The Honesty Was The Marketing

Recently Patagonia put out their most detailed impact report yet, and instead of doing what every other company does, polishing the numbers until they look like a win, they straight up admitted their emissions went up this year and they're behind on their own climate goals. And twelve years into watching companies market themselves, here's what that told me: the honesty was the marketing.

This is the last piece of the framework I lay out in my book, Strategy is not Planning. Crafting a brand story that's actually true to what your audience values, not just what sounds good in a press release.

I talk about using something close to the hero's journey, but the part people skip is that the brand isn't supposed to be the hero. The customer is. The brand is just supposed to be honest enough to earn a place in that story.

Patagonia didn't have to publish a report admitting they're struggling to hit their own targets. Plenty of companies bury that kind of thing or spin it into something softer. Patagonia put it near the front, essentially saying nothing we do is fully sustainable yet, here's exactly where we're falling short.

That's a strange thing to lead with if your only goal is looking good. It's exactly the right thing to lead with if your goal is being believed.

Simon Sinek built basically his entire career on one line: people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Patagonia's why has never been selling jackets. It's been protecting the places people go to use the jackets. The report just proved they meant it, because you don't admit you're behind on your own promises unless the promise was always the real point.

So ask yourself what your business would say if it published its own honest progress report tomorrow, warts and all. The brands people stay loyal to for decades aren't the ones that never mess up. They're the ones who tell you when they do.

Sources: Patagonia 2025 "Work in Progress" Impact Report, published Nov. 2025; Simon Sinek, "Start With Why."