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A designer’s journal

Portfolio · Alignment & Coordination

Purpose-driven brands benchmark: reconciling ethics and e-commerce

The in-between space of asserting brand values and the transactional efficiency of e-commerce.

Role
Head of Design
Client
ïdkids Group (Jacadi, Okaïdi, Oxybul…)
Deliverables
Benchmark of purpose-driven brands, reach structure around the e-shop, grid of communication entry points
Period
2019, 12 days of work and 2 days of presentation
Context
A document I proposed before leaving the group, presented to brand and marketing directors
Making the brand shine on the web: the e-shop at the centre, surrounded by news and evergreen pages, fed by display banners, e-mail, native display and social media.

The intent

I thought of this document as my legacy within the ïdkids group. The group did not grasp how intertwined the web is: how a brand, its commitments and its e-commerce answer one another from one medium to the next. When I resigned, I offered to work on a document that would make this readable. It was shared with the brand directors and the marketing directors.

The underlying problem: the brands did not see that repetition is what makes an idea stick, nor that users need a space they understand for a commitment to exist in their eyes.

The challenge was therefore to move away from top-down communication and build an reach structure, where commitment (foundation, actions, traceability) flows through the purchase journey instead of sitting beside it.

The mechanics

The challenges

  1. Consistency: a unified reach narrative for brands with strong identities.
  2. Connection: linking brand commitment to the sales funnel.
  3. Templating: a modular structure (manifesto, history, know-how) that can be spread across every medium: home page, e-mail, social media.

The plan

The document was built in 12 days, then presented over 2 days to the brand and marketing teams:

  • Reach analysis: a web structure with the e-shop at the centre, surrounded by layers of information (news, evergreen information) and distribution (banners, e-mail, native display).
  • Content aggregation: the list of possible communication entry points, sorted by type. Brand communication (manifesto, foundation), product communication (origin, price transparency), customer-proximity communication (customer content, swapping, repair).
  • Benchmark of the leaders: a study of brands known for their commitment, such as Patagonia (1% for the planet), Benetton (diversity in power) or Levi’s (music education), to decode how they communicate.

Structuring communication through templates, the Patagonia example: a single structure for themed landing pages (purpose, products, storytelling, videos, UGC, ambassadors).

Depending on brand DNA: the grid of communication entry points, sorted into brand communication, product communication and customer-proximity communication, between evergreen pages and the news feed.

An example of a brand that tells its story through its products and services: Levi's, with the 501, the Tailor Shop and its values.

The "Manifesto" and "History" entry points: Everlane, Décathlon, Maison Standards, Lacoste and Petit Bateau.

Evidence and deliverables

  • Benchmark of the leaders: the commitments of Patagonia, American Apparel, Benetton, Décathlon and Levi’s, and how each one stages them.
  • The reach structure: the diagram of flows between the e-shop and the communication channels.
  • The entry-point grid: communication topics sorted between the news feed and evergreen pages.

The impact

The document was shared with the brand and marketing directors. It leaves them a way of reading commitment on the web: one commitment, repeated, placed in a space the user understands, and linked to the purchase.

It also fed another piece of work: the modularity of brand communication.