Chief Marketer
Nov 12, 2023
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When we last spoke to Cotopaxi’s Chief Brand Officer Brad Hiranaga, he was just settling into his new gig at the sustainable outdoor apparel brand.
“Is there an element of good that we can drive that we’re holding ourselves accountable for and we can activate behind together?” Hiranaga said. “Because as an impact-driven brand, that’s going to be something we think about in every marketing action that we take. It needs to be even more elevated in a partnership—and that makes the partnership a lot stronger.”
Hiranaga outlined three important strategies to keep in mind when scaling a mission-driven business through partnerships. First, there must be a degree of alignment between each brand’s purpose. “That doesn ’t necessarily mean that the Venn diagram has to like be a hundred percent on top of one another, but there needs to be some overlap and [evidence that] we’re trying to achieve something that’s similar,” Hiranaga said. With the Headspace collab, for instance, the companies align on improving mental health and mindfulness through connecting with the outdoors.
Second, in addition to collaborating on something interesting from the products and services perspective, consider the impact. Cotopaxi’s business model has supported its commitment to alleviate poverty from day one, so it’s important to partner with impact-driven companies or involve organizations that support the mission. “Is there an element of good that we can drive that we’re holding ourselves accountable for and we can activate behind together?” Hiranaga said. “Because as an impact-driven brand, that’s going to be something we think about in every marketing action that we take. It needs to be even more elevated in a partnership—and that makes the partnership a lot stronger.”