Message:

• Patagonia’s newest M10 technical alpine shells were developed with athlete input and cutting-edge design thinking for pinnacle mixed climbing performance.

Objective:

• Drive credibility, increase overall brand craftsmanship perception and differentiate how Patagonia story-tells.

• Intent is to benefit the brand in the long term (brand credibility and halo effect on volume sellers).

AUDIENCE:

• Alpine and ice climbers: We want them to engage in the storytelling for the campaign and purchase the product. Long-tail we want them to be champions for the product and the brand within the sport community.

Tone:

• Optimistic, Bold, Collaborative, Technical and Honest.

Connection to our past:

• This approach of a design-driven project intended to solve real-world needs and is rooted in the OG Forge, Yvon and pitons.

CONSIDERATIONS:

• Make sure this is not singularly focused on a single design person but instead highlight the success of working as a whole team.

• Although technical, keep an eye on human moments and humor that happens in the in between (nothing artificially funny).

• Keep in mind a balance of gender and diversity.
  

Only if we understand, can we care. I’m pretty sure Jane Goodall said that. And, when thinking about how to make an audience care about, and ultimately champion, a product line like the M10 technical alpine shells, they first have to understand its backstory.

Fortunately, the backstory to the M10 technical alpine shells is compelling. Forge-driven products are answers to problems that occur during radical pursuits in the outdoors. So, we’ll start there: At the problem.

We’ll convey the problem that athlete Colin Haley was encountering with his current gear while out on high-level alpine climbs. And how he, along with the Patagonia Design and Field Testing teams, was able to develop a significant update to the M10 technical alpine shells line through technical innovation, outside-the-box design thinking and rigorous testing to answer that problem.

The story of developing the M10 technical alpine shells will in turn reveal Patagonia’s larger philosophy and approach to product development: A process that takes many people and years to solve — A true dedication to getting it right.

While this story will be aspirational and core at heart, it will also have levity. After all, product development is a human process of trial and error. With those errors, mistakes are made and misadventure surely follows.

After all is said and done, this video will provide viewers a peak behind the unique design process at Patagonia, instill a deep sense of dedication to the sport and craft of product development, while demonstrating the M10 technical alpine shells’ capabilities in inspiring situations.

While product focused, this is ultimately a human story. To guide it, we’ll rely on in-person interviews from the key players: Colin Haley, Erik Noll and Kelly Cordes. We’ll interview them in locations that feel natural to them and their work — Scenes that feel like we bumped into them on the job and they’re retelling the story of developing the M10 line off-the-cuff.

Because we have extensive WhatsApp and e-mail correspondences from the product development, I want to bring the digital correspondences to life through playful and relatable imagery such as text messages and video calls on screen. .

To further illustrate the iterative process of developing a product, I want to showcase the flow of note-pad sketches to digital design to cut and sew to field testing and then back again.

Finally, we’ll lean on footage of the M10 technical alpine shells in their final form, being used during the alpine pursuits that they were designed for.

Overall, I aim to work within the design language that has been established for the M10 technical alpine shells line, so that these videos feel like a cohesive component of the overall campaign.

• 3 Minute Film - Hero film with an aim to talk to the Patagonia design process and the specific role field testing and athlete innovation play in that process.

• 15 & 30 Second Film - High-tempo cutdowns that illustrate the connection between athlete and design studio. Hands making, athletes changing, in the positive Patagonia spirit.

• Homepage Visualizer - A high-level visual loop that economically communicates the partnership of Patagonia designers and athletes to create the best possible gear.