How Patagonia Gained +19% YouTube Subscribers in 1 Year

Purpose of This Research

To identify the content and marketing strategy that contributed to the YouTube growth of Patagonia:

• ‍Assess key growth periods
• Identify factors behind successful growth
• Highlight applicable tactics and content opportunities

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Why Examine Patagonia For YouTube Growth Insights?

• ‍Overall Growth. Patagonia's YouTube channel has shown impressive growth, gaining over 66K new subscribers, a +19% increase in just a year. ‍
• ‍Audience Attention. Patagonia has effectively captured its audience's attention on YouTube, with 29M video views and 175K engagements from April 2022 to March 2023.‍
• ‍Content Creation. By covering a wide range of topics and thought-provoking issues, Patagonia's long-form videos on YouTube have established the brand as a trusted media outlet for their audience.‍
• ‍Paid Advertising. Patagonia invested $1.3M on various types of YouTube ads, including those focused on products, social causes, sales, promotions, and brand awareness. 

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Applying Trends & Tactics

Competitor Trends & Tactics: 

Diversify Campaign Objectives. Patagonia distributes its YouTube ad budget evenly among product, social cause, sales/promotions, and brand-focused ads.

• Application
  Implement a multifaceted YouTube ad strategy by initiating multiple campaigns with distinct objectives. These could range from targeting a younger audience through a normcore/retro campaign to running comprehensive brand campaign like the #WhatsInYourBaggies.

Emotionally Engage. Patagonia's YouTube ads establish a powerful emotional bond with its audience by employing storytelling, humour, and brand values.

• Application
  Use real people's experiences and perspectives that align with your brand's ethos to create authentic and impactful storytelling, as seen in Patagonia's North Shore Betty's inspiring journey. 

Post Cadence. Patagonia’s consistent and frequent posting helped to drive subscriber growth and engagement on YouTube.

• Application
  Maintain a consistent post cadence, sharing high-quality video content up to 26 times per month. 

Content Strategy. Patagonia's strategy highlights the importance of catering to your audience's interests, diversifying your content across multiple themes, and utilizing varying video lengths to keep viewers engaged.

• Application
  Mix up content with themes, formats, and durations. Experiment with short films (10-30 mins) and full documentaries (30+ mins). Share stories that match audience interests (i.e. core sports) and showcase brand values.

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From April 2022 to April 2023, Patagonia has gained 66K YouTube subscribers, a +19% YoY increase.

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Monthly Gained Subscribers

April 2022 - March 2023

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Patagonia saw spikes in subscriber growth in May 2022, September 2022, December 2022 and January 2023. 

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These periods of increased subscriber growth aligned with spikes in monthly engagement levels.

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Additionally, there were spikes in monthly video views during the same periods*.

*Viewership did not experience MoM growth in December 2022.

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Patagonia's increased posting cadence in May and September 2022 correlated with the growth during these months.

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Patagonia shared 121 organic videos on YouTube from April 2022 to March 2023, averaging 10 monthly uploads.

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The organic video content shared by Patagonia centers around the following 8 main themes: 

*Note that often Surfing, Climbing, Trail Running, Culture, Snow and MTB videos often carry an underlying theme of activism.

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In terms of viewership, Mountain Biking and Surfing content performed the best:

*Note that often Surfing, Climbing, Trail Running, Culture, Snow and MTB videos often carry an underlying theme of activism.

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Patagonia's video uploads are mostly between 1-10 minutes in length (59%), followed by those less than 60 seconds (22%).  

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However, videos lasting over 30 minutes garnered the highest average viewership, followed by those 10-30 minutes in length.

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In May 2022, Patagonia launched the short film “North Shore Betty”. The short film generated over 1.1M views and 28K engagements.

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Mountain Biking — Short Film

North Shore Betty is a 12-minute feature on Betty Burrell, a mountain biker who started at 45 and continues into her 70s.

• ‍Leverage Personal Stories: The video features Betty Burrell's inspiring mountain biking journey, beginning at 45 and continuing into her 70s. This personal story creates an emotional connection with viewers and allows Patagonia to showcase some of its core values, such as passion and pushing personal and social boundaries.
• ‍Highlight Inclusivity: Betty defies age and gender norms in mountain biking, proving it's for everyone. Her story, featured in Patagonia's "In Celebration of Women" playlist, promotes inclusivity and invites more people to participate in the sport and community.

Views 1.1M | Eng. 28K

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Patagonia's September 2022 film, “The Scale of Hope”, garnered over 1M views and 2K engagements.

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Climbing & Activism  — Documentary

The video highlights Molly Kawahata's climate activism, mental health journey, and alpine climbing passion.

• ‍Integrating Core Values: Patagonia's YouTube content skillfully weaves together stories about their primary sports with activism. In this video, Molly shares her love for mountaineering, her mental health journey, and her commitment to climate change activism, aligning with Patagonia's emphasis on climbing, environmental advocacy, and mental well-being. 
• ‍Intro: To captivate viewers and smoothly transition to the main feature, Patagonia often uses a 15-second intro in its documentaries (example here & here). This video's intro employs a metaphor comparing climate change combat to mountain climbing. A black screen then displays "FULL FILM STARTS NOW," signalling the film's start.

