The Announcement: What Is Patagonia’s Involvement?
And how did it evolve over the time I spent working on the project?
I have a longstanding relationship with Patagonia, thanks to the many friends I have working there, and a mutual respect and admiration that goes back years.
Case in point: Type 2, the podcast project we collaborated on in which I explored the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism.
In effect, Type 2 was the beginning of my exploration of the themes that would eventually underpin The Announcement.
The Evolution of the Project
Anyway - Type 2 had a great run and amassed a very loyal audience around the world. But by the end of 2022 we agreed that it was time to park that project, and began discussing ideas for something new.
This was two or so months after Patagonia had signalled their intention to make 'earth' their only shareholder at the company-wide town hall that picked up coverage around the world.
It was clear to me that this was the biggest story in town when it came to Patagonia, so the brand agreed to provide access to members of the senior team in Ventura, and to support the development phase of a project that at this point we thought would be a fairly straightforward focus on the sports and environmental community and campaign work of the company.
Editorial Independence
But as the months passed, and I developed a clearer idea of the story I wanted to tell through what would eventually become The Announcement, it became pretty obvious that the series was only going to be a credible and robust piece of journalistic storytelling if it was a completely independent production.
Happily, my relationship with the brand is such that we were able to have this conversation completely frankly and professionally.
We reached the agreement that The Announcement would be a wholly independent Looking Sideways production, and that all editorial decision-making would be mine alone.
As Patagonia put it:
"...we talked about it with the team and made the decision together that this should be an independent production. Patagonia continued to provide access. But editorial control sat completely with Matt and the story he tells is his own."
Editorial Integrity
Of course, since then I have thought long and hard about what Patagonia's initial involvement means for the editorial integrity of The Announcement.
Obviously, if it gains enough traction, there will undoubtedly be people out there who come to it with zero context and decide that this initial involvement means, whatever the circumstances, the series is a PR puff piece that shouldn't be taken seriously.
Of course, I disagree. In creating this piece of work, as should be obvious when you listen, I had absolutely no interest in making a glorified piece of marketing for the brand.
My view, you probably won’t be surprised to hear, is that The Announcement is a completely even-handed look at the decision, aftermath, and implications of this seismic, well, announcement.
And, happily, so do the many, many independent individuals who have listened to and rigorously critiqued it prior to release. Hopefully, you will agree once you've had a proper listen to all three episodes.
Transparency
But this is why it's important for me to to be completely transparent about how this unfolded in the two years I've been making this thing: which is what this post is about.
Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about my relationship with Patagonia, and how we arrived at the understanding I outline here, I discussed it at length in this bonus podcast recorded at the Kendal Mountain Festival, which you can listen to above.
And if you want to listen to Type 2, here's a favourite episode from the archive.