Patagonia , the outdoor apparel brand, is as much known for its environmental activism as for its products. This ethos heavily influences their content calendar: - Cause Calendar Integration: Patagonia aligns content with key environmental dates and issues. Their editorial calendar highlights dates like Earth Day, World Oceans Day, and key policy events. Around those times, they schedule blog posts, documentaries, or social campaigns that speak to environmental topics – often not directly selling products at all, but reinforcing Patagonia’s mission. - Seasonal Adventures: Being an outdoor brand, Patagonia also follows the seasons in its content. In spring, the calendar will have content about rock climbing and trail running; in winter , more about backcountry skiing or winter surf.
They plan stories of athletes and activists in those seasonal contexts, timed when their audience is most passionate about that aspect of outdoors. - User- Generated and Community Stories: Patagonia often features stories from its community – like a conservation project by a group of climbers or a profile of an activist fighting to protect a river . These require coordination: the editorial team might reach out months in advance to gather the story, photographs, and permissions. The calendar includes these community spotlights sprinkled throughout the year for an authentic voice. - Catalog and Media Integration: Interestingly, Patagonia’s catalog (mailed to customers and online) is also content-rich, with essays and photojournalism.
The creation of catalog content is part of their editorial calendar , and often those stories get repurposed or promoted on their blog and social channels. For example, if the summer catalog has a feature on sustainable cotton farming, the calendar might plan a related blog post series or a video to coincide with that theme when the catalog drops. Lesson from Patagonia: Let your brand values drive your content calendar . When content is aligned with a larger mission, it resonates deeply with your audience. Patagonia shows that an editorial calendar can be about more than marketing – it can be a tool to consistently advocate for issues and tell stories that matter to your brand’s community.