The founders of the sportswear brand ‘Picture Organic Clothing’ Jeremy Rochette (right) and Julien Durant in Gerzat near Clermont-Ferrand, February 9, 2016 (AFP/Archives/Thierry Zoccolan)
Belonging to a community and sharing its values, rather than owning a product: it is with this mantra that more and more brands, small or large, are making a place for themselves, while building customer loyalty.
In a climbing gym with pop lighting in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, the French outdoor and board sports clothing brand Picture, born in 2008, organized a day for its “European community” on this autumn Thursday .
On the program: a round table on sustainability and the economy, a recycling workshop using fabric scraps and the screening of an adventure documentary, which she produced herself.
For Julien Durant, one of the co-founders, the creation of Picture was born from the very concept of community, around specific values. “We wanted a brand dedicated to +outdoor+ activities, with an environmental dimension, and at the same time producing technical products with style,” he says.
And 15 years later, Picture has followers in around forty countries and a turnover of 42 million euros last year. It offers recycled materials, and has a lifetime repair program for its products. “The way in which the brand engages is a value that you appropriate” as a consumer, deciphers Julien Durant.
The community, understood here as a group of people sharing similar values, is fashionable, boosted by social networks. It is even, according to a recent report from McKinsey, “the big marketing idea of the 2020s”.
“We have entered a new era,” depicts this report, in which new technologies “allow marketers to connect with consumers in their communities.”
Sportswear brands are at the forefront. The famous American manufacturer Patagonia offers on its site more than just products, but activism. The American sneaker brand Saucony organizes “plogging” races (running with waste collection).
“While before, we used communities to sell products, now, we use communities to develop the values of the brand, to involve the end consumer in working on the missions of this brand”, analyzes Gachoucha Kretz, professor of marketing at HEC.
The key is a certain customer loyalty. “Communities are attached to the values of one or two brands and they are very loyal (…) We no longer build customer loyalty with discount coupons anymore,” believes Julien Durant.
– Lego, bee and… barbecue –
A girl caresses a tiger made of Lego bricks in Kuwait City, October 5, 2023 (AFP/YASSER AL-ZAYYAT)
The world of sports is not the only one to play on this notion. Bricks from Danish Lego are also there. “For me, what builds a community is the appeal of the brand and its values. The more we nourish the values of the brand, the more we will keep this community with us,” explains AFP Sylvain Bouchès, marketing director France, from a Parisian showroom filled with multicolored constructions.
Lego has also just marketed braille bricks, intended for visually impaired children, which it had initially developed for specialized institutes.
In the era of CSR (corporate social responsibility), cosmetics – often accused of being harmful, between plastic packaging and natural ingredients harvested in an environmentally unfriendly way – also highlight concepts such as respect for the environment to stand out.
And while the values may differ greatly, the principle remains the same. The American barbecue manufacturer Traeger has thousands of subscribers on its Instagram account, with many photos of meat cooked to perfection and fishing videos. This time, the notions advocated by the “traegerhood” (the community of users) are more around conviviality and the taste of the barbaque.
From now on, knowing what you buy gives information not only about your social status, but also about what you believe in… Or at least a version of values that allows you to continue selling products.
© 2023 AFP
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