VEJA, the ethical and ecologically conscious sneaker brand prides itself on their zero paid advertising policy. Since the creation of VEJA in 2004, the founders, Sebastian Kopp and François-Ghislain Morillion, chose not to include advertising in their business model. Even without any type of paid ads, VEJA had sold more than 3 million shoes since their creation.
How can a brand succeed without advertising? Let’s take a deeper look at VEJA’s case.
According to the founders, the main reason behind this choice was an economic one. Nowadays, 70% of the cost of a pair of brand name shoe goes into marketing. Cutting marketing costs, allows VEJA to offer fair traded and sustainable shoes, that costs 5 to 7 times more to produce than a brand name shoe, at the same price as big brands.
Advertising is the marketing tactic of paying space – digital or physical – to promote a product or service. VEJA’s marketing does not include buying TV ads slots or billboard spaces. In terms of digital marketing, they do not leverage paid media. In other words, they do not pay third party channels to promote their products.
However, they have a strong Owned and Earned media. They leverage their own channels such as their website, Instagram page with more than 700K followers and their YouTube channel, to create awareness. Their Earned media is also a powerful way to promote VEJA. The founder confessed that their first hire for the company was a PR manager, later responsible for the numerous articles written about VEJA on notable French newspapers such as Le Monde or Le Figaro. In the early 2000s, when social media wasn’t what it is today, media relations created both awareness and legitimized a brand.
Today however, it’s another ball game. Social media has taken over the world. Big sneakers brands have almost a new ambassador for every shoe launched. These celebrities are paid a fortune to wear and promote the brand to right audience. Brands massively invest on social media influencers to create brand awareness. VEJA on the other hand, has no ambassador. “We don't pay any influencer, or anyone, to talk about our brand.” says François-Ghislain Morillion in an interview for HEC Business School. They decided to cut that cost and focus their investment on creating a positive impact on society and the planet, at every step of a VEJA shoe production. This does not mean celebrities or influencers never talk about VEJA. It’s quite the contrary.
The brand enjoys a credible and genuine exposure form celebrities. A spike in the brand’s sales was noticed after picture of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, wearing VEJA sneakers were all over the internet. Soon after, a flood of articles from fashion magazine could be found on the internet highlighting the ethically and ecologically conscious brand at the feet of the former actress.
Moreover, VEJA customer are the brand’s ambassador. Focusing their investment on the product and the production value chain allows VEJA to enjoy a very loyal customer base who create awareness through word of mouth.
For a brand with no ads, VEJA is the textbook case of success!
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