Background and History

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) serves an integral role in communicating brand message and information to a larger audience. Integrated marketing communication essentially helps in integrating all fundamental components of marketing to successfully communicate similar brand message to potential as well as existing end-users. Andrews and Shimp (2017) have stated that integrated marketing communication is not crucial for business marketing but purposefully aims for direct interaction with customers. However, organizations proficiently employing integrated marketing communication not only successfully endorse their products and services among target base but further develops strong base of commitment and dedication among them who show high level of commitment towards their brands (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo 2015). According to Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi (2015), in an integrated marketing campaign, wide range of tools and mechanisms primarily signify similar creative treatment. Thus with repetitive brand messages and taglines along with visual representation in each communication process, modern business enterprises ensure that prospects as well as consumers attain consistent information every time they view any significant elements of the campaign. It is important to note, that inventive consistency enables successful reinforcement of basic marketing campaign by escalating the number of times existing and prospects respond to brand messages. However, in a layman’s language integrated marketing communication supplies a wide range of opportunities which facilitate marketers bond easily with their target customers (Andrews and Shimp 2017).  IMC not only fundamentally makes certain successful and timely distribution of right brand message to the right target base but further aims to implement several innovative ways to endorse brands among clientele. The purpose of the following report is to evaluate IMC strategy of Patagonia, a clothing company operating its business in the United Kingdom. In addition to this, the paper will focus on the company’s situational analysis to assess its internal and external environment to recognize Patagonia’s capabilities, consumers along with business environment. Furthermore, to identify its IMC strategies the paper will shed light on the company’s marketing communications objectives, proposed communications strategy and creative tactics it will use to successfully establish its marketing campaign to achieve Patagonia’s desired aims and objectives.

Patagonia is recognized as one of the leading clothing manufacturers in the United States which markets and sells outdoor clothing. The company being as an internationally-focused online store generates e-Commerce net sales majorly in Canada and the United Kingdom (EU.patagonia.com 2018). Reports of Bocken and Short (2016) have revealed that in relation to the product range, Patagonia operates as a wide range online store with products and services on offer that cover different categories such as fashion, toys and food and personal care. Shih and Agrafiotis (2015) have revealed that company has been encouraging its clientele to recycle clothes and is identified as an exceptional brand with outdoor active lifestyle space. Though there can be identified a technical product piece and quality product piece, there has further been observed a well-established set of values which can be viewed in mission statement of the company. Reports of Andrews and Shimp (2017) have disclosed that Patagonia has decentralised its European footprint further shifting its corporate to Amsterdam from Annecy, France and further strategizing to set up offices and showrooms across Europe that include trade and dealer services outlets off Oxford Street.

Patagonia’s Mission Statement

Patagonia’s Sales Growth in UK retail market

Source: (Buxel, Esenduran and Griffin 2015)

Patagonia primarily markets their diverse product range towards consumers who show immense inclination towards outdoor shopping. However, Matzler, Veider and Kathan (2015) have stated that because of Patagonia’s stringent marketing strategies aiming for outdoorsy customer base, individuals who fail to connect to concept of outdoorsy are not well-equipped of the creative as well as decent size selection of casual-wear apparel range the company has recently introduced. Thus, Shih and Agrafiotis (2015) are of the opinion that Patagonia instead of constraining their marketing strategies and ideas to the clientele exhibiting great passion for outdoors, the company can eradicate such forms of marketing limitations and attain a considerable share of a broader market with wide-range of casual wear apparel line.

Global Wetsuits Market

Source: (Sasmita and Mohd Suki 2015)

Reports of Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch (2017) have revealed that recently Patagonia UK has initiated creating surf-specific merchandise and goods. Such creative marketing strategy has led the company to launch three diverse lines of wetsuits along with several dissimilar models of swim trunks. Patagonia being one of the chief retailers serves a contributory role to varied environmental associations and has further committed 1.5% of the company’s total sales or around 10% of their revenues to environmental agencies. However according to the SOSTAC Framework, a comprehensive situational analysis is essential to strategically evaluate primary reasons for Patagonia’s need for repositioning in the U.K market (Tabrizi and Kabirnejat 2015).  Lee, Seifert and Cherrier (2017) have essentially noted the way Patagonia typically aims to promote the company’s environmental campaigns in their catalos and advertisements such as averting drilling of lubricants in the region of Alaska Wildlife Refuge, “Ocean as a Wilderness” along with “Don’t Dam Patagonia”.

