Yvon Chouinard Gave Away Patagonia While Redefining Purpose Marketing

Patagonia’s Founder, Yvon Chouinard, gave away his company to a single shareholder - earth.

The $3B company transferred ownership to the environmental nonprofit The Holdfast Collective and the Patagonia Purpose Trust.

The Patagonia Purpose Trust owns all of the voting stock.

The Holdfast Collective owns the remaining 98% of nonvoting stock.

Why?

Patagonia will continue to be a for-profit business, but after reinvesting into the business - every other dollar will be given to the Holdfast Collective to help the climate crisis.

This is an estimated $100M a year.

This initiative also led to substantial growth:

This Initiative Backs Its Mission Statement, Existence, and Core Values:

Patagonia Redefines Purpose Marketing

Patagonia takes this and replaces Performance Marketing with Purpose Marketing.

Performance Marketing chases metric.

Purpose Marketing builds/creates movements.

Patagonia fuels its "Purpose Marketing” like this:

The Ingredients That Make Us Fall In Love With Patagonia

We're going to cover five parts that I believe helped Patagonia create super fans.

1. Consistent Voice

Patagonia’s mission and values serve as the base of its voice.

That’s one that communicates the purpose over the product.

2. Find The Common Enemy

To build an army, you need an enemy.

Patagonia creates enemies that support its mission and matches its voice.

I imagine it like a game of Red Rover. Your team locks hands, braces, and collectively holds tight as the enemy (opposing team) tries to break through.

The stronger the bond, the stronger the army.

3. Lead With Action

Any brand can have a purpose.

The brands that create raving fans are the ones that put action behind the purpose and consistently amplify it.

Say it. Show it. Scale it.

Patagonia does just that:

4. Affinity Drives Advocacy

Brand affinity is built on values and driven by advocacy.

Long-form content is the bridge between the two.

Patagonia creates films to amplify the story and scale the awareness behind the purpose.

The goal of this content isn’t to sell more products - it’s to improve the sentiment and perception of Patagonia.

5. Accountability

Nothing is more important than Patagonia keeping Patagonia accountable.

Which is how this all ties in.

The latest initiative by Yvon Chouinard is the ultimate accountability.

It brings the mission and values to life.