the tote bag, a communication accessory that has become essential

It has become an essential accessory, to the point of sometimes lying around in piles of ten in our closets. The tote bag, this canvas bag with handles, most often worn on the shoulder, is now increasingly replacing handbags, plastic bags and other backpacks. In summer as now, it is worn as a beach bag. But it can quickly turn into a shopping bag or a computer bag.

If it is now everywhere, it is to companies and organizations of all kinds that we owe it, which smelled the potential of this object as a communication tool. “They got into marketing operations. Brands now distribute tons of tote bagsobserves Florian Escoubes, research professor at Toulouse 1 Capitole University and author of studies on promotional items.

Read alsoWhat your company’s tote bag reveals about its image

Originally, however, the tote bag had no marketing ambition, but simply a functional utility – “tote“meaning”tote” Where “lug around” in English. Born at the beginning of the 20th century, it was notably used initially in the United Kingdom by postal workers. Then, in the 1940s, by newspaper carriers, both in Europe and the United States. During the same decade, across the Atlantic, the department store LL Bean had the idea of ​​distributing tote bags to its customers, initially to transport blocks of ice. But “the tote bag was really powered by Jane Birkin, notes Philippe Claveau, professor of marketing at Grenoble Ecole de Management. In the 70s, an actress, model, who walks around with a tote bag, it generates a fashion.»

Ten times more demand in ten years

If brands began to seize it from the 70s and 80s, it is only recently that it has become a popular communication tool. “I’d say it’s been spreading for about a good decade or so“says Géraldine Michel, professor at the IAE Paris Sorbonne, where she is director of the Brands and Values ​​Chair. An observation confirmed by professionals in the promotional item sector. “Over the past ten years, requests received for the creation of tote bags have multiplied by ten. Nothing is done without a tote bag“, reports Antony Villeger, president of the 2FPCO (French Federation of professionals of communication by the object).

“Companies know very well that it will allow the brand to circulate in people’s lives, to be alive in the streets, and that people appropriate it. »

Géraldine Michel, professor at the IAE Paris Sorbonne and director of the Brands and Values ​​Chair

Before the tote bag, other advertising items, intended for brand customers but also often for internal communication – for example during back-to-school events or seminars – had their hour of glory. “The gourds have worked enormously. Corporate clothing also remains a classic, as do pens and calendars, always bestsellers. At one point, we had chocolates and tableware, which are holding up well. With the Covid, we also had the mask period“, notes the doctor of management sciences Florian Escoubes. Among the (long) list ofgiveawaysoffered by companies to their employees, marketing professor Philippe Claveau also cites, pell-mell, key rings, diaries, caps, USB keys, external batteries, mugs or even backpacks.

Read alsoDo studies in marketing

For Antony Villeger, president of 2FPCO, “we could attribute the birth of the tote bag movement in France to the moment when E.Leclerc stopped giving plastic bags to its customers, in 1996, for reusable plastic shopping bags“. Even if the distributor was not yet supplying tote bags, the ground was ready, also helped by the growing importance of environmental protection issues. “At the same time, a “do-it-yourself” fashion arrived from the United States. People started making their own bags, with political messages, affirmationcontinues Antony Villeger. Companies have seen the extent of the phenomenon. They said to themselves: “Here, with the tote bag, we can communicate differently”.»

“Not seen as an advertisement”

Because, whether it’s for a cause, an organization or a brand close to their hearts, “people like to speak up, take a stand, say loud and clear what they believe in», notes Géraldine Michel, who notes «a need for identification and belonging“. Everything that the tote bag allows, which you carry around with you everywhere, and which largely explains its success, according to Antony Villeger.

But not only. Its green aspect – a belief that has been widely questioned in recent years – has contributed to this, as well as a shift in the population’s relationship to advertising. “Overall, the French find that there is too much advertising pressure, observes Florian Escoubes. But on the other hand, they still say they want companies to communicate, but more through traditional channels.“The tote bag responds to these aspirations,”in the sense that it is not intrusive, not repetitive, we choose to wear it or not, and it is not seen as an advertisement», Analyzes the expert in the ecosystem of advertising objects.

Read alsoDigital advertising, the Achilles heel of performance in 2022

And on the brand side, what more could you ask for than customers who voluntarily advertise the brand themselves? “Companies know very well that it will allow the brand to circulate in people’s lives, to be alive in the streets, and that people appropriate it.“, explains Géraldine Michel. This is why they are generally free, because “it gives a lot more visibility“, completes the author of the book At the heart of the brand (Dunod, 2022).

The tote bag therefore seems to be the ultimate communication tool for brands. “It will be difficult to dethrone“says Philippe Claveau, from the Grenoble School of Management. Widely acclaimed, it is from this indisputable success that its loss could come. “The risk is that of saturation“, points out Florian Escoubes. Already today,we have at home tote bags to tote bags“, concedes Antony Villeger. Promotional product professionals are aware of this, and are increasingly trying to convert brands into qualitative rather than quantitative ones. Because, as the boss of the 2FPCO points out, “we don’t want the tote bag to become the new plastic bag“.