SOSTAC Framework
Source: (Tabrizi and Kabirnejat 2015)

• Strengths- One of the major area of strength for Patagonia operating its business in the U.K relies on its recognition of charitable and reliable retail organization. Lee, Seifert and Cherrier (2017) have focused on Patagonia’s high knowledge and awareness of customers in relation to the value of outdoor activities in order to stimulate the company’s brand representation and recognition (EU.patagonia.com 2018). Furthermore, as highly long-lasting products serve as a decisive role in the marketing strategies of Patagonia. Thus, the management has efficiently amplified its outdoor apparel line in order to successfully magnetize and improve the visibility of long-term products.
• Weaknesses- Reports of Lee, Seifert and Cherrier (2017) have indicated the sales of outdoor clothing recently launched by Patagonia can be seasonal as these products tend to be purposed for colder weather. Additionally the products introduced by the company are considered to be highly expensive thus resulting to a restricted clientele base.  
• Opportunities- Buxel, Esenduran and Griffin (2015) have stated that majority of outdoor brand enterprises comprises product range at around similar prices range. However, if Patagonia UK aims to launch products which will essentially undercut all other outdoor brand companies, there could be identified a significant opportunity for Patagonia to successfully capture sales and increase their revenues (Orazi et al. 2017). Furthermore, with increase social media prominence, Patagonia in order to cater into greater number of consumer base must implement various social media platforms and transform their official webpage to be highly convenient and user friendly (Bocken and Short 2016). In the view of Sasmita and Mohd Suki (2015), buyers who belong to the level of over $62,000 income can have great accessibility of their creative marketing campaigns on various media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram as well as their official website.
• Threats- Patagonia face severe threats and competition from Marmot recognized as one of the leading outdoor clothing brand in the UK. Matzler, Veider and Kathan (2015) have further highlighted the way Marmot’s similar product price range has been posing continuous challenges to the company’s sales and revenue growth in the UK retail sector. UK business sustainability tends to challenge the weakened economic conditions which further can regress to the outdoor apparel enthusiast to save their monetary resources and further reduce purchase of Patagonia.  

1. Political Factors- Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch (2017) have observed an overall retail market to expand at an insignificant rate of 2% with its slowest pace since 2017. However it has been noted that unlikely to the UK administration, relying on the way Brexit negotiations set out, non UK retailers have been lessening corporate taxation rates to increase attractiveness of the UK business location. Furthermore, there can be witnessed a range of non-UK-based retailers shift major part their business operations into the UK retail market, perhaps aiming to focus on the UK market for the first time (Orazi et al. 2017). 
2. Economic factors- Reports of Matzler, Veider and Kathan (2015) have stated that Hiking and Outdoor Equipment Stores sector attained around $425.35 billion in 2016 and is thus anticipated to reach over $450 billion in 2018. Furthermore, since 2015, the yearly growth rate has been recorded to be around 1.5% and is further expected to sustain at the same rate for the next five years. Burns, Bush and Sinha (2014) have recorded Patagonia’s UK market share to rise to around 13% over the last five years. The company has been witnessed to have around 20% of market participation in the UK retail market from age 6 to 24 and around 12% for customers 25 years above. Authors have highlighted Patagonia’s growth as a chief player in the UK market over the past five years with over $521.7 million in revenue growth (Orazi et al. 2017).
3. Social factors- Patagonia have received rapid prominence in the UK market due to the increasing level of passion among UK citizens on outdoor and wetsuits. UK consumer base reflects a high inclination towards heavily and creatively customized apparel outlets further signifying the attributes of the country. According to Vernuccio and Ceccotti (2015), there can be observed an outdoor feeling and passion in UK fashion enthusiasts that successfully will associate Patagonia with wide range of consumers.
4. Technological factors- Patagonia is identified as a prominent leader for its inclination towards innovative usage of environmental friendly materials. Karjaluoto, Mustonen and Ulkuniemi (2015) have witnessed the illustrations of recycle nylon, wool, and polyester recycling process as the core principles of the company. Patagonia is further reported to have developed various materials through their own resources such as Primaloft Insulation which primarily preserves its elevated level of insulation during wet conditions (Vernuccio and Ceccotti 2015).
5. Legal factors- Patagonia recruits over 2000 people in the United Kingdom between retail employees at a wide range of locations in the country. However, according to Lee, Seifert and Cherrier (2017), remuneration rate of UK estimated in the Patagonia fashion sector records to be around 14.5% of revenue in 2017.
6. Environmental factors- Patagonia have attained 5^thposition in the UK market among the major contributory companies to ecological agencies. Studies of Buxel, Esenduran and Griffin (2015) have found Patagonia’s environmental record that dates back from the early 1970’s while the company recommended climbers to use runners rather than using pitons. However, in the view of Lee, Seifert and Cherrier 2017), it is crucial for Patagonia to sustain itself to an improved ecological standard. Such an improvement is not only reflected on their product range but is further inducted to the personnel of Patagonia UK.