Views 1M | Eng. 2K

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In December 2022, Patagonia released a documentary exploring the life of surfing legend Gerry Lopez.

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Surfing — Documentary

In this enthralling 100-minute documentary, Gerry Lopez delves into his extraordinary life, surf journey, and influential career.

• ‍Long Form Content Strategy: Develop extended, in-depth videos (i.e., over 100-minutes) that allow for immersive storytelling and a richer viewing experience. This approach can help maintain audience engagement and inspire them to share the content. 
• ‍Special Effects: This video uses entertaining visual effects to elevate the viewers' experience and accentuate the story being shared. A prime example is at 19:40, where the lightning bolt on the surfboard lights up, and a bolt strikes across the screen in harmony with Gerry's tale of naming his company "Lightning Bolt." Integrating these special effects aims to make the video more captivating and emphasize significant moments in the narrative.

Views 1.4M | Eng. 21K

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In January 2023, Patagonia released the 12-minute short film "The High Life", which gained substantial views and engagement.

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Climbing — Short Film

The video showcases the life and experiences of Sarah, the guardian of La Charpoua, a remote mountain refuge in the Mont-Blanc massif.

• ‍Provide Context: The video delivers crucial information about the Charpoua at the start with on-screen text, showcasing 1-2 sentences for approximately 5 seconds each, accompanied by harmonious music that compliments the mountain visuals.
• ‍Vertical Bars in Title: Using vertical bars in video titles, as Patagonia does in titles such as "The High Life | The Final Season of Chamonix's Oldest Refuge" and "North Shore Betty | You're Never too Old to Send," separates different elements of the title for readability and provides context about the video's content, improving discoverability and viewer retention.

Views 785K | Eng. 14K

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From April 2022 to March 2023, Patagonia spent $1.3M on YouTube ads, averaging $105K per month. 

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Patagonia's ad spend rose in August 2022, allocating $142K to tease the full “Tribal Waters” video on their site.

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Patagonia distributes its YouTube ad budget relatively evenly among product, social cause, sales/promotions, and brand-focused ads.

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Top Product-Focused Ad Campaign

Patagonia dedicated $833K to the Fall '22 "Thank You 1985" YouTube campaign, promoting their Synchilla fleece sweaters.

• Patagonia utilized three versions of the campaign video, spending $131K on a 15-second ad and $126K on a 6-second ad. They A/B tested different ad copy with varying on-screen text headlines, including "Thank you, 1985 - We're still in Synchilla Fleece" and "Fleece be with you, friends."
• The campaign uses humour to address the “geeky” reputation of the Synchilla fleece, creating a relatable and lighthearted tone. It also taps into the normcore trend, which embraces a deliberately uncool, anti-fashion aesthetic.
• The campaign creative features retro footage from the 1980s, aiming to evoke a sense of nostalgia.

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Top Social Cause Ad Campaign

Patagonia utilizes YouTube ads to showcase their social or environmental initiatives, such as its “What’s Next” Campaign.  

• In March 2023, Patagonia unveiled the "What's Next" campaign to commemorate its 50th anniversary. This campaign underscores the brand's dedication to environmental conservation and placing purpose above profit. By associating with a broader mission, brands can foster emotional connections with their audience and enhance their brand reputation.
• The campaign compellingly conveys the brand's future vision, capturing the audience's attention and leaving a lasting impression through storytelling.
• Patagonia created a new logo for the campaign,  integrating an arrow symbolizing the progressive trajectory of the brand and humanity as they delve into "What's Next."

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Top Sale/Promotion Ad Campaign

Patagonia allocated $197K to their Winter Sale ad on YouTube in January and February 2023.

• The pre-roll, 13-second video ad prominently displays the words "SALE" and "40% OFF" in large, easy-to-read text. It incorporated Patagonia's signature brand colours and concluded with the logo appearing on the screen. The video featured upbeat, jazz-inspired instrumental music.
• The ad included a landing page directing viewers to Patagonia's "Web Specials" shopping page, utilizing a UTM to monitor traffic originating from the YouTube ad. In January and February 2023, the page attracted around 22K web visits on desktop devices in the United States.

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Top Brand-Focused Ad Campaign

Patagonia put $71K into a 3-month #WhatsInYourBaggies ad, showcasing wearers' adventurous lifestyles over the product’s features.

• Patagonia's brand-focused ads strive to engage viewers with the aspirational persona embodied by those who wear their products. The #WhatsInYourBaggies campaign depicts wearers as adventurous (twice sailing the globe), dedicated (trekking 800 miles), nature-loving (sunbathing in the Arctic), bold (riding a horse bareback), and sentimental (their first kiss).
• Patagonia nurtures a feeling of community by urging customers to share their Baggies™ stories online with the hashtag #WhatsInYourBaggies, simultaneously boosting user-generated content.

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Digital Advertising Data Source Caveat | Total YouTube ad spend in Canada & US.