Outdoor apparel company Patagonia Inc. is running a mobile ad campaign designed to raise money and awareness for environmental groups worldwide as part of the Earth Day 2011 celebration. 
 
The new campaign is promoting Patagonia Music Collective’s “Buy a Song, Benefit the Environment” iPhone application that lets music fans buy exclusive tracks from artists such as Ziggy Marley, Brandi Carlile and Blitzen Trapper. Songs are available via Apple’s iTunes, and profits from sales will go to an environmental organization of the artist’s choice such as the Surfrider Foundation or Jamaica Environment Trust.  
 
“The mobile space is an obvious vehicle for a campaign whose call-to-action is a digital download,” said Christina Speed, marketing director at Patagonia,Ventura, CA. “It has the reach and the driver mechanism. 

“We’re using mobile to get to a broader audience than we might otherwise be able to reach with a message we think is broadly compelling, and to learn what we can from the response,” she said. 

Patagonia is a clothing company, focusing mainly on outdoor apparel. Last year, its sales surpassed $333 million. 

Green mobile advertising
The Patagonia mobile ad units from Millennial Media issue a calltoaction for users to download the official Patagonia Music application or buy a song from iTunes and sync it to their phone. 

Patagonia is partnering with Millennial Media to place the mobile ads in front of ecofriendly consumers who are most likely to respond to the campaign’s environmental message.
 
With this campaign, Patagonia’s goals were to increase awareness, inspire action and raise money for environmental groups such as Honor the Earth. 

A Patagonia mobile landing page featuring Brandi Carlile 

Ms. Speed said that mobile was a crucial part of the initiative, as it was important for the brand to reach its core audience when they were on the go and give them the opportunity to engage with the music in a way that left zero carbon footprint.
 
The Patagonia Music campaign is part of a multichannel effort from Patagonia to implement tactics to support the environment. 

A Patagonia mobile landing page featuring Ziggy Marley 

Patagonia’smobile advertising initiative follows previous effortssuch as the “Vote the Environment” and “Freedom to Roam” campaigns.

The campaign is using Millennial’s ad-targeting technology to reach more than 6 million cause-focused mobile users. 

“The mobile ad units allow users to download the official Patagonia music app or download a specific song via iTunes on their phone,” said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing at Millennial Media, Baltimore. “We’ve run numerous cause marketing campaigns over the past four years and continue to see more and more brands leveraging mobile to make a difference. 

“Patagonia is a perfect example of how a brand can make a real impact for a cause by engaging their target audience at scale in a cost-effective and relevant way,” she said. “As highlighted in our latest SmartLite report, 28 percent of campaigns on our network drove application downloads in February. 

“By leveraging this post-click campaign action, Patagonia is taking advantage of a uniquely mobile opportunity to ensure maximum downloads of their application.”

Final Take
Ziggy Marley