Marketing Communication Objectives mainly comprises of long term goals identifying the future directions of the marketing activities and the intended end results of the marketing campaigns (Fill and Turnbull 2016). According to Patti et al. (2017), developing Marketing Communication Objectives is an important strategic move that can help the management to communicate ideas to the target customers and identify strategies that can be used to effectively share information at various levels of the organization. Camilleri (2018), have also added that effective marketing communications can help to understand the best strategies to communicate, compete and convince customers and therefore ensure success of the marketing program or campaigns through effective communication strategies. The significance of effective communication have been supported by Luxton et al (2015), who stated that it can help management to share its vision, mission and objectives more clearly to the target audience and therefore ensure better clarity and understanding on the company and its products (Blakeman 2018). Thus developing marketing communication objectives is an important strategy that can help the management to follow the progress of the marketing campaign (Fill and Turnbull 2016). The SOSTAC framework also implies that outlining the objectives of the marketing campaign as an important step in the marketing process (Wijaya and Hermawan 2018).

Patagonia Outlets Worldwide

Discussed below are the important marketing communication objectives that Patagonia can use, utilizing the SMART framework for analysis:

SMART framework (source: own work)

Specificity: Using Public Relations (PR) campaign to attract and persuade younger and environmentally sensitive crowd towards the product. The company can use the PR to highlight the environmentally friendly and low carbon footprint of the products to attract consumers who shows awareness and sensitivity towards the environment (Miller 2017).

Measurable: Success of the PR campaigns can be measured through an increased exposure and awareness of the product as well as through positive media coverage of the PR campaigns and programs.

Assignable: The PR campaigns can be handled by the marketing division and can utilize platforms such as newspaper, radio and television broadcasts and social media for the promotional activities.

Relevant: PR can help to increase interaction with the target audiences and thus help Patagonia to effectively use communication strategies in the marketing mix.

Time-bound: The PR campaign can be conducted for at least 6 months to achieve best results.

Specificity: Direct marketing can be implemented by handing fliers and brochures directly to the target customers in the market that would inform about the company and its specialty products. The fliers can also be made from recyclable products to highlight the company’s environmental sensitivity (Mitik et al. 2017).

Measurable: Success of the direct marketing can be measured from the overall market penetration of Patagonia and an increased awareness of the company’s product among the target crowd.

Assignable: The direct marketing can also be handled by the marketing and advertising department.

Relevant: Direct marketing can help to develop a direct communication with the customers.

Time-bound: The approach can be used for 3 months during which fliers and brochures can be distributed to the intended customer base.

Specificity: Patagonia can use internet marketing on online platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram where the company can highlight its specialty products for outdoor activities (Ismail et al. 2017).

Measurable: Success of internet marketing can be measured though an increase in online traffic to the company’s website as well as the company’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages and increase in online sales of the products.

Assignable: The online advertisements can be handled by the online advertising and the product and development team that can help the customers to understand the specialty of the Patagonia products.

Relevant: Online advertising is been significantly used by various companies for online promotions of products showing great potentials for success.

Time-bound: Online advertisements can be done for at least 6 months for best efficiency.

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) strategies help to promote awareness of products in the target market by allowing the companies to use effective communication to share information and highlights about different products (Patti et al. 2017).  This strategy uses different methods for communication utilizing various online and offline platforms for maximizing its efficacy (Turner 2017; Manser et al. 2017).

Integrated Marketing Strategy (source: Manser et al. 2017)

Following the SOSTAC framework, the following aspects have been identified that can help to develop an effective IMC strategy for Patagonia:

The Outdoor Clothing Market

The Message: Patagonia would set out a clear message for the target customers/audiences about the environmentally friendly products as well as the superior quality of the products that are ideal for trekking and hiking for both professional and non-professional use. The company can highlight its motto of providing high quality gears to show its focus on quality in order to gain the trust and confidence of the consumers (Key and Czaplewski 2017).

Appeal of the product: The message should be aimed towards enhancing the appeal of the products for the customers. This can be done by relating the products with environmental sustainability and environmental friendliness. For consumers who are environmentally sensible, such factors can significantly increase appeal of the products and therefore attract them. Moreover, the company can also highlight the variety in the product range that are specifically suited for different outdoor activities thus increasing the product appeal for a wider customer base (Manser et al. 2017).

Tools for marketing: Various tools can be used for the marketing of the product which can help Patagonia to increase its market penetration and brand awareness such as: email marketing tools like Mandrill and Salesforce, data analytics tools such as Mixpanel and Google Analytics, Webnairs such as Go To Meeting and Webex, Personal Chat interfaces such as Olark and Intercom, Agile Develeopment Tools such as Pivotal Tracker and CRM software such as Hubspot. These tools can help the marketing team to effectively reach out to more customers, help to develop more communication channels with them and effectively collect online data for better assessment of information (Patti et al. 2017).

