Patagonia’s Reverse-Psychology ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ Drives Sales
Patagonia sent a reverse-psychology ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ email to consumers, driving sales in the early holiday season.
Outdoor retailer Patagonia is a rather environmentally conscious company. After all, the company gives away one percent of its revenues to green non-profit organizations. With this perception in mind, Patagonia sent out a holiday email with the tagline ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket.’
The theme of the campaign is that Patagonia is not only environmentally responsible, they’re also consumer-driven. Part of the point of the campaign is that – because Patagonia offers free repairs on their jackets – it’s wasteful to buy new jackets year after year.
The free-repair deal on Patagonia’s jackets also helps the company, not just the consumer. Patagonia tracks repair data and purchase history to determine which activities a consumer is interested in. The company follows up with emails, targeted at each specific customer’s outdoor hobbies.
Of course, this is still a for-profit business we’re talking about here. It’s no surprise that the ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ campaign has had a positive reverse psychology effect, driving solid sales throughout the early holiday season.
Patagonia’s ‘create customers for life’ philosophy certainly leads to some interesting advertising decisions. It’s a bold move to straight-up tell your customers not to buy your products, but if it works, it works.
But seriously. Don’t buy that jacket. You don’t need a new jacket. Your old one is still perfectly good…isn’t it? I guess it does look a bit tattered around the collar. That color’s not really in anymore, either. Maybe we should go see what Patagonia has in stock for this season…
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This is a very intelligent concept. Reverse psychology always works if it is planned our smartly…Kudos to Patagonias for thinking this out….Thank you Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts for sharing this with us.
Hey Howard Davidson Arlington MA,
Not Bad, normally you wouldn’t associate Patagonias with such a smart marketing campaign but they have done it well. Best of luck to them for the rest of the year. Patagonia is certainly up to smart reverse-psychology with their ‘Don’t Buy This Jacket’ ad!
I have to admit I like the thinking behind Patagonia’s campaign, but I have to say I’m not super impressed that they only give 1% of their profits to environmental causes. That’s pretty pathetic. Maybe if they gave 10% or something like that I’d be guaranteed to buy stuff from them. Thanks Howard Davidson Arlington MA.
Good work Patagonia for coming up with such a smart and intelligent marketing idea. Though, you could have done better by increasing the margins you will be devoting from the revenue you generate, still pretty good move. Thank you Howard Davidson Arlington MA for sharing this information with us.
Patagonia has come up with a strategy that will put most other top brands to shame. Well done fellows…Thanks Howard Davidson Arlington MA for sharing this.
Ask people not to do something and you can bet them to do it. If we go by your words Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts, then it seems evident that this strategy is working in favor of Patagonias. Good luck to them..
Nice to see, something smart and intelligent working well with the audiences. Patagonias are doing a great job with this. Well done to them. Thanks for sharing Howard Davidson Arlington MA.
Simon Freud would be so proud of it today. Reverse psychology is the best way to attract your audiences imagination if you can do it correct. Patagonias has done a good job with it…Well done to them. Extremely interesting article Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts…
Thanks Howard Davidson Arlington MA for sharing this with us. Good thinking on part of Patagonias, this will make them stand out from the general crowd. I hope they reap good rewards for their efforts here.
And up till now I thought that Patagonias never cared about their profits. Well, its a smart campaign and deserves its success…it’s a good information to share Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts…Nicely done!
Hello Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts,
Well presented article and a good information to share. Yes, I heard it from my friend as well that Patagonias are doing well, which in a way is good. I hope in process of making profits they don’t deviate from the main issue. Thanks for sharing!
This is awesome patagonias…They really webbed this well. My accolades and congratulations to the team who was behind this….Good information to share Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts…
Thank you Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts for sharing . This comes as a news to me as I wasn’t aware about any such campaign by Patagonias. It is good to see that they have really applied their brains to derive desired results. Hope they go strong and reap good rewards.
Who would have though that a brand like Patagonias will come out with a strategy that will most of the other big brands in same niche to shame. Well done Patagonias for thinking something this brilliant and keep rolling…Thanks for sharing Howard Davidson Arlington MA
Good concept. I don’t know why some people are bashing them for going after profits. I think they have worked hard enough to sustain their position in market and deserves all their success..Thanks Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts for sharing…
Well Said Aaron….I also believe that patagonias deserves to earn profits…As a brand they are good and that is what matters the most. Good topic to share Howard Davidson Arlington Massachusetts..
Hey Howard Davidson Arlington MA,
This is a very good news on part of Patagonias and I certainly don’t blame them for making money. As a brand they are entitled to do whatever they feel for its growth and development. As long as they are not crossing, which I don’t think they are it is fine…
Good strategy this by Patagonias. They had almost everything covered. Promoting their own brand without demoting the image of others is always a very good idea. Good work. Excellent share Howard Davidson Arlington MA
I have always believed that Patagonias is a smart company and this latest campaign confirm that. They always like to do things little differently than others. Good work. Thanks Howard Davidson Arlington MA for sharing.