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Patagonia Politics Douglas Holt Marketing, Culture

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BoBos buy Patagonia symbolism, adventure-lite and eco-lite. Contradictions (tensions) ... Perfect identity symbolism for post 'Reagan Revolution' upper-middle class ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Patagonia Politics Douglas Holt Marketing, Culture


1
Patagonia PoliticsDouglas HoltMarketing,
Culture SocietyUniversity of Oxford(with
Jill Avery)
  • Politics of Consumption
  • University of Wisconsin
  • October 2006

2
Social Mission Brands
  • Central solution for global problems?
  • Social enterprise, social entrepreneurship,
    sustainable business, CSR etc.
  • SMBs led, so much celebrated
  • Ben Jerrys, Body Shop, Stonyfield, Toms of
    Maine, Patagonia, Red
  • Mgmt books, biz mags
  • Seldom studied

3
Research Interests
  • Social Mission branding
  • How to build powerful SMBs?
  • What are political effects?
  • Extend cultural branding model
  • Authenticity from citizenship-org myths (Holt
    2002)
  • Push customer segments (Holt 2004)
  • Commercial Activism
  • Political analogy

4
  • Yvon Chouinard, iconic mountaineering innovator,
    Ventura, CA 60s-70s
  • Patagonia tech clothing -- late 70s
  • Took off in mid-80s amongst UMC
  • 300 million/year
  • Catalogue driven branding
  • 7M vs 1M print ads

5
Patagonia Social Mission
  • In business to help resolve environmental crisis
  • Introduced PCR Synchilla fleece
  • All cotton to organic, Beneficial T line
  • Greenest supply chain in the biz
  • Eco advocacy in catalogue since early 90s
  • 1 of revenue to grassroots activism
  • Left/Green politics

6
Academic literature literal consumer-citizen
model
  • Ethical Consumption (Europe)
  • Mindshare Branding (Aaker, Keller)
  • Social Identity (Bhattacharya, Sen)
  • Brand equity stems from identification with
    pro-social business policies
  • SMBs conflated with CSR

7
Patagonias SMB equity?
  • Academic
  • Brand equity from identification with
    eco-business policies
  • Popular Understandings
  • Hardcore
  • eco-activism tied to fully committed lifestyle
  • Wannabes
  • BoBos buy Patagonia symbolism, adventure-lite and
    eco-lite

8
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9
Cultural Branding Model (static)
Comm Codes
Source materials
National Ideologies
Cultural References
Populist World
Expressive Culture
Contradictions (tensions)
Brand Myth Ideological POV, via expressive
culture, which repairs contradictions
Target Identity Projects
Cultural/Political Equities
10
SMBs and Cultural Branding
  • Successful SMBs are identity brands
  • So become iconic via cultural branding mechanisms
  • Similar customer segments to commercial iconic
    brands
  • Insiders, Followers, Feeders
  • Do hypotheses hold?
  • What does this mean for political effects?

11
Method
  • Genealogy of Patagonia Brand (72-present)
  • Catalogue Yvon media coverage retail
  • Identity Interviews
  • 23 informants in Boston/Cambridge
  • Patagonia loyalist screener
  • Social network (HBS heavy)
  • 2 hour inductive lightly structured interview
  • Patagonia discussion via catalogue photos essays

12
ExtremeAdventure
13
Literate Essays
14
Wilderness Eco-Advocacy
15
Intimate in-the-wild biographies
16
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17
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18
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19
Identity myth 4 interwoven narratives
  • Dirtbag Culture ?
  • Extreme Adventure
  • Eco-Wilderness
  • Back-to-Nature Bohemian
  • Frontier Cosmopolitan
  • Classed articulation of revived Frontier.
  • Perfect identity symbolism for post Reagan
    Revolution upper-middle class
  • Stitch a tailored eco-activism to
    multidimensional identity project

20
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21
Patagonia Politics
Eco Movement Eco Wilderness
None
Extreme Adventure Dirtbag Culture None
Identity Symbolism
22
Identity Myths
  • 1 Dirtbag Myth
  • Identify with all 4 facets of Patagonia brand
  • 2 Extreme Adventure Myth
  • Very competitive-achieving articulation of
    extreme adventure dominates
  • Frontier cosmopolitan is similar
  • Ignore both bohemian and eco-activism

23
Patagonia Politics
  • Eco Movement
  • Patagonia as one player in broad movement pushing
    for sustainability
  • Leopold eco systems language restorative,
    balance, harmony
  • Eco Wilderness
  • Conserving Wilderness (Roosevelt tradition)
  • None

24
Patagonia Politics
Eco Movement Eco Wilderness
None
Michael
Extreme Adventure Dirtbag Culture None
Mark
Identity Symbolism
25
Patagonia Politics
FOLLOWERS MYTH 2
Eco Movement Eco Wilderness
None
Michael
Extreme Adventure Dirtbag Culture None
Mark
Identity Symbolism
26
Advocacy?Marginal Ideological Effects
  • Eco-Movement Insiders
  • Fellow traveler, marginal solidarity
  • Dirtbag Culture Followers
  • Patagonia plays minor pedagogical role
  • Extreme Adventure Followers
  • Dont know Patagonia as eco-activist

27
Key Gramsci x Business
  • Patagonia has built broad-based cultural
    formation around progressive business practices
  • Interpolate into radical green business customers
    who reject
  • Products for the enlightened
  • 7th Generation, Toms, Hain, etc
  • Advocacy Organizations
  • Greenpeace, Sierra Club, WWF, Friends of the
    Earth
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