Bertrand Barré holds a unique position in the French landscape of innovation consulting. As the chairman of the board and CEO of Groupe Zebra, he has been leading an organization since the late 1980s that combines product design, brand strategy, and innovation support for companies of various sizes. His background, methods, and recent positions deserve a technical analysis.
Groupe Zebra: Legal Structure and Governance of Bertrand Barré
The exact status of Bertrand Barré within Groupe Zebra is rarely detailed in profiles dedicated to him. He holds the positions of chairman of the board and CEO of the company registered under SIREN 424 216 471, whose headquarters is located at 6 allée du Levant, Parc de la Tour, 69890 La Tour-de-Salvagny.
See also : All the essential sports news and tips to stay updated
This dual mandate gives him complete operational and strategic control over the company. Groupe Zebra employs around fifty staff members divided between innovation consulting and product design, making it one of the notable independent players in the sector in France.
Bertrand Barré also claims the title of Chief Meaning Officer, a role he defined himself to reflect his involvement in seeking meaning within innovation projects. To find all the information about Bertrand Barré, his recent news, and his interventions, following his public speeches provides a precise reading of his orientations.
Further reading : Passez l'info news: discover the latest trends and highlights
Eye-novation Method: The Methodological Framework of Bertrand Barré
Bertrand Barré’s most structured contribution to the field of innovation remains his method called Eye-novation, formalized in his book “Innover juste, pas juste innover”. This approach is based on a combination of Design Thinking and Lean Startup, refined through several decades of practical experience.
Eye-novation aims to de-risk innovation projects by confronting concepts with real usage very early on. While many firms limit themselves to the ideation phase, Groupe Zebra emphasizes market validation before any significant investment in development.
The book targets a specific audience:
- Business leaders looking to revamp their offerings or capture new segments
- Marketing, R&D, and digital professionals facing shortened innovation cycles
- Project managers who need a reproducible process to structure their innovation efforts
We observe that this methodology stands out due to its grounding in physical products and concrete uses, in contrast to the purely digital approaches that have dominated innovation consulting for the past decade.
Bertrand Barré as a Speaker: Innovation and Foresight in Business
Bertrand Barré regularly speaks before networks of leaders and professional associations. In March 2026, he was invited by ESCP Alumni region AURA for an evening in Lyon at the Fourvière Hotel, dedicated to innovation and foresight.
These interventions cover a broad spectrum: innovation, creativity, design, brand strategy, and marketing. Bertrand Barré advocates for a vision of innovation rooted in reality, opposing technological fashion trends. His appearance on the APM (Association Progrès du Management) podcast in January 2026, titled “L’innovation par le réel”, confirms this stance.
His position as a speaker is based on a simple principle: a better-designed product is easier to sell. This conviction, articulated since his early days after a year in advertising, remains the guiding thread of all his public speeches.
Recent Themes and Commitments
Bertrand Barré’s LinkedIn posts show a marked interest in bulk, reuse, and design applied to these sectors. These topics reflect an evolution towards eco-design issues and the transformation of consumption practices.
Groupe Zebra also participates in the Rencontres du Made in France, an event that brings together local manufacturing stakeholders. This positioning on French production and short supply chains aligns with his approach centered on tangible products.
Background and Education: From EFAP to Product Design Consulting
Bertrand Barré graduated from EFAP, class of 1985. His post-graduate journey illustrates a rapid shift: after a year in advertising, he realized that most brands invest in communication for products that do not deliver on their promises.
He then created his own structure, Barré Associés, which would become Groupe Zebra. The choice of the zebra as an emblem is not insignificant: it symbolizes uniqueness and the ability to stand out in a competitive environment.
His typical day, as he describes it, is divided among three activities:
- Client relations and management of strategic accounts
- Leading creative teams and making decisions on creative directions
- Researching innovative concepts suited to the brands he supports
This triptych reflects an entrepreneurial profile that remains involved in production, far from the model of a leader disconnected from operations.
Bertrand Barré and the World of Innovation in France
The positioning of Groupe Zebra in the French design and innovation landscape deserves to be contextualized. The agency presents itself as one of the leading independent players in product design in France, a market where large international firms coexist with small specialized structures.
The Lyon-based presence of Groupe Zebra is a differentiating asset in a sector heavily concentrated in Paris. Proximity to a dense industrial fabric allows for direct access to manufacturing and market launch issues.
Bertrand Barré’s activities also extend to investment, with the company Barré Invest, suggesting a role in capital support in addition to consulting. This dual role, rare in the design and innovation sector, provides him with a financial perspective on the projects he supports.
Bertrand Barré’s journey remains that of a practitioner who has built his legitimacy on the ground, project after project, for over three decades. His Eye-novation method and his regular interventions with networks of leaders make him a unique voice in the world of innovation consulting, straddling the line between strategist and designer.