Patagonia, the environmentally conscientious outdoor clothing and equipment brand, has embarked on a review of its EMEA performance marketing business and is speaking to agencies, a process being co-handled by AAR.
The brand has been working with Merkle since 2016 and told PMW sister title Campaign that the agency of record has been invited to repitch. Patagonia added it is "midway through the process and [is] not accepting further submissions".
Patagonia achieved B Corp status in 2011 and it appears that the agency that successfully wins the brief will also be expected to have such accreditation.
At Patagonia, the review is being overseen by Kasia Jagodzińska, ecommerce marketing manager EMEA, who said: "Following our announcement last year that Earth is now our only shareholder, we are now looking ahead to the next 50 years and ensuring that all our partnerships reflect Patagonia's reason for being: we're in business to save our home planet.
"Therefore, we are conducting a competitive pitch for our EMEA performance marketing work. Our incumbent agency has been invited to take part and we are prioritising potential partners who share our values as a responsible company, such as B Corporation certification and 1% for the Planet membership."
Patagonia was founded in 1973 by Yvon Chouinard, an environmentalist, philanthropist and mountaineer. Last September, he pledged to give away all future profit for anti-climate-change schemes. While he and his family transferred 2% of Patagonia's stock to a trust that oversees the company's core values, the remaining 98% was allotted to a non-profit called Holdfast Collective, which uses the profits for initiatives designed to combat climate change.
Patagonia's EMEA marketing is headed up by Tyler LaMotte, marketing director EMEA, who featured in Campaign's Power 100 ranking of the UK's most influential marketers.
LaMotte joined Patagonia last May following the promotion of Alex Weller, who has penned various opinion pieces for Campaign over the years, including a piece about how the brand is campaigning to put energy in the hands of communities.
A version of this article originally appeared on PMW sister title Campaign.
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