Recently I was browsing the Patagonia website and stumbled across a micro-documentary for one of their jackets. Now, a video on a product as mundane as a jacket could very easily be as promotional as it gets. Most are. They feel like commercials. Patagonia did something different. They created a testimonial that was authentic, engaging and educational, so that it felt more editorial than promotional.
The reason the video works is because Patagonia produced it in a documentary style and made it feel authentic by filming a real athlete (alpine climber Colin Haley) in his native environment (the mountains of Patagonia in South America). The retake in the opening scene makes the film feel all the more legitimate and uncensored, as do the inspirational voyages we then follow Haley on. When he offers us insight and education into what we should be looking for in a jacket if we were an extreme climber (or even if we weren’t), naturally we listen, and we associate our attention and edification with the Patagonia brand.
As you move your social and environmental missions forward, you have a constant need to produce overview content that serves to orient your audience on the solutions you are working on. Testimonials are a powerful way to do this. Patagonia’s brilliance was that they tell us about a product within the context of a strong narrative of a person we want to learn more about. Think about your stakeholder testimonials. Even though the habitual tendency is to want to focus on your brand, when you shift the priority to your audience, as it is done here, instead of having them wonder what you are trying to sell them, you end up offering them a gift instead. What more could you want?