Introduction Patagonia, Inc. is a Ventura, California-based clothing company, focusing mainly on outdoor clothing while incorporating the aspect of sustainability. Their logo incorporates a stylized version of mountain Monte Fitz Roy and is easily recognizable to the consumer. Currently the brand is shadowing behind its competitors due to lack of advertising, a skewed target market, and highly priced products. This IMC campaign intends to raise awareness about sustainably produced goods and establish a sense of brand loyalty.
Background
Internal Factors
“Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” Patagonia's unique mission statement shows what they stand for and proves to competitors that their products will always be of the highest quality and manufactured without harming the environment, which is very important to the target market that the brand sells to. With a mission statement this bold, consumers know that they are buying products from a company that cares, which is rare to find because how competitive the market is. What propelled Patagonia into the limelight as a premier outdoor clothing brand was its high quality and sustainably produced line of products. Patagonia was the leading company to pave the way in waste reduction. Patagonia's iconic design and high tech materials allowed for the brand to gain significant market share amongst consumers.
Being a member company
PacSun, or more formally Pacific Sunwear, has been on a mission to “bring the beach to the people” for more than 36 years. Opening their first location in 1980, the company now runs more than 609 stores across the United States and Puerto Rico. Selling an array of casual apparel, accessories and footwear, the store’s products continue to be popular with teens and young adults. Read on to find out more about the retail chain, and check back soon for part two of this list.
TenTree has created a product with the positioning to give customers clothing options that are environmentally and socially responsible. They promise to plant ten trees for every item purchased and only use factories that are approved by WRAP. (TenTree, n.d.) They also have a large selection of t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, tanks, hats, and toques, in a variety of different colours and sizes. (TenTree, n.d.) Satisfying the customer wants for a wide variety of socially and environmentally responsible clothing has created functional-instrumental value for their customers.
Urban Outfitters, often referring to itself as simply ‘UO’, is the corporate entity that includes retail chains Urban Outfitters, Anthropolgie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN, has became the greatest global retailer in the world. Back in the beginning, the first Urban Outfitter store was opened on a street nearby Pennsylvania University in 1970 by Dick Hayne and Scott Belair, both are the company’s chief executive officers (CEO). The first store’s name was Free People and it sold furniture, second-hand clothing, accessories, and decorative items. The store’s target market was young people, especially college students and it continues to dominate this market segment.
The North Face has a marketing strategy that enables the company to focus on the athlete, the potential of the athlete, and the athlete using The North Face gear for performance. In comparison, Patagonia focuses on the clothing in which they produce and sell, rather than the company's model. Patagonia places emphasis on fabric technology in their marketing efforts and mainly depicts the clothing on company websites and catalogs. Therefore, this is an area in which both Patagonia and The North Face can improve in order to increase product communication towards target consumers. Both Patagonia and The North Face have exceptional product technologies, which they can use to market their brand and inspire consumers to explore the possibilities of their products. However, The North Face invests
In relation to promotions we believe an Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategy would be the best way to proceed. Through IMC the brand will be able to maintain a personality and attitude that communicates effectively with the target segment. It will also help to build a desirable ‘brand image’ and relationships with consumers and distributors. The marketing activities will be very specific. It will involve a range of communication mediums including advertising, media, public relations and sales promotion.
When I heard Mr. Chouinard’s discussion on my favorite podcast, “How I Built This”, I immediately wanted to apply for Patagonia’s PR/Communications internship. I am so impressed by the quality of clothing, and I am in awe of Patagonia’s corporate strategies and commitment to sustainability. I think one of the biggest faults in fashion for college aged students is how everything is poorly made and not meant to last. It makes young people more wasteful. I would be proud to do public relations for a company that is committed to lifetime wear and promotes repair rather than replacement.
Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra
The company motto is “Live the Dream” and they aim to fulfil their customers need and desire for comfortable clothes and equipment for travel and adventure sport. Kathmandu has described quality and performance as the key to their new design initiatives and they invest substantial resources that focuses on design, quality, technical development, merchandising and supplier management functions. They develop products that are
Patagonia’s value proposition is based on embedding environmental sustainability in every business decision it makes. Its core strategy is differentiation by focusing on durability and quality of products whilst minimising its carbon footprint and use of synthetic ingredients (what). The business model revolves around developing innovative technologies and influencing competitors and suppliers alike to adopt environmentally-friendly processes (how). Commitment to these causes while maintaining quality has allowed it to develop a loyal customer base amongst high income groups and athletes (who) and significantly increase customer’s willingness to pay.
This summer I have the honor and privilege to be able to advance God's kingdom with a mission trip to Costa Rica. I'll be going with a group of missionaries from Living Word Family Church to Siquirres Costa Rica. While there, we'll be doing street evangelism including ministering to the people and dramas for the public. The team I'm in is the Youth Team, and we'll be in Costa Rica from July 9th through the 16th.
Although their unconventional business approach can in no way be exactly measured to determine the effectiveness of it, the company succeeds at making the experience of purchasing one of their products special because the consumer knows they are getting a high quality product that was made in a environmentally friendly process. This unique positioning that Patagonia has in the outdoor apparel market, allows it to sell its products two to three times the average price of their competitors like Uniqlo. What differentiates Patagonia from its main competitors, The North Face Company and Columbia Sportswear, is that Patagonia has found and connected with a niche market that wants not only a high quality product but also a product that was made in an environmentally sustainable
In 1993, Patagonia was the first company to make plastic soda bottles into fleece, as well as other materials. As many other brands are following in their footsteps, this new technology is a new way to make an Eco-friendly material and that is durable and well made. Patagonia has changed how people view recycling. They are focused on reducing the amount of pollution in the environment. They needed 20,000 barrels of oil to make raw materials, but as they started recycling plastic bottles there was no need for that. Now, there is space in the landfills by keeping millions of bottles out, which eliminates harmful air emissions, making the environment a better place. While Patagonia strives for environmental improvements and to make their products, sustainable, there are now expanding to other fabrics. It has been over
A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a company. It may affect by the business or organization actions. Typically, the prime stakeholders are customers and employees. Patagonia is eco-friendly clothes are gaining the support of consumers and non-governmental organizations in the U.S. Since the company is a certified B Corp, they provide workers with certain benefits, the community and the environment. Patagonia outdoor clothing and gear retailer is well known for sustainability. They protect the environment and inspire social change. The company overall environmental and social performance is measured and independently verified a third party. Patagonia believes that full of practice transparency will be the ones in the future rewarded
The company added perishables to its inventory—a necessity in slow economic times—and cut back on discretionary items such as clothing and home accessories. Target’s marketing message remains focused on offering consumers high style and unique brand names but emphasizes value more, using phrases such as “fresh for less” and “new way to save.” (Kotler, 2011) Target’s IMC strategy has a positive brand image by contributing significantly to surrounding communities. The company donates 5 percent of its annual income, or more than $3 million a week, to programs that focus on education, the arts, social service, and volunteerism. Target donated more than 16 million pounds of food in 2008 to Feed America, the nation’s food bank network. Target also sponsors discounted or free days at art museums around the country, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. (Kotler, 2011) According to the Article Cross promotion of web references in print ads, stated that “IMC theory suggests that it is important to utilize multiples types of communication and media to achieve communication objectives and to build a consistent brand image and brand equity.” If many organizations give back to the community as Target did. Consumers will continue to patronize their company no matter how much their products tend to
Marketers can combine a variety of IMC tools to create brand value and avoid potential conflicts (Duncan & Everett, 1993) rather than separate practices to produce manifold messages about the same brand. However, companies can no longer be tied to a specific communication tool such as advertising. In order for consumers to get uniformity message and brand information, Reid (2005) states that marketers should fully apply IMC to capture audiences’ attention and convince them to have high perception of product and brand.