Volcom – Guerrilla Marketing Reaps Rich Dividends
A visit to the website of clothing manufacturer Volcom will confuse anybody but their target customer. This young company has become such an expert in lifestyle marketing that people don’t quite realize what they are selling until they have walked off with a sizeable supply of surf and skateboard related goodies.
Volcom was founded in 1991 by two avid surfers and skateboarders. This California based company is the brainchild of Richard ‘Wooly’ Woolcott and Tucker ‘T-Dawg’ Hall. They have used their own experiences taking part in skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing competitions to make their company’s logo and motto ‘Youth Against Establishment’ an inescapable feature of gatherings of enthusiasts of these sports. Let the kids ride free, LTKRF, a movement sponsored by them is immensely popular with kids for obvious reasons.
The reason for its astounding success is that Volcom extends its reach far beyond just apparel but to the entire board sports subculture. It sponsorship of a lot of tournaments makes it’s name almost synonymous with these sports. This company is not lacking for publicity as a result of this, but it must certainly have helped when an athlete it sponsored, Shaun White, won a gold medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Volcom is so immersed in this aspect of youth culture that it even owns record labels that have a few successful bands signed up with them. This clothing company has produced at least 15 DVDs on these sports that their core customers are interested in.
It is not difficult to understand why Volcom needs to go this way in order to succeed. The market it caters to, the youth is extremely choosy and has a lot of money to spend. Any company that wishes to compete against the biggies in this business will have to fork out a lot of money for spending on advertisements. This is obviously not the way to succeed in this business, as Volcom has taught its competitors.
This company’s website is like no other. Its website is actually a place where kids and board sports enthusiasts can hang out and interact with each other. They can download a whole lot of free movies there, and there is even a section where they can upload their art. There is actually more importance given to the latest happenings in the board sports world as well as future events in these same sports. There is hardly any prominence given to the merchandise on sale, which is what makes this company so successful.
This company has done far more daring things in the past. There are instances of them giving away promotional T Shirts just outside a competition venue that was sponsored by another company.
Needless to say, there is the ever present danger that even the most successful company will be overtaken by its competitors. Volcom is aware of this and has adjusted its marketing suitably. It has also increased its product range to include a wider audience of potential customers. It will be interesting to see whether this company will be able to continue the impressive growth figures it has shown until now.
Author Bio: I am basically a graduate at the University of Hamburg and you can get awesome articles and valid information from the ones which I submit specially for you to take a look at. Check out Volcom Images, Volcom Graphics or Volcom Pictures.
Category: Marketing
Keywords: vintage, fashion trends, create a style, vintage ensemble, cheap prices, flea markets