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Back Market, the refurbished smartphone and electronics specialist, has hired Havas-owned creative agency Buzzman as its strategic and creative agency across Europe and the U.S.
The company offers refurbished technology to six million customers with a brand focus to fight against overconsumption and over-manufacturing of new products to support the growth of the circular economy.
Launched in 2014 by Thibaud Hug de Larauze, Quentin Le Brouster and Vianney Vaute, Back Market aims to offer high-quality professionally refurbished electronic devices and appliances to consumers in 16 countries (the U.S., France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Japan, Finland, Ireland, Greece, Slovakia and Sweden). It has a team of 650 employees across its five offices located in New York, Berlin, Paris, Bordeaux, France and Barcelona, Spain.
The company raised $510 million in January, taking it to a valuation of $5.7 billion, making it one of the highest valued French unicorns (start-ups valued at over $1 billion).
Extending tech lifespans
The appointment, which follows a creative pitch, will see the agency take over from Marcel in Paris and handed the responsibility for the development and orchestration of the communications strategy for the company. This will result in a brand campaign being produced to run in September across both territories.
In a statement, Donatienne Vaute, head of communications Europe at Back Market, said: “We’re really thrilled to partner with Buzzman to turn our company’s mission of empowering humanity to save machines through circularity and repair into a compelling story that everyone can understand and take part in. We are excited to engage people through bold and unexpected creative campaigns.”
Through a new communication strategy Buzzman will aim to convey the Back Market mission to engage consumers in “a more virtuous approach” by promoting the extension of the lifespan of the company’s technological products through the purchase of refurbished technological devices, or the sale of their old devices.
The European markets to receive the campaign will be France, U.K., Germany, Spain and Italy alongside the U.S.
