The Body Shop - From Inspiration to Bankruptcy

What happened to The Body Shop brand story?

Those who know me, books aren't one of my primary sources of information. It largely comes from conversations I have with people, what I see on the internet thanks to the power of YouTube and so many such wonderful social content creators around us. So, what is it that 'X' factor that I will be able to bring to the table on a topic such as this one and share against such an audience? Before we dive into what I actually wanted to share regarding the story here...I just want to add a few points to validate my reason as to why I would like to voice my opinion.

I have been a student of this big world of branding and communications for a little over 15 years now. I have had the privilege of working with an array of brands ranging across industry be it: FMCG, Automobiles, Publishing, Retail, F&B, Warehousing & Logistics to name a few. Each experience opened a door towards a world of opportunity and learning that I feel at times is the practical experience we all need and I was privileged to get these exposures from time to time. So let's begin...

What happened to The Body Shop brand story? Why has a brand like them filed for bankruptcy? First let's take a short and quick introduction as to why did the brand happen in the first place itself.

The Body Shop brand first began back in 1976 by Anita Roddick. She wanted a brand that stood for all things that was ethically sourced, cruelty-free, and natural ingredients. None of her products were tested on animals, and the ingredients were sourced directly from producers.

Cut to today, why has the brand filed for bankruptcy in the US and in Canada? And what does that have to do with us as brand managers, coaches or leaders? in our lives because, brands come and go just like the people who run them and only a handful survive through different tides. Branding as we know is one of the core elements for any company's transformation from where they are to where they want to go. Branding establishes them amongst a sea of players and works towards enabling a sense of credibility.

So, for The Body Shop brand story it's all about

A) What Worked?

B) What Didn't Work?

A) What Worked?

1) A Clean Brand Story:

So what are the ingredients towards having a good brand story? There are many combinations but, the popular few which perhaps hold everything together are namely: an impactful origin story, a good and right mix of colours that represent your business, and a solid content story that works as a framework to hold fruit to who you are is perhaps the mix we need to having a good brand story. The Body Shop brand built it's market reach and acceptance clearly based on this impact that they had to have a strong origin story. Everyone loves a good story and the brand realised it had the perfect story to tell.

2) Loyal Customer Base:

Ensuring all parameters are met and understood the whole system then starts to operate like a like well oiled and well balanced engine. It ensures to deliver a committed and dedicated customer experience time after time and every country they go into they ensure their DNA stay unchanged thereby resulting in only way forward: upward towards growth! To ensure this was sustained the brand launched its in-house loyalty schemes and time to time discounted offers that just ensured more happy customers.

B) What Didn't Work?

1) Lack To Adapt?

Every successful brand has taken time to establish it's credentials as an organisation of repute. At the same time they have also ensured to keep an eye out towards changing trends and marketing requirement. In the case of The Body Shop brand story...it was important to note that though the brand enjoyed a great market share it over the time felt incapable to meet the modern market changes. Though the brand did run a loyalty program to keep it's audience committed to their forum they largely lost out because of how they slowly but, surely were creating a disconnect with their audience. More and more new brands launched in it's space and the market was slowly getting full and each brand offered their own style of customer delight experience which inturn The Body Shop brand was ignoring.

2) Aggressive Expansion

It's no doubt that when a brand becomes big and gains global mileage, they have to ensure both the brand and its stakeholders should have the ability to feed that expansion story. The Body Shop group grew well and effectively to become a global brand of repute. With time came different thinking investors who had their own way to get the job done and to sustain a growing market. Sometimes some associations are only that good enough and are helpful to add value and merit to what you do. Sometimes such expansions can show results that were least expected.

In Conclusion:

All of the above is what slowly but, surely saw the decline of a brand that was once a game changer of it's kind in the market. A brand that stood for a clean and better earth and tomorrow and at it's core ensured a good product. But, it also became a brand that got lost in the race to keeping up with its stakeholders asks and the growing demand that perhaps at some point it created a divide within it's own fraction first before even having its cracks visible on the outside.

Can the brand be saved today?

Sadly, that ship seems to have just sailed into the tide without it's roars or radar system thereby allowing it only so much momentum after which when everything comes to a stillness the brand will find its conclusion.

Such is the story of what was once perhaps going to be a landmark long term brand that would give a befitting fight back to an enormously huge corporate establishment that literally functions like a well-oiled machine.

Building Brand Stories!

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