Information: This report is outdated – you can find the current sustainability report here.
VAUDE’s marketing messages comes down to one common denominator: "Performance meets ecology". This means that VAUDE manufactures high-performance gear produced under exemplary and fair ecological criteria in accordance with "Best Available Technology" (BAT) – i.e. highest possible performance coupled with ecological and socially responsible production.
Without an awareness of fair and environmentally friendly production, there would be no demand for sustainable products. As a manufacturer, we serve as a role model for responsible outdoor experiences that our customers can sense through our communications.
To help us communicate consistently – both in marketing and in other company sectors – we use a set of guidelines that are fully described in our Corporate Identity (CI). This way, we can send messages to the media, and also communicate with customers, “from one source”.
GRI: | DMA Marketing |
The VAUDE CI consists of three elements:
We not only implement the content of these guidelines, but also through our choices of means of communication. For environmental considerations, we try to replace print products with digital media as much as possible. This has helped us to reduce our paper consumption.
In the VAUDE rules and standards, specific guidelines are set regarding how sustainability should be lived out, visualized and communicated. To involve our employees in the Corporate Identity, all content is updated regularly and passed on to all employees in company training sessions with the VAUDE Academy.
Specifically, we provide information about the following content that is important for each corresponding product:
Sustainability is also a guiding theme in our choice of advertising. The way we depict athletes is not aggressive, but focuses on mindful relationships with nature and mindful experiences within nature.
We organize our advertising shoots to be as environmentally friendly as possible and convey this approach in our images. For example, our bikers don’t ride off-trail through pristine nature, but stay on existing trails; the ski tourers we depict don’t rely on ski lifts, etc.
Raising awareness
Our images do not display athletic aggressiveness, but show a mindful experience of nature. |
In order for the content of our marketing to come across authentically, it makes sense that our employees also identify with this philosophy.
To promote this, we offer them continuous mountain sports and bike sports activities to take part in. These trips are organized sustainably, for example, by using eco-friendly transportation. The shared outdoor experiences raise awareness in our employees for the preservation of nature as a "playground" for future generations.
The VAUDE Academy offers sustainability training courses for all employees. In addition, our sales representatives and international distributors receive training every six months about new information on product sustainability, environmental protection and social responsibility.
VAUDE provides training materials for all relevant product segments that communicates sustainability aspects of each product group.
The individual courses cover the following themes:
Contents are directly taught by VAUDE sales representatives and international partners in product training workshops to salespeople in outdoor, bike and leather goods stores.
Through our product presentations at tradeshows, in the VAUDE order rooms and in the VAUDE stores, we communicate just how committed we are to sustainability.
Sustainability is put into practice in both the presentation of the VAUDE collection, as well as in the design of exhibition stands at tradeshows. This applies to the use of environmentally friendly raw materials, as well as the environmentally friendly production of information items such as banners and displays.