Subcultural enterprises, brand value, and limits to financialized growth: The rise and fall of corporate surfing brands

Abstract

Geographical political economy increasingly scrutinises the socio-spatial contexts for brands and branding. Less understood is the influence of subcultures-neo-tribal groups sharing passions, a leisure pursuit or practice-on enterprise formation and the pathways through which brands emerge, trading on perceived authenticity. Subcultural contexts, we argue, unleash distinctive trajectories of enterprise formation, reputation-building, value-creation, global expansion and accumulation, and ultimately destruction. Here we focus on how particular subcultural values-of authenticity, competition, risk-taking, and active participation in 'scenes'-interact with capitalist growth dynamics, and where over time and space such intersections bring brands unstuck. Using the case of surfing subculture and collapse of corporate surf enterprises (Quiksilver, Billabong), we theorise subcultural brand value creation and its interaction with financialized expansion, culminating in destructive contradictions. Subcultural enterprises with 'authentic', 'back-of-the van' origins convert subcultural values of credibility, localism, risk-taking, and scene participation into brand value. Trading on place-origins and subcultural authenticity, enterprises expanded in two phases. First by widening distribution using specialist 'surf ' retailers, and second by offshoring production, public floating, and debtfinancing brand acquisitions and massive retail expansion. Dictates of shareholders and investment banks spurred market saturation, and high-volume/low-quality goods. Surfing's cherished insouciance gave way to unhinged expansionism and unmanageable debt. The subcultural authenticity that spawned brand popularity was undermined, amplifying financial risk. Disenchanted consumers who once co-created successful brands also co-destroyed them. As subcultural brands proliferate, geographical political economy must be attentive to subcultures as spawning-grounds for enterprises with accompanying limits to market growth, (dis)connections, and values.

Scooty girls are safe girls: risk, respectability and brand assemblages in urban India

“…In doing so, the paper contributes to a geographical scholarship that builds dialogue between biopolitics in Foucault and Deleuze's writing to show that while assemblages have deterritorializing potentials, they also cohere into disciplinary formations, and evoke striating potentials (Legg, 2011). The concept of the brand has been diversified beyond its application to particular commodities, or even just corporate entities (Manning and Uplisashvili, 2007;Pike, 2009;Warren and Gibson, 2017). Brands, that is, pervade everyday life: shaping social connections and relations with non-human entities, as well as with place.…”

“…While the study of brands is relatively new in geography, scholars have long shown that brands have spatial attributes -they link to geographies of belonging and origin -and engage commodities in scalar relations by invoking trans-local mobility and global capital circulations, even as they establish local territorial claims (Warren and Gibson, 2017;Edensor and Kothari, 2006;Pike, 2009). A complementary scholarship in Anthropology has shown also that in constructing semiotic links between material commodities and the 'essences' attributed to them (Mazzarella, 2003), brands are citational and performative (Lury, 2004;Laikwan, 2008).…”

Estudio del comportamiento de consumo del surfista español. Una aproximación desde la perspectiva profesional

“…A este parecer, Warren y Gibson señalan que las marcas de surf encierran una serie de significados (Hardy, Bennett & Robards, 2018) cuya legitimidad es incorporada por parte de aquellos que verdaderamente practican este deporte (Warren y Gibson, 2017). De modo que estas marcas dependen de ese conjunto de consumidores core 3 o nucleares (Donnelly, 2006) para mantener el estatus mítico que, a su vez, atrae a un tipo de consumidor de menor implicación con el deporte como pueden ser los wannabes anteriormente mencionados.…”

"Brand management" aplicado al comportamiento del consumidor de deportes de riesgo. Un estudio de marcas de surf españolas

“…En torno a la gestión de las marcas especializadas, se contempla un fenómeno distintivo relacionado precisamente con la autenticidad. Las marcas de surf encierran una serie de significados cuya legitimidad es incorporada por parte de aquellos que verdaderamente practican este deporte (Warren y Gibson, 2017).…”

“…Los autores llevan a cabo una importante reflexión en torno a los desafíos que la industria del surf ha ido protagonizando, entre los que destaca la pérdida de autenticidad por parte de algunas marcas incluidas en este estudio, como son Quiksilver, Billabong o Rip Curl en el ámbito internacional. Según los investigadores, el hecho de que estas marcas hayan expandido su mercado hacia canales de venta que inicialmente eran ajenos al surf, como los grandes almacenes norteamericanos Macy's o El Corte Inglés en España, ha propiciado cierta pérdida de autenticidad en lo relativo a la percepción de los surfistas, que no legitiman la presencia de marcas de surf en estos establecimientos (Warren y Gibson, 2017). Esta apreciación conecta con la siguiente conclusión con respecto a este estudio, que pone de manifiesto que la desconexión revelada entre las marcas de surf y los consumidores puede ser consecuencia de un interés económico como es el aumento del volumen de ventas en detrimento de una pérdida de credibilidad valorada y únicamente distinguida por el público experto o core.…”