Dont Buy Our Stuf

By
Rahul Agarwal
Raunak Swarnkar

Introduction :
What is Patagonia?
American clothing company which focuses
mainly on high-end outdoor clothing, core
outdoor, surf and sport-related apparel,
equipment, footwear and accessories
Based in Ventura, California, the company
is a member of several environmental
movements and is a certified B Corp*
It was founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973.
The company initially made climbing
equipment but changed its philosophy to
focus on environmentally-sound products

The founder, Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard was an avid
mountain climber by the time he
reached high school.
Dissatisfied with his climbing tools
he taught himself to blacksmith
and began making his own
equipment.
Soon this evolved into a business
and he began selling apparel to his
fellow climbers.
Today Patagonia nears half a billion
in sales every year.
Source: Wikipedia

CASE ANALYIS:
Marketing Campaign: What they
did?
In 2011, Patagonia launched a Marketing campaign to
discourage consumers from buying their products.
Days before the Black Friday, Patagonia bought a full
page ad in The New York Times with bold print
stating: Dont Buy This Jacket, with an image of a
Patagonia fleece and information about the
importance of sustainability.

Source : Google

Marketing Campaign: Why they did

it?
Patagonia did this because to Chouinard, his businesses impact
on the community, its employees and the environment are far
more important than how much profit is brought in.
The philosophy of the company: 5 Rs
1% For the Planet Initiative
Common Threads initiative
The brand encourages people to support its environmental
eforts by signing up to The Common Threads Initiative, a
scheme set up by Patagonia that asks people to buy only what
they need, repair what breaks, and re-use or recycle everything
else.

Annual Sales Report

Before:
2009: Profit of $270 million
After:
2012: Profit of $500 million
2015: Profit of $750 million (Profits have doubled and
tripled ever since)
(Source: Forbes Magazine, Issue 12, Sept. 2014)

CRITICAL ANLYSIS:

Mission as Marketing or Cause Marketing

Mission Statement of Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no
unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement
solutions to the environmental crisis.
Sure, every company wants to make the world a better place. But
in January 2012, the company became a certified benefit
corporationor B Corptaking that goal to make the world a
better place beyond rhetoric and making it an official mandate.
It also established a $20 million internal venture fund to invest in
social and environmentally-responsible start-ups.
This mission, to is a powerful marketing strategy, because people
will prefer a product over another, when they think they can help

Critical Analysis
THE BRAND IS THE STORY: THE ART OF STORYTELLING
Patagonia works hard at being the premier tree-hugging apparel
company in the world and not just a marketer selling fleece to the
active affluent in Soho. It helped create a national park, its supply
chain boasts fair trade certified wages, organic cotton, traceable
down, and responsibly sourced merino wool. It's an
environmentally-conscious shopper's dream come true.
So, the company is not just selling products, it is also selling a
powerful story of social cause and environmental well-being.

The brand encourages people to

support its environmental eforts by
signing up to The Common
Threads Initiative, a scheme set
up by Patagonia that asks people to
buy only what they need, repair
what breaks, and re-use or recycle
everything else.

Another Initiative: The Patagonia Repair Truck

Fix it & Its Yours!

Takeaways: What we can learn from

this?
Patagonia remains a great example of the positive power of
corporations to do good when business leadersconsider
values like environmentalism along with profits.
Patagonias efort to prove that a company can generate
strong sales and be a champion of social responsibility is an
instructive tale for other brands.
Great brands are created through consumers and passion
conversation, or word-of-mouth. Brands cant talk about
how great they are, they need consumers to talk about how
great a brand makes them. Dont buy this jacketdid
exactly that.

Any Questions?