41// How to Create a Nnormal Community
How Lymbus has helped Nnormal keep community at the heart of the brand
Hey pals,
It’s been a chaotic few weeks, but we’re finally winding down for Christmas. The tree is up, mince pies are out and shops are claustrophobically chockablock (I always forget how hectic the holidays can be).
In a short space of time, Nnormal has created a core following of fans that are beyond simply Kilian wannabes. It takes careful planning and continual improvement to create a community like this, and Lymbus, the communications agency behind Nnormal, has done a great job at both on a start-up budget.
This week I spoke with Laura Font, Director of Lymbus, and the rest of the Lymbus crew to hear about their work on building Nnormal’s fanbase.
Hope you have a great weekend,
Matt
Over the past 20 years, the idea of ‘community’ has changed. The decline of traditional social institutions accelerated as we began to live our lives online communicating with friends, loved ones and strangers through texts, emails, snaps and dms. As such where we belong and what communities we feel affiliated to has been shorn from physical places to online spaces.
With this community-deficiency, people have sought to tie parts of their identities to people and brands that share their beliefs or passions. They follow, like, share, comment on what others like them are talking about online giving the feeling they are contributing to something; they feel like they are part of a likeminded community.
Simultaneously brands are looking for alternative ways to communicate with their customers as traditional methods become expensive and inefficient. The growing influence of online media on everyone’s everyday lives has given brands a way in to connect with their target audience in a way that can feel mutually beneficial, giving rise to the notion of ‘branded communities’.
For start-ups, like Nnormal, creating and managing a fan base around your brand is a low-cost way of getting people to know your brand and grow your business. However if attempted without understanding the nuance of community building, it can leave a brand looking desperate and like Steve Buscemi in that infamous gif.
Cultivating a shared connection with a brand authentically without it feeling forced is a unique skill, one Lymbus, the agency behind Nnormal, does with panache.
It all starts with Kilian…
Nnormal's journey begins with Lymbus, founded a decade ago to address the needs of outdoor athletes who struggled to deal with their sponsorship commitments outside their race performance (hence the name 'Lymbus,' inspired by the idea of limbo). Initially, Lymbus focused on helping Kilian Jornet navigate the world of sponsorship, public relations, content creation, and more. This collaboration set the stage for a journey that would eventually lead to their partnership on Nnormal.
Over time, Lymbus expanded its scope, always staying true to the niche of outdoor sports and focusing on nature, people, and values. Today, the agency represents brands, athletes, and organizations that seek to champion a more conscious outdoor lifestyle. As Kilian Jornet embarked on his own projects, Lymbus evolved into a crucial part of Nnormal, contributing to the brand's multifaceted development.
Why did Nnormal build a community in the first place?
From its inception, Nnormal recognised that it was more than just a brand selling running products; it was on a mission to inspire people to enjoy and respect nature. Nnormal's desire to cultivate a community is it’s primary method to achieving this ambition, but equally serves the brand in multiple ways, such as:
Gathering consumer feedback and understanding their experiences.
Involving the community in the brand's creation journey.
Helping customers achieve their goals and aspirations through products and experiences.
Nnormal's commitment to its community attempts to go beyond the transaction towards fostering genuine relationships and a sense of belonging around their shared beliefs.
Tactics for Building the Nnormal Community
Nnormal acknowledges that building a community is a long-term endeavor. The brand's current focus is on creating a well-structured nucleus, which includes improving the process of making new customers part of the Nnormal community. This involves everyday community management of Instagram and a Telegram channel, but also creating online incentives and in-person experiences to create more tangible ways for Nnormal customers to engage with the brand
Recently, the brand took its community engagement to new heights during the UTMB event in Chamonix, France. Nnormal's initiatives at UTMB exemplify their dedication to fostering connections, sharing experiences, and eliciting valuable product feedback from a community united by a love for trail running and environmental responsibility.
Firstly, Nnormal's Telegram community saw a significant evolution during UTMB with it’s first in-person meet-ups, providing a unique opportunity to deepen their online connections and share experiences face-to-face.
Secondly, in the scenic trails of Chamonix, Nnormal also orchestrated a gathering of trail runners from across the world with its "Shoe Test & Community Run." Nearly 60 community members participated, testing Nnormal's shoe models and fostering new friendships.
Thirdly, at the Vox cinéma, Nnormal took center stage with "Elevate Earth: Racing for Resilience," hosting a captivating discussion on trail running and sustainability. With over 120 attendees, the event provided a platform for the community to connect with Nnormal athletes on a personal level, showcasing the brand's dedication to raising awareness about environmental sustainability within the trail running community.
Finally, Nnormal launched the "No Trace Chase" initiative during UTMB. Through Instagram Live, participants in Chamonix embarked on a quest to locate Nnormal's athletes across the town. The first to arrive received a pair of shoes, while others, armed with the correct "password" – "Your Path No Trace" – earned caps.
This in-person activation served Lymbus's short and long-term goals of increasing Nnormal’s brand awareness, fostering a sense of belonging, building brand loyalty, obtaining priceless customer feedback, and getting new community members to join their cause.
Measuring the impact on brand and business
While all this bonhomie is fun, the activities all serve a purpose, each playing a part in building Nnormal’s fledgling brand and business.
Lymbus mentioned that to measure the success of these initiatives they look beyond simply counting the number of community members. Currently, key metrics include consumer loyalty and the impact on customer support, such as a reduction in support tickets. In the long run, Nnormal is keen to continue evolving and refining its approach to measuring the impact of community activities to the bottom-line.
When a brand typically starts to ‘build a community’ the internal sales pitch will be to improve retention metrics and increase the revenue each customer generates. However, for Nnormal, these measures are not the primary goal. “NNormal doesn't want to measure on these terms or create a community so they can sell more” Laura Font, Director of Lymbus stated in an email, “but rather create a connection between the brand and its consumers. The idea is to have long lasting relationships going beyond a regular outdoor gear brand.”
To evidence this point, Laura pointed to the recent ‘Nnormal training insights’ email series that gives new customers 20 weeks of training, nutrition and wellbeing tips crafted by Killian to enhance customer’s experience of the brand. Additionally, the new Kboix initiative that is seeking 150 participants to test Nnormal’s Kboix shoes and gather community feedback before they launch early next year, demonstrates how the community plays a central figure in how the brand grows.
In Laura’s words, “the idea is that the community will always be present in anything the brand wants to do.”
As Nnormal's community grows, maintaining inclusivity, personalisation, and impact in community initiatives becomes a core challenge. Underpinning this is a common issue in branded communities of keeping the group from feeling transactional when the basis for membership is contingent on their relationship to the brand.
Despite its small size compared to industry giants such as Hoka and Nike, Nnormal's ability to rapidly cultivate a close-knit community without it feeling forced positions it uniquely. The challenge lies in preserving this ethos as the brand continues to grow, ensuring that the community remains central to every facet of Nnormal's journey and attractive for members to continue taking part.