Sperry Top-Sider Case Study
GOAL
Sperry Top-sider launched in 1935 with one shoe style for one season and had little marketing exposure. The goal was to recast them as a relevant year-round, global lifestyle brand with head-to-toe dressing in three pillars: lifestyle, heritage and performance.
THE CHALLENGES
· How to raise brand awareness though there has been little marketing initiatives since the mid 80s.
· How to make the brand stand for more than one boat shoe style.
· How to simplify a complicated brand structure that talks to different consumer segments.
· How to keep Sperry Top-Sider relevant beyond the mid-2000s preppy trend.
· How to play up the brand’s history of the inventor of the world’s first boat shoe in 1935.
· How to bring awareness to the brand’s heritage with almost no archival material.
· How to bring awareness of Sperry Top-Sider as a brand borne from performance.
STRATEGY AND PROCESS
· Strategize a road map for the brand and capture it in a Brand Book — We worked strategically with Sperry Top-Sider to write and create a Brand Book and used that as a way to invigorate and re-focus the existing team and partners. It also served as a brand introduction for new employees, new vendors and new partners.
· Highlight a product and catapult it to brand icon — Like the Burberry trench and the Gucci loafer, we needed a product that spoke to the brand heritage, the brand values and the brand’s future. We defined the Authentic Original boat shoe as the key icon to drive sales through a myriad combination of colors, materials and shapes. The Authentic Original also served as the key icon for heritage communications.
· Highlight brand pillars and create a strategy for them — Built on three brand pillars of lifestyle, heritage and performance that talk to three different consumer segments, we devised a marketing strategy that talks to these areas but never losing the fact that they are all under the same brand. After research on who the customers are by pillar, we strategized how to communicate with them through imagery, by distribution channels and by media.
LIFESTYLE PILLAR
· Bring STYLE to the brand — We felt that bringing a STYLE to a brand would attract more women and give permission to transition from a footwear brand to a lifestyle brand. Transitioning to a lifestyle brand rather than just a boat shoe brand also set Sperry Top-Sider up for the future, beyond the preppy trend.
· Create a dream — Create an emotional connection between the brand and its customers through an aspirational, I-want-to-be-there feeling captured in our images.
· Target an own-able spirit — We wrote the PASSION FOR THE SEA tagline that gives an emotional connection to everything that Sperry Top-Sider stands for. PASSION FOR THE SEA was also a rallying cry amongst our customers. Rather than being a small tagline like other brands, we designed PASSION FOR THE SEA to be a bold, proud call-to-action that ultimately drives all communications.
· Consistent messaging — As brand guardians, we touched all points of communication for Sperry Top-Sider so the message was always consistent and authentic. We created communication for print advertising, films, Sperry Top-Sider retail stores, wholesale accounts, sperrytopsider.com, packaging, trade show design and shop-in-shop designs,
HERITAGE PILLAR
· Drive an authentic message — Bring awareness to Sperry Top-Sider as THE original and authentic boat shoemaker through several Authenticity Campaigns where we used commissioned illustrations, copy and a vintage logo to enliven the brand history. The brand history was also communicated through the website, event sponsorships support material, store and trade show signage and printed pieces for collaborations with other heritage brands.
· Create an “archive” — With almost no archives, we brought a feeling of history to this pillar through vintage photography, antiquing effects, illustrations and set design. On all shoots, we also captured landscape and sailing photography that could live beyond the current season, further enriching the brand archive.
· Treat heritage messaging as brand feeder — Heritage messaging combined more expensive products was used to attract a younger, trendier customer that will later feed into the Lifestyle pillar.
PERFORMANCE PILLAR
· Bring awareness of Sperry Top-Sider as a product invented for performance sailing.
· Reinforce Performance heritage with performance-oriented initiatives — We reinforced their Performance heritage through marketing campaigns that highlight event sponsorships, team sponsorships and Olympic partners and execute that through print, film, shop-in-shop, trade show design and wholesale support.
· Drive performance innovation with features and benefits communications.
RESULTS
· From 2009 to 2013, Sperry Top-Sider experienced double digit growth.
· In 2014, NPD reported Sperry Top-Sider was the no. 1 Men’s Casual Shoe brand and No. 3 Women’s Casual Shoe brand. That was not the case when we started working on the brand.
· CEO at that time, Matt Rubel, reported that the brand had increased its overall sales per door, noting particular strength in the premium channel.
· Sperry Top-Sider is available at a wide range of retailers, from own retail stores to premium stores like J. Crew, Colette, Soto Berlin and Nordstrom to department stores to marine and sporting goods chains.
· Top industry trade publication, Footwear News, awarded Sperry Top-Sider with “2009 Brand of the Year”.
· In 2012, Sperry Top-Sider acquired licensing agreements for a range of accessory product categories, including belts, small leather goods, hosiery, swimwear, headwear, scarves, gloves, luggage, watches and eyewear. This signaled the start of the transition from a footwear company to a lifestyle brand and further strengthened the brand for future growth.
The below are examples of our work for Sperry Top-Sider:
Brand book
Brand pillars
Lifestyle pillar
· Brand personality
· Four season brand
· Advertising and imagery
· Film
· Sperrytopsider.com initiatives
· Sperry Top-Sider store retail support
· Logo and packaging design
· Wholesale accounts support
· Shop-in-shop design
· Window display design
Heritage pillar
· Heritage communications
· Shop-in-shop design
· Made in Maine brochure
· Brochure for Fidelity pea coat collaboration
· Proposal for 75th anniversary micro-site
Performance pillar
· Advertising and imagery
· Features and benefits advertising and collateral
· Shop-in-shop design
· Trade show design
· Wholesale support
Logo design
Timeline
Brand Book
Brand Pillars
Lifesyle — Target an ownable spirit
Lifestyle — Create four season imagery to marry with four season product
Lifestyle — Shoot art direction
Lifestyle — sperrytopsider.com digital initiatives
Lifestyle — own retail store initiatives
Lifestyle — wholesale account support
Lifestyle — wholesale support with shop-in-shop and window design