Brand Personality Analysis: Patagonia

Introduction

Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and gear company whose core values revolve around environmental sustainability and protection. It crafts high-quality, long-lasting products not only to serve the customer but also to keep waste out of landfills. Patagonia’s cohesive, well-developed personality is a key factor in the company’s success and brand loyalty. Even among other outdoor clothing and gear companies such as North Face and Marmot — Patagonia stands out in the digital space. Its all-in approach to environmental activism and protection resonates strongly with its supporters, which is evidenced by noticeably higher engagement from social media followers than other similar companies with similar follower counts.

Brand Personality

Patagonia is a free-spirited activist with an immense passion for protecting our planet while also enjoying what it has to offer. They’re thoughtful and considerate, and also very observant of social issues. Patagonia’s friends love spending time outdoors with them and appreciate their commitment to social and environmental justice. Sometimes they struggle to keep up because Patagonia is always moving forward.

Patagonia is the friend who’s always planning outdoor activities and fun new adventures for their social circle. They love dragging people out of their comfort zones and showing them what all the great outdoors has to offer, even if Patagonia has to go out of their way to do so.

This is a person who has found their inner equilibrium and doesn’t seek the constant stimulation from technology and social media that so many have become addicted to. Patagonia feels most at ease under the stars. They believe that we’ve strayed too far from nature, and do all they can to help their friends maintain that bond.

If there’s one thing that gets Patagonia riled up, it’s transgressions against the environment. They are a very conscious individual and rarely do things without considering how their actions will affect the world around them. Reusable grocery bags are just the tip of the iceberg for Patagonia, as their life revolves around an aspiration to always be a more environmentally friendly global citizen. Thankfully, Patagonia’s friends share similar perspectives and are inspired by their friend’s activist mindset.

Whether it’s creating or reposting educational content, fighting against harmful corporate regulations (or a lack thereof), protesting and creating petitions, or simply informing those in their immediate vicinity — protecting the Earth from environmental damage is Patagonia’s utmost priority.

Analysis

Patagonia is a unique case when it comes to brand personality. Everything that it does and promotes circles back to its mission of causing no unnecessary harm to the planet. This is an all-encompassing theme when taking a look at its business practices. From manufacturing durable and recyclable clothes, to relentless activism on social media — Patagonia is the breath of fresh air in a sea of corporate smog.

Patagonia’s brand personality is effective because it’s a reflection of what its consumers want. Folk who are engaged with the outdoors aren’t fond of the big corporations that are destroying it. Patagonia’s open awareness of social and environmental issues and its commitment to addressing such issues head-on is a major factor in its likeability. This distances it from many other manufacturing organizations, and makes it seem more authentic — more human.

Patagonia’s honesty and unabashed commitment to environmental and social justice are vital to its credibility. It’s sincerely dedicated to acting in accordance with its values, even if this means making less-than-desirable decisions or not operating with the most economically prosperous business model it can.

One doesn’t need to look hard to see that Patagonia isn’t in existence to monopolize the outdoor clothing and gear business, but rather to sell the individual durable and long-lasting products so that they don’t have to buy more. In fact, the company and founder have gone on record multiple times stating things like “if you don’t need it, don’t buy it”, and “don’t buy our products, repair old ones,” (Kim).

Patagonia’s straightforward messaging and cohesive, well-developed personality are key aspects of its success. It’s accessible. The company doesn’t shroud its messaging with complex or vague jargon, and doesn’t make statements that it isn’t prepared to back up. Because of this, its word holds significantly more weight among individuals who are in-tune with its mission.

Conclusion

For communicators looking to develop their organization’s brand personality — Patagonia is an exemplar. Brand personalities are a highly effective means of establishing relationships with various publics. Through developing a persona, a brand is able to present itself as a composite of its traits, values, intentions, and much more. Individuals are able to become more familiar with a brand through seeing or interacting with its persona and for people that resonate with those attributes, this establishes brand loyalty.

Patagonia has a well-constructed brand personality and uses many strategies to set itself apart from competitors; an important one of these is tone. A brand’s personality should invoke feelings and concepts that reinforce its image or values. The tone of a brand’s messaging is vastly important in facilitating a connection between itself and its publics. Patagonia does this by conveying a sense of humanity, authenticity, and accountability — concepts that resonate with its consumers.

Working in tandem with tone, another important aspect of brand personality is its ability to be a vehicle for a brand’s message. How a brand presents itself has strong implications for its overall messages, values, or ideals. A cohesive brand personality should give consumers an idea of what the brand represents and conjure a connection to those ideals. For example, an herbal supplements brand that wishes to convey concepts related to tranquility and healing may design media posts that have calming imagery and utilize jargon within that lexicon. In Patagonia’s case, its unique brand personality is a direct reflection of its inability to be confined by convention. Patagonia’s bold commitment to the ideals it believes in isn’t something that’s easily discoverable in today’s corporate landscape, and Patagonia’s ability to pull it off is a huge reason behind its healthy brand engagement on social media.

Through establishing the values that your brand envelops and implementing that into a persona, some consumers are likely to form an emotional attachment to a brand and utilize it as a form of self expression. Oftentimes people surround themselves with objects and items that reflect what they stand for or care about. A brand with a well-developed personality is far more likely to be represented by those who resonate with its ideals than another company in the same arena that is less unique or engaging.

Together, these strategies of employing a brand personality can make the difference between connecting with publics and losing their interest. Social media is an invaluable tool for communicators and marketers seeking to boost brand engagement or awareness and crafting a unique brand personality that is reflective of your brand’s values, ideals, intentions, and goals is one of the most effective ways to do that.

Works

Kim, Eun. “Patagonia Founder to Shoppers: Don't Buy Clothes You Don't Need (Even Mine).”
TODAY.com, 21 Apr. 2015,
www.today.com/news/patagonia-founder-refuse-buy-his-products-if-you-
dont-need-t16491.

Roth, Sammy. The Story behind That Patagonia Tag, and How the Trump Era Changed Outdoor
Recreation. 19 Sept. 2020,
www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-09-19/patagonia-vote-tag-trump-climate-
outdoors-industry.

https://twitter.com/patagonia

https://www.facebook.com/PATAGONIA/