When Ugly Loses Its Charm

Crocs has launched its new “Feel the love” ad campaign highlighting its new, more… ahem, “fashionable” styles, including loafers and flats, marking a line extension and fundamental evolution beyond their funny-looking original model clog.

“First and foremost, what we want to do is establish Crocs as a brand and not that one shoe,” said Ken Chaplin, vice president for marketing at Crocs. “Spring, summer — we own that. But we also have great shoes for back to school, fall and winter. There’s a lot of opportunity to expand wearing occasions and the seasons we play in.”

Newsflash: That ship sailed quite some time ago.

However,  you can’t blame Crocs for taking action. They haven’t had a profitable year since 2007. Revenues took a nose dive from $847.4 million in 2007 to $645.8 million in 2009. Like so many other companies, they are surely feeling the pinch of a slow economy, however it is interesting that they cut their advertising budget by a whopping 65% during the same time. Perhaps sales might not have been quite as dismal had they stayed in front of their customers. But that was only part of their problem.

On top of a crappy economy and lower ad spending, they overproduced what was essentially a fad style shoe, hoping consumer tastes wouldn’t change (a dangerous risk for a company in the fashion industry). Over flooding the market with a product is usually a sure way to decrease demand, because it loses its specialness…that certain je ne sais quoi.

But while swift action is needed, I can’t help but wonder if it is a mistake to depart from their core brand of “ugly but comfortable”. Would they have been smarter to stay true to their brand, and keep finding creative ways to reinvent ugly? After all, UGG boots have built a $700 million market doing just that. They made ugly the new trendy, season after season.

There are many examples of other famous brands who let their freak flag fly with great success, including Volkswagen