She is on the water, he is on land. She recounts her adventure, he magnifies it. David Lupion, influencer and community manager from Brest, is part of the team of three communicators who support Violette Dorange on a daily basis during her Vendée Globe. He is responsible for polishing his “reels” on social networks. A partnership born in August 2023, when the sailor obtained her Imoca, DeVenir, Jean Le Cam’s former sailboat.
For her first Vendée Globe, the sailor from Charente-Maritime has several exploits: she is the youngest sailor in the history of sailing around the world, non-stop and without assistance, but she also hits the scores on social networks. “It’s the incredible, super inspiring story of a young woman who does everything to achieve her dreams.”says David Lupion, the influencer with 22,000 subscribers on Instagram, better known under the pseudonym Davlupp. A good story telling, a beautiful story to tell, but which hides nothing: “It’s really her, she exudes something in the way she speaks. And people, the media are latching on to it, social media is exploding.”
600,000 subscribers on social networks
As there is a King Jean (Le Cam) for his long career at sea, there is undoubtedly already a young Queen Violette of social networks, if we turn to the extraordinary numbers of its subscribers. Around 600,000 on all platforms combined, to the point that its community manager has difficulty keeping up to date. “We are currently around 250,000 on Facebook, we must be at 250,000 on Instagram, we must be at 150,000 on Tiktok, quite a few on LinkedIn… It’s a constantly evolving community.” And which broke out on the day of the publication of a video on October 22, the one where she introduces herself, where she presents her project to the general public.
We see her, we see her smile, her sparkling eyes, her boat, Everest and key words, references that hit the mark: “I’m Violette, I’m 23 years old and I’m about to discover Everest. So not quite like Inoxtag, since I’m the Everest of the seas, a trip around the world, alone on my boat. The Vendée Globe! I’m the youngest participant in history, it’s amazing, I never imagined that. The start is on November 10th. I’m going to share with you everything about my preparation but especially about my adventure at sea for months. So if you want to follow me, don’t hesitate to subscribe.” All the codes are there, familiarity, encouragement to react, simple words and above all the reference to Inoxtagthe YouTuber with nearly nine million subscribers, who climbed Everest (the mountain) and made a film of it that became a real event among young people. “We got two million views on this reel“, explains Davlupp, “and out of those two million views, there are 44,000 who clicked follow right after seeing this video. I’ve never seen that in my life.”
“Try to blend in at 4,000%”
During the races, during the preparation, it’s Davlupp who takes care of his social networks in particular since the sailor took over Jean Le Cam’s boat in August 2023. Violette Dorange takes control again during her vacations in particular, when she has time. At the moment, she can’t go around the world and post videos, so it’s the Brestois who manages.
More you have to blend into the character, so as not to make “plan plan” communication, explains the Brestois. “I have to learn the way Violette speaks. Sarah, who is her communications manager, gave me lots of ways Violette expresses herself. When Violette sends me vocals, I try to have the same key words that I use when I write her scripts for videos. I try to listen to what she may have sent me before to try to use the same hooks. For the songs, she sent me playlists. things that she listens to so that all the music matches her personality. So in fact, it’s really trying to blend in 4,000%. The idea is really that people don’t see when it is. Me.”
David Lupion was recruited a year and a half ago to his in-depth knowledge of social networks and virality. He also works for MerConcept, he worked for the Brest Maritime Festival in July 2024 and his own Instagram account where he shares his love for his city, Brest, has more than 22,000 subscribers. He was also recruited because he is not an ocean racing specialist. “It’s a bit criticized, but I start from the principle that I don’t talk about sailing, I don’t talk to sailors because I’m not a sailor… And yet I work a lot with the community. I don’t I don’t necessarily want to know anything about it because I don’t want to fall into the cliché of being too technical, speak to a small community.”
“As viral as possible”
He plays in the videos, the register of adventure and emotion : “My goal is really to speak to as many people as possible. What makes me dream about sailing is not the athlete, it’s the adventure, everything that emerges from it and in particular the emotion . Violette, she’s so funny. I want us to be able to laugh on the networks Sometimes, she experiences things that are really scary on board, I’m going to try to make that emotional. had sent a very simple video where she told us that she had fear, seeing waves like she had never seen before. This content, in fact, we reworked it a little, it got a million views at the time!”.
As a social media specialist, he seeks to expand the audience: “With reels, it’s looking for other communities, trying to be funny, trying to make people cry, make people laugh, make people wow!”
However, some subscribers of Violette Dorange are looking for more information. This is the work of two other colleagues of David Lupion: “We are a team of three for communication, with Sarah, the communications manager at the head of the project and Manon who assists me with very informational communication, on Facebook, on LinkedIn”, for the public which is very demanding daily information, cartography, position, adventure, etc.
To watch, in an upcoming reel of Violette, her dreams in the middle of the Atlantic… To be continued!
Aurélie Lagain
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