive their purchasing decisions.
Patagonia took on Secretary Zinke and the Trump administration. It was a bold move that doubtless pissed off people who support the Trump and team’s disregard for public lands, but it cemented the loyalty outdoor lovers who appreciate Patagonia’s on-brand advocacy on behalf of what they hold dear.
2. Go All In. Patagonia made it hard to bypass their advocacy, requiring viewers to find their way around the campaign landing page to get their main retail site. Considering that Patagonia relies on product sales — and is a clothing retailer, not a political engine for change—this was a bold move. If visiting change.org a visitor could expect a prompt to “sign this petition” message, but visiting patagonia.com for some holiday shopping and finding an advocacy message is unexpected, and all the more powerful.
3. Be Prepared, and Act Quickly. The Patagonia public lands landing page went live almost immediately following the president’s announced decision to steal 84% of the Bears Ears National Monument and 50% of the Grand Staircase-Escalente National Monument from the American public. Had Patagonia launched the campaign absent a galvanizing action with recognizable antagonists and a clear call to action, it would have landed flat. Had they waited to launch weeks or even days after the President put public lands on the chopping block, they might have missed their opportunity. But by being prepared enough to launch within minutes, they seized the moment to make their bold, all-in statement.
The RALLY team has been watching and studying the state of brand engagement in hot issues, and we are elated to see a private retailer taking an on-brand, bold stance on an issue that has a major impact on their community of consumers. And we’re suckers for anyone willing to put their neck out for public lands and our natural environment. We’re with Ansel Adams: “Let us leave a splendid legacy for our children … let us turn to them and say, ‘This you inherit; guard it well, for it is far more precious than money, and once destroyed, nature’s beauty cannot be repurchased at any price.” And we’re with Patagonia.
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RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward.
