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Matt M
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 6, 2003 - 03:59pm PT
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I was going through my bookcase the other day and found my coffee table "Absolut" book. Man that thigns is cool - Lots of great picts and history. Anyway, I was thinking it would be cool if Patagonia had a collection too. Their commited to the core ads are some of my fav (most suck - either marketed to 13 years olds or just plain dumb)
Personal Favs (That I an remember)
1) "Picking on the Fat Kid" Killer shot of some guy in a sick looking Sandstone Offwidth
2) "Alpine Royalty" Fred Becky chillin in a Chineese thone.
3) That shot of Dean Potter's back all cut up and Road Rashed - wish I had days like that more often
anyone else?
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Mike
climber
Orange County CA
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Hey Matt,
I had seen the book you mention; it's a great showcase of one of the longest running and most popular campaigns ever. I'm pretty sure it was all Chiat/Day work (correct me if I'm wrong). It makes sense that it was a heavy-hitting, global agency because the work was so damn original, smart and memorable - far more a showcase of global culture than it is anything to do with a distilled beverage. One would think that for the kind of dough that gets spent on that caliber of project that the result should be monumental(!)
I was thinking about Patagonia ads...aside from one that you mentioned and the one where Bridwell is getting a haircut, I can't summon up anything very moving. (A notable sidebar being the Patagucci shirts that someone got slapped a cease and desist order for producing...) I'm not sure who is involved in their creative work, but I surmise it's in large part or wholly produced in-house.
In any case, it's a tall order to imagine any creative body of work from the climbing industry that deserves the recognition of the really great campaigns past and present. The sad phenomenon is, by and large (note this caveat), that the hard core climbing industry's status quo is substandard creative work. There are a few standouts that realize creativity is a business tool rather than superfluous adornment subject to jettison at the first sign of falling revenue, and Patagonia is certainly one of them.
As someone who serves this industry as a portion of his total clientele, I've spent more than requisite time pondering the why of it all. With many facets to my overall theory, I've come to one extremely ironic conclusion: These companies are compelled to tread the most well-worn marketing communications path possible. They're basically afraid. Afraid of what their bosses and investors will think/say/do; afraid of what other captains of the industry will think/say/do; afraid to look away from the perpetual cycle of mediocre work and vest vision in creative professionals instead of board members, advertisers and corporate partners.
Oddly, for this very same reason, climbers keep stacking up on Dinner Ledge, the NWFofHD and the same 10% of El Cap routes year after year. These routes aren't proportionately that much better or easier than the majority (yes, many are uniquely classic, and some are fixed to the hilt) - they simply get mobbed by people looking for fat belay anchors, minimal loose rock and generally being gregarious as humans tend to be. We can disperse our impact (and, wow, have a little more fun and adventure) if we forget about what has and is being done. In short, throw some creativity and bravado in the mix and get paid back handsomely. Then go to the bar and socialize with our fellow vermin.
Nice post, Matt. Keep thinking, bro!
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Matt M
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 7, 2003 - 12:30am PT
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Some great thoughts there - Hoping to continue...
Chiat / Day is certainly one of my favorite (I'm a Mac-aholic, own 3 of them, work on two others for my film / vid job) Simple and classy tends to be what I consider effective. The VW adds are another example - I still remeber the "Stinky Chair" Ad. The patagonia are fairly good and DMM does a nice, simple job with theirs as well. Gear as sculpture is what I would call it. Anyway, I saw an interesting discussion RE: the new red chillis ad. Attractive model type woman in eve dress and grunge-model climber in dark hallway - Looked like something you'd see in the back of The New York Times Magazine. People were up in arms over it - Everything from - "What were they thinking?" to "Glad to see SOMETHING different." Red Chillis at least tried to go way outside the box and hit a style that climbers don't eften see - Channel style ads.. I think climbers are a hard group to nail down, ad target wise because as a whole we're EXTREMELY diverse (good thing for the most part) Everything from old-school "everyone today is soft", to beatnick, hippie climbers, to boulderers, to Speed Climbing junkies, to those that will never venture outside the gym. (I consider myself a Jock / Nerd climber - a Div I track and field background means I love ticking #'s, keeping CTC times and the pure physicality of climbing. I also know WAY too much about gear for my own good and have read or own a ridiculous amount of literature on the subject.) How do you market to me and the climbers who call Olde E their favorite flavor of Gatorade? Very tough... What about the people who have no idea who RR is or know how to body repel (and have) Certain products would be damn tough and maybe that is why boring and bland has remained the status quo - Perhaps crossing genres (gasp!) of climbing is more adventurous than many are willing or able to be. Think of the possibilities though - Petzl has an add for their ascenders where Alan steck is showing David Graham how to jug so he can go free the nose - or Chris Sharma giving Tom Frost a Spot on some Boulder problem in Camp 4! Maybe that would just turn everyone off or is just plain contrived- I don't know, but it would sure be a good case of "Think Different" As Chiat/Day stated so well....
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John O'Connor
Boulder climber
Fort Fun
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I think this is a pataguchi ad:
Jim Bridwell is getting his hair cut or dyed by his wife. The faces are hilarious, the wife is giggling and Bridwell looks real pissed. I like the new one where the guy is helping the old lady across the glacier.
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drb1215
Trad climber
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Patagonia has had some great pics in their ads and catalog pages. I had recently made a request to them, asking if they could add a gallery section to their website...bringing back the pics that are gone and lost to most of us...Who knows, maybe if enough people send them an email request, something will be posted.
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Mike
climber
Orange County CA
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Ten-four, Matt. The good stuff is out there, but notably infrequently in the hard core climbing industry (Columbia, TNF, Nissan, Gore, ad infinitum don't qualify as hard core). I think quite often the resourceful nature of climbers who own, manage and work at climbing companies works against excellent communications. Sure, I'm a duct tape artist too, but I wouldn't consider building my own gear. These silly Macs (desktop environments altogether) can render nearly anyone a do-it-yourselfer. Regarding the diverse clientele, I operate under the [possibly ridiculous] directive of simply doing good work (whatever the hell that really means); like, have you ever seen a corporate identity or a press release tailored to a specific demographic? As you cited in the RC ad, these strategies often alienate as much as attract (which can still be a good thing, of course). It's noteworthy that so many communications vehicles categorically never run through focus groups and some live and die by them (okay, some gigs have realistic budgets). The elusive, arbitrary monster thrives...
I tip my hat to the hard core climbing companies like Black Diamond, SuperTopo and Petzl; their respective total products are reflections of sound marketing and branding visions which generate well before any creative process.
Keep thinkin (differnt)...
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Matt M
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 7, 2003 - 01:08pm PT
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I'll be sending PAt an email - a gallery or coffee book would be great.
Thought of another one - Pict of A. Steck down in j tree sittig on a rock with HUGE, I mean Gigantic, homemade cams. Those suckers had to be 16 inches minimum.
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drb1215
Trad climber
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Here's the reply that I rec'd back from Patagonia...
Thanks for taking the time to send along your comments, I think that is a great idea. As of right now we do not have any plans to do such a thing. I will send your email down to our web team to show them this idea. Let us know if you have any further questions and have a good day!
Charles
Patagonia.com Customer Service
Send in those cards and letters!
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