Only what you need
Branding X Humanity 01
With a feeling of contentment in his heart, the young man stood on the beach in the estuary and looked out over the ocean. This morning’s eel harvest had been rewarding with no less than seven eels in three hours. It made him appreciate the effort he and some of the other young men had put into repairing the dams when their clan had returned to this site a few weeks ago. After making sure the dams were working properly, the man had placed funnel shaped baskets at the two entrances. The shape allowed the smaller eels to escape and mature to their full size, guaranteeing eel harvests in the future.
This fictitious story illustrates the frugality of the indigenous peoples of Australia before their land was colonized by the British. My guess is It also applies to other indigenous peoples around the world. They are people who used to live off the land. So, they depended on and had to work with Nature to ensure they would always be provided with sufficient sustenance, such as food, clothing, tools and building materials. This meant they only used what they needed, so as to not deplete vital resources, and that they lived by the seasons. Very often, this involved migrating within their own territory from season to season. For example, they would return to their farmland to harvest their crops in the autumn, or move to the part of their land that had a plentiful supply of fresh water at the beginning of summer. From a practical point of view, they would travel lightly, only taking along what they really needed.
Travel further by travelling lightly
Fast forward several hundred years later to modern-day Australia where many young people go backpacking to see as much as possible of the world before embarking on their working life. Among them used to be a young surfer named Ryan Scanlon, who would regularly take long periods off work to travel to remote areas around the world in search of great waves. On his travels, he soon found out that he could travel further by travelling lightly with just his surfboard and a backpack containing the bare essentials.
Two decades later, he left Quiksilver, the company he had worked for, after having rejoined them three times. He had worked for this surf brand in several design roles after studying fine art at university. His work experience and his apprenticeship that had taught him fabric design, pattern making and tailoring proved to be valuable in working on his own creative ideas with his own surfing wetsuit company called needessentials.
Having less stuff and more freedom
needessentials was born from Ryan’s desire to consume less and live simply. To him, it’s about having less stuff and more freedom. Something he put into practice on his travels. Without the intention of starting a company, he began designing surfing products that best suited his own needs. It was not until he began designing those same products for friends and other like-minded people that he founded needessentials. The name represents what the company does, namely create the essentials that surfers need. It is a collaboration of surfers who live simply in connection with Nature, travel and community. Their mission is: “…to ethically make the best possible wetsuits and surfing products at the best price.”
The company achieves this by using mainly natural materials and some recycled plastic, all of which are free from toxic chemicals. For example, it produces wetsuits made from FSC certified, bio-based natural rubber and wetsuits made from limestone neoprene that is harvested in a responsible way. Another example is the ‘Aqua α’ water-based adhesive glue that is used to construct the wetsuits, which is completely free of organic solvents and VOCs. This makes it safe for the wetsuit manufacturing employees, consumers, and the environment. In this way, needessentials works with Nature to minimize its impact on the environment. Also, the manufacture of their wetsuits and other surfing products, such as boardshorts, legropes, fins and wax, takes place in a safe working environment by workers who are fairly renumerated for their labour.
Let surfers do the talking
The products are sold directly to the customers and no money is spent on conventional branding strategies, sale promotion and environmentally unfriendly print advertizing materials, such as swing tags and packaging. Because of this, the price is only a fraction of what other companies charge, while allowing for a decent profit margin. A certain percentage of the profits are donated to a number of organizations with a like-minded purpose. In the end, everybody benefits: customers, employees, the surfing community, the environment and needessentials itself.
What really makes needessentials stand out from the crowd is that they haven’t resorted to what I call ‘fear-based marketing’. This is where companies implement campaigns that talk customers and prospective customers into buying more than they need for fear of missing out or not having enough. Hence, their tagline: Only what you need. Instead, they let surfers do the talking in an authentic form of storytelling with short films about surfers and their adventures. These films are posted as videos on needessentials’ YouTube channel and promoted in their email newsletters and on their Instagram account.
Go far, travel together
The films are created in collaboration with surfers like Torren Martyn, Laurie Towner, Bryce Young and Alby Falzon, and surfboard shapers, filmmakers and musicians. They promote needessentials, surf culture, the surfing lifestyle, the surf community, the arts and living the simple life in harmony with Nature. The result is exceptionally enjoyable and heartwarming content not only for surfers but for other people as well.
As a storyteller and someone who lives simply in connection with Nature, I would love to see more businesses adopting this form of brand storytelling. Not just because of the subject and because it is aesthetically pleasing, but because of the integrity it emanates. First and foremost, needessentials serves the people it was founded for. It is a collective of surfers who contribute to the collective through the application of their individual talents and skills, and receive a fair share of the fruits of their collective labour in return. To me, needessentials embodies a saying that really speaks to me: “If you want to go fast, travel alone. If you want to go far, travel together.” The company is very much like the many indigenous peoples around the world who live by the principal of the individual serving the collective and the collective serving the individual. And this is why I consider needessentials to be a ‘humane business’.
Captivate your audience
Thank you for reading this post. I would love to know your thoughts and feelings on what I have written. So, please comment below or in an email to email@wimbeunderman.com and be sure to subscribe to my blog if you want to be notified of new posts. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram or YouTube. And feel free to contact me if you want me to captivate your audience through powerful brand storytelling.
Wim Beunderman
Straight to the Heart
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