Patagonia Amsterdam Store Launch: Digital Advertising Strategy
How we helped the environmentally-conscious outdoor brand launch its first store in the Netherlands
It’s not rocket science. For a store opening to be successful, people actually have to know about it.
In 2023, outdoor brand Patagonia were set to open their flagship bricks-and-mortar store in Amsterdam. We’ve worked on plenty of store launches, including Outsider Store, Patagonia Innsbrook, and Patagonia Manchester. As the brand’s primary European Digital Marketing agency, we linked up with the team to set up a campaign with a bit of a twist to get the word out.
Building Local Community Hype for an International Brand
Patagonia wanted to build a community and create some real hype, so a month before the actual grand opening, Patagonia ran a one-day pop-up of pre-loved gear, with all proceeds of sales going to local grassroots NGOs
Community events like these are incredibly effective at generating some buzz, raising some money for local charities, and also keeping in line with the brand’s mission.
A Multi-Channel Strategy: Digital Ads and DOOH
To get the word out about the pop-up, we put together a proposal for a pretty varied platform mix, ultimately running ads on DemandGen, Google Display, Snapchat, and Pinterest, which generated awareness and pushed traffic to the pop-up’s landing page. We also ventured outside the small-screens and set up Digital Out of Home (DOOH) ads around Amsterdam. While you can’t track a click on a bus stop ad, you still know it’s getting eyeballs on it — especially in the capital city, and in close vicinity of the shop-to-be!
The pop-up was a success, with queues wrapping around the block for up to 3 hours. Better still, Patagonia managed to raise over €33k for the NGOs, which is a win for everyone involved.
Sustaining Momentum: From Pop-Up to Grand Opening
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Once the pop-up was over, we shifted the focus. Messaging went from this one-day event, to ‘coming soon’, to ‘now open’.
It was important to keep the momentum going off the back of the successful pop up. We ran more digital advertising on DemandGen, Display and DOOH, with updated banners advertising the upcoming store opening. Once it was open, we kept up just the DOOH ads around the city. This part of the campaign was less about driving attendance for a specific, one-day event and more about building long-term awareness and excitement until the good Patagonia word was really rooted in locals’ minds.
Case Study Results: 1mn impressions and €33k Raised for NGOs
The results spoke for themselves, with the Google ads alone seeing upwards of a million impressions. The pop-up event proved there was a real, engaged community ready for the new store, and that a well-executed plan can translate directly into tangible, real-world results—like people waiting in line for hours and significant funds raised for a good cause. We leveraged the success of the pop-up into city-wide awareness about the new store, priming it for a successful opening day and continuous business thereafter.
The store’s also been ticking along nicely since launch, with steady footfall and a solid awareness in the local area.
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