The Routard, 2020

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Philippe Gloaguen, director of The Routard, faced with his team an unpredicted event that no one expected: the covid 19 crisis. In March 2020, the director faced the French Government’s announcing the lockdown for the whole country with a lot of fear for his brand. The pandemic disrupted The Routard’s strategy and the successful business model they had been following for the past 40 years. Since its creation in the 1970s, the brand always managed to stay the first seller of travel guides in France, always catching up with the latest trends linked to tourism. The brand had built itself on its ability to guide travelers around the world, and to provide them with the best advice. And now the global pandemic was disrupting every certainty the brand ever had about its products’ relevancy. The unexpected challenge arose questions about the current strategy, which became completely irrelevant with the crisis. Most countries were closing their borders worldwide, not allowing anyone to travel anymore, which looked like a catastrophe scenario for the brand. How can a company sell travel guides in a context of lockdowns and travel bans? On the long-term it also rose questions about the future of travel guides, their value in a post-covid world and on the potential of rebranding The Routard to attract more customers. Could the brand reinvent itself after the Covid Crisis? Was this crisis an opportunity to develop new strategies? The crisis was a call to challenge the brand to be more creative to innovate its never questioned strategy.

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