Usage of media: Both online and offline media platforms can be used by Patagonia in its Integrated marketing Communications. Social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter can help the company to reach target audiences in a more personalized way, while mainstream media such as Television, Newspapers and Radio Channels can be used advertising broadcasts (Turner 2017).

Profile Strategy: The Company can focus on specific customer profiles such as professional and non professional hikers, trekkers and mountaineers as well as nature enthusiasts and leisure travelers. Creating customer profiles can help Patagonia to specifically target those customers in an effective and engaging manner (Fanelli et al. 2018).

Drip and Burst Marketing: Patagonia can use the slow and steady approach of drip marketing by slowly increasing the awareness of the customers about the products using email and fliers given to the customers allowing it to continually engage the customers in marketing communication. Burst marketing approach can also be used in the marketing campaign to capture the immediate attention of the audiences through the advertisement on media (Patti et al. 2017).

Scheduling and Frequency: The advertisements on media platforms can be scheduled regularly, especially during the primetime that has maximum viewers to maximize the potential of the message to reach the intended audiences (Fanelli et al. 2018).

Integration: An integrated marketing approach can be achieved by using a common message that is shared through the different marketing platforms and strategies to create a uniform impact on the audiences (Turner 2017).

Challenges and Opportunities

Use of Agencies: Various agencies that can be utilized in the IMC includes print media (such as The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and The Times), television channels (such as British Broadcasting Corporation, ITV Network and Channel Four television Corporation) and Radio Channels (such as British Broadcasting Corporation). Moreover, online agencies such as YouTube and Facebook can also be used for the promotion of the products (Patti et al. 2017).

Developing creative tactics in marketing is an important aspect that helps the companies to implement innovative ideas to market products. Innovative strategies also can help the companies to gain a competitive advantage in the market and help to position its brand ahead of others (Tabrizi and Kabirnejat 2015).

Billboard Advertisements: Patagonia can involve creativity in its advertisements by integrating visual imagery with the products that can help the customers to understand the product and its usage better. For example, using a backdrop of mountains for high altitude trekking gears can highlight that the context for the usage of the products. Similarly, information such as temperature range for the product can help the customers understand the different weather conditions suited for the usage of the products. Patagonia can also have pictures of professional trekkers or mountaineers endorsing the brand that can also help to attract more customers and trust on the brand. These backgrounds can be used in the Patagonia stores as well as the online pages to provide a context for the customers and help them understand the usage of the product.  Patagonia can also organize its own trekking expeditions that can be used as a platform for marketing the products by using images from the expedition showing different professionals wearing the product thereby further developing the brand image.

Example of advertisement background for trekking equipment and gear

Television Advertisement: Another creative tactic for effective marketing of Patagonia products can be the usage of television advertisement. The advertisement can be in the form of video clips from the trekking expeditions organized by the company. The video would provide a panoramic view of the mountains and the trekkers trailing through the mountainous terrain. The video would start from a long distance shot of the trekkers slowly approaching towards the camera and once they are in a close range, the trekking gears would be clearly visible along with the logo of Patagonia on them. The video would imply that all the trekkers are using Patagonia gears and they are thoroughly enjoying the trek. The background of the mountains would then shift to a forest and show the trekking crew would be shown again using Patagonia gears. Such changes would give the impression that the gears are suitable for various types of terrains. IN the video various types of gears would be shown such as shoes, jackets, walking sticks, tents as well as different survival accessories. The trekkers would be shown using these gears under various circumstances and conditions to give a complete idea regarding their usage as well as sturdiness and thus highlight the quality of the product.

The Future of Patagonia in the UK Market

Example of the TV advertisement backdrop

Marketing campaign for Patagonia would involve several strategies such as television commercials, advertisements on popular newspapers, radio broadcasts and online campaigns. Television commercials would require a significant budget due to the higher costs of TV broadcast and expense for creating visual content. Online campaigns would require a team of marketing professionals working on various online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Blogs and Company website. Public relations are necessary to increase engagement with the customers and improve the brand awareness and brand image. Thousands of fliers and brochures also needs to be printed which can be handed out to the customers at stores. Additional marketing personnel are also needed to oversee the marketing process including the online and email marketing strategies. Patagonia can provide endorsements and sponsorships to professional trekkers and hikers which can take up a significant part of the budget. Moreover, another big part of the budget would be needed to set up trekking expeditions to advertise the products and develop brand image. Website developers also need to be hired to improve the online content and user interface of the company’s website to attract more customers. Table below show the budget plan for the marketing activity:

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