Posté en tant qu’invité par Sébastien:
Vite, quelqu’un va me reveiller pour me dire que c’etait un mauvais reve…
Trouvé sur Ukclimbing.com:
‹ Just got back from an absolutely top trip down in La Pelud meeting up with old mates and crossing off gaps in the hit list and just had to share some (what I thought was) remarkable news. My old mate Phillipe, who works as a kind of dogsbody for Petzl (bit of this bit of that, lots of free gear), told me that plans are beyond the drawing board stage for the introduction of a « Burberry » styled range of Petzl climbing equipment. Well. Imagine the horror. I pointed out to Phillipe, mistakenly (he is a marketing graduate), that British climbers would simply not buy the stuff, on the basis that it was poncey poser labelling which climbers here in Britain avoid with a passion. He assured me that a considerable amount of market research had been undertaken by Petzl, and this had shown that, in terms of life style, a recognisable brand name attached to their specialized equipment might sell significantly better than it currently does, bearing in mind that the name of « Petzl » doesnt carry the same cache as some of its competitors. I pointed out that none of the alleged competitors carried « Cache » anyway. He responded by informing me that Petzl were expanding their profile, in much the same way that Lowe and North Face had done previously.
Apparently their market research had involved the frequent monitoring of popular climbing fora (forums for the picky), and the analysis of a large number of questionnaires issued in stores and climbing publications.
As soon as I got home I contacted Burberry and asked their marketting people if they could confirm if any of this was true. Unremarkably, they refused to comment, familiar as they are with people prying into their obviously hugely successful business.
Having had time to reflect on this information I am increasingly feeling more convinced that Phillipe was simply commenting on what was happening « at work », rather than attempting to put the wind up me, (wind is something I could use less of as opposed to more, or so my wife says). ›