In the shoes of a CMO

‍

Barbara Sayous (Groupe Voltaire): “My challenge is keeping a brand distinctive in a highly emotional market”

‍

Founded in 2010, the Groupe Voltaire has established itself as a distinctive player in the premium saddle market. With seven brands, 250 employees, and a strong international presence, particularly in the United States, the group operates in a niche industry where customers choose not only a product, but also a brand identity and community.

Having joined the company ten years ago, Barbara Sayous gradually took over the marketing leadership. Today, as Group Marketing Director and Director of the Forestier brand, she oversees both the global strategy and the repositioning of a historic equestrian brand in a market where purchasing decisions are driven as much by emotion and belonging as by technical performance.

‍

What are the main challenges you face today?

‍

Barbara Sayous:
The main challenge is keeping a brand distinctive in a highly emotional market. In the saddle industry, brands can quickly start to look alike, so we need to stay modern, continue attracting younger generations, and avoid aging alongside our customer base. That is exactly what happened to Forestier in the 2000s. The brand aged with its clients and stopped being desirable for younger riders.

Since then, we have focused heavily on branding, innovation, and differentiation to avoid repeating that pattern. Another challenge is positioning multiple brands within the group, such as Voltaire Design and Forestier, on similar markets without creating internal competition. Each brand needs a clear positioning, a strong identity, and well defined customer segments.

‍

How do you build desirability in such a specific market?

‍

B.S.:
We sell more than just a product. A saddle is a highly technical and custom-made object, but customers rarely choose based only on rational criteria. We also sell a promise of performance and a sense of belonging.

This market is heavily influenced by ambassadors, very much like Formula 1. The choice of a saddle is closely linked to the riders using it. Professional riders therefore play a key role in shaping brand perception.

We rely heavily on community engagement. We regularly consult our customers, build projects with them, and stay very close to the field. For example, when redesigning a website or refining an offer, we conduct surveys to understand their expectations and frustrations in detail.

We also invest strongly in younger riders, especially those under 25, because they are the future influencers and prescribers of the market. We launched initiatives such as “La Relève” to highlight emerging talents. We also develop differentiating projects like “Dream Job” and “Forestier Inside,” which gives passionate riders access behind the scenes of top professional riders, a world that is usually very closed off.

‍

Groupe Voltaire is highly international. How do you adapt marketing across countries?

‍

B.S.:
It is a major challenge. We need to adapt to very different cultures. In the UK, horse riding is deeply rooted culturally, with long established traditions. In the United States, the market is more premium, with wealthier customers.

These differences even influence usage patterns. In the US, one rider may own one saddle per horse, while in Europe the same saddle is often used for several horses.

We therefore rely on local teams in each country to manage social media and operational marketing, because they understand the local market, culture, and customer expectations. At the same time, we maintain a strong global direction to preserve brand consistency, especially regarding positioning and image. Finding the right balance between local adaptation and global brand consistency is not always easy.

‍

How do marketing and field teams work together?

‍

B.S.:
We work very closely with the field teams. At Groupe Voltaire, they are not salespeople but “saddle experts.” They undergo more than a month of training to analyze both the rider’s and the horse’s needs and adapt the product accordingly.

For product launches, we build the messaging together. Marketing brings the vision and positioning, while field teams bring the reality of customer usage.

In return, field teams continuously share feedback on customer expectations, market trends, and industry changes. This allows us to adjust our offers and messaging. The real challenge is collecting enough reliable insights to make relevant decisions.

‍

What role does innovation play in your strategy?

‍

B.S.:
Innovation is essential, but it is not only about technology. We work extensively on materials, lightness, grip, and increasingly on sustainability topics, especially leather alternatives and ways to reduce our environmental impact.

We have also evolved our business model. Today, customers no longer necessarily buy one saddle for life. We offer rental and trade in programs, allowing riders to renew their equipment more frequently or adapt it to their horse’s evolution. This now represents a significant share of our sales and fundamentally changes our commercial approach. It also helps smooth a historically long sales cycle.

‍

How are you approaching artificial intelligence?

‍

B.S.:
We are in a transition phase. We already implemented a chatbot on our website, trained with our product data and customer questions. It significantly reduced support requests.

We also use AI for internal tools, for example to estimate the trade in value of a saddle based on its condition, model, and age. But it remains a support tool. In our market, purchasing decisions are highly emotional and involve long decision cycles. The final decision remains human.

‍

What do you expect from external partners and agencies?

‍

B.S.:
First, we expect them to understand our industry. It is a very specific market, with its own vocabulary, habits, and codes that are not obvious when you are unfamiliar with it.

We also expect them to challenge us, bring an outside perspective, and push us out of our comfort zone. It is a fairly traditional sector, so that is important.

Finally, for highly technical subjects such as SEO, marketing automation, and retargeting, we need true specialists. These are areas where we still have significant room for improvement.

‍

How do you build your marketing teams?

‍

B.S.:
We recruit primarily based on personality and passion for the equestrian world, more than on résumés or academic backgrounds. In this industry, understanding the product and the field is essential.

It is also deeply connected to the group’s culture, which is about helping employees express their full potential. I personally joined the company ten years ago as an apprentice and grew within the organization.

We would rather hire someone we can train who already understands our world than someone with a highly academic profile but no connection to the field.

‍