3 questions for... Pierre-François le Louët President of the NellyRodi forecasting agency

‘Our overall mission: inspire the companies that call upon us’.

Agencies like NellyRodi were once defined as design offices and trend book editors, but today they are diversifying to help clients evolve their business structures. These agencies’ goal is to constantly push the boundaries of forecasting.

Can you tell us about the major changes within NellyRodi over the past 10 years?

Companies like mine began as trends agencies. However, we have always been rooted in modernity − not just focused on products and apparel. Increasing our skills sets has always been part of our DNA, so there was never a clear change of direction.

The main revolution has been the changes in marketing. Today, half of my NellyRodi colleagues have marketing backgrounds; but when I arrived in 2001, everyone around me had creative credentials. Our overall mission, however, has never changed: inspire the companies that call upon us. And that applies to an increasingly diverse range of sectors: hotels, cosmetics, technology, transportation, and, of course, textiles, apparel, interior design, home decor and luxury goods.

The different ways we assist them fall into three levels. First, there’s everything involved with understanding the modern era: how consumers evolve, new technologies, new aesthetics, the markets and emerging values, and also understanding how retail is evolving, both physically and digitally. Next, there’s everything concerning the development of brands’ strategies and offers. That means working with brand platform and style concepts in line with the times and the brand’s unique qualities. We help marketing departments understand product segmentation, how often to renew products, what are the brand codes, etc. Finally, a third component is to help develop future or existing products. In summary, we pay attention to the times, the brand, and the products.

What was the reasoning behind this evolution and how did you adapt along the way?

Our evolution is closely tied to that of business structures; that means we can always give them the most appropriate answers to their questions. We’re careful to stand apart from our competitors and to establish our own independent identity. That’s why, for each of NellyRodi’s three levels of involvement, we have set up the most effective tools. We have trend books for products; an annual lifestyle publication for understanding our era, backed by a research department of experts; and a digital cluster. Recently, we launched a partnership with Opinion Way to invest in Soon Soon Soon, a company specializing in detecting trends and innovations all over the world, thanks to its 800 scouts.

Our goal is to constantly deepen our understanding of the times to best assist clients facing nonstop changes in their professions. That means we’re in synergy with businesses’ structural changes. And that’s why we’re always extremely concerned with the quality of the relationships we have with those businesses. Trust is the core of everything in our profession, and our clients know they can count on us when an important question comes up.

The services you give your clients range from pure forecasting all the way to products. What are your boundaries? Is becoming a business partner in these companies the next logical step?

The extent of NellyRodi’s role is set by our professionals, since our team members have very specialized skills. We have one rule: we don’t act in place of our clients. We pull back when our involvement becomes too hands-on.

With regards to this question, we launched NellyRodi MoneyBox, an investment subsidiary for very minor participation in start-up capital for innovative business models. We don’t stop at just financing; we also put our expertise in defining strategy at their service. And if those business models go beyond the start-up stage to the next level, we happily invest more capital, because that’s our vocation. That’s what happened with Michel and Augustin. We invested in them 10 years ago with other very minority shareholders, and then we got out and let Artémis, the family run Kering Group (ex-PRR), move in, as they were better suited for the company’s needs.

And we remain very active in forecasting, working from every angle. For example, on 30 June we’ll introduce ‘The Creative Journey’, a half-day event at the Petit Palais. The format will include talks, presentations, and performances with a mix of personalities from different disciplines. You might meet Perla Servan-Schreiber, founder of ‘Clés’ magazine, designer Jacquemus, or serial entrepreneur Ramdane Touhami, who just launched the Buly perfume store.