Earlier this summer, Patagonia approached us with a bold plan to solve a very real problem. They wanted to reach millions of environmentalists who did not vote in the 2024 U.S. General Election. The challenge was real, the solution was Matt Blease shaped.
Founded in 1973, Patagonia is an outdoor apparel company with a long held reputation for environmental activism. The company has identified 90 million acres of public land across the U.S. is under threat and research found that 11.2 million registered-to-vote environmentalists did not vote in the 2024 election. So the brand decided to mobilise their U.S. customers to encourage friends and family to make a plan to vote in the upcoming midterms. Participants who got three people to create a plan to vote would earn a $100 credit at Patagonia (or they can opt to donate $100 to the League of Conservation Voters).
With his mix of humour, ability to communicate and love of the outdoors, Matt Blease was identified as the perfect candidate for the campaign. Jumping straight into action, Matt worked up an array of illustrated characters to depict the potential missing voters. His creations include the climber, the flyfisher, the hiker and our own personal favorite, the forager. Each character packed to the brim with, well, character. A series of step by step ‘how it works’ explanatory illustrations were also created to walk people through the process and then a suite of ‘activated voters’ to show the celebratory characters heading to the polls. Each illustration was then animated by our wonderful motion partner, Andy Sandwich, bringing it all to life.
The campaign launched in late October and was an unmitigated success. In fact, shortly after the project was announced the Patagonia website crashed! Such was the demand to sign-up and engage. Nearly 500,000 U.S. citizens have now made plans to vote and the full $11.2 million in credit has been given away. An astonishing achievement that just goes to show the power of illustration and animation to create engagement with audiences.
Matt’s work was not only used across the brand’s social media and website, but also rolled out across stores and the information sign-up activations. From store vinyls to bumper stickers, to backdrops for speaking events, the suite of imagery really set the tone for the whole initiative and wonderfully captured the energy, optimism and positivity of both the brand and the campaign.
