Trust in Patagonia
The thing that makes Patagonia’s recent move to place their company in a trust to benefit the environment such an incredibly strong branding move is that it was in no way a branding move.
This video originally appeared in LinkedIn
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TRANSCRIPT:
You guys, I am so excited to talk to you about Patagonia! I’m sure most people are aware of the move that they made last week. The founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, was a climber and he started the company because he was just making climbing equipment for himself and his friends. And then, of course, it became this amazing brand, which has just huge brand awareness, not only for the quality of their outdoor gear but also for their environmental stance.
So what happened last week, if you haven’t heard, is that the company that made him a billionaire… Yvon Chouinard is no longer a billionaire. He was thinking about passing the company to his children but they have absorbed his same values and they said no. They feel that billionaires are a failure of policy. That actually instead of using the company to create wealth for investors, they want to return what the company makes to the origin of all wealth, the earth. I could choke up! So they’ve put the company into a trust and the proceeds from the company will go to environmental causes.
And I mention this because it is such an interesting brand move to me. It’s really, the brand is ALL ABOUT its purpose. And this is taking action in living its purpose. And for me, as someone that these are my values too, I don’t want to buy anything from anyone else ever again. I don’t know if I’m going to feel that way forever, but right now I’m so hyped on the brand. I think it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens in the market. If others agree. And I’m really curious about what you guys think. How do you feel about this? Does it make you want to buy more from Patagonia? What’s going on? Let me know what you think. Thanks. Bye!
