I’ve just had a well-deserved 10-day break in northern France, travelling around the coast, seeing a bit of everything, and soaking up some of that joie de vivre.
And it got me thinking.
Have the French got something slightly better balanced than we have?
There seems to be a real appreciation of local.
You see it in towns, in markets, in restaurants, even the big supermarkets seem proud to stock produce from just down the road.
I’m not anti-chain, far from it. Big multi-location brands matter, but over there they seem to sit alongside the local rather than overwhelm it. You still get a sense of where you are.
It made me think about how we do things here.
The Customer Journey at Local Level.
A guide to generating more balanced and sustainable results from your marketing.
We’ve chased consistency and efficiency – one format, one range, rolled out everywhere. Sensible enough, but have we lost something along the way?
This isn’t simply about independents versus chains; it’s about how much freedom local teams have to make decisions about their own markets.
In my experience, when you trust people locally and give them room to decide, good things happen.
Things feel more relevant to customers. And local teams feel more connected to the brand they represent, not just taking orders from some distant head office.
And of course it’s not either or.
Local teams know their patch; head office has the wider view. The interesting bit is when the knowledge travels both ways.
The obvious challenge is how you do that without it all descending into chaos.
And with all the talk about devolution and local identity, feels like a live and pretty relevant question for brands too. How much really needs to be controlled centrally?
Could giving local teams a bit more say make national brands stronger, not weaker?
I’m not suggesting France has all the answers, but I came home wondering if they’ve got something slightly better balanced.
Four takes. One email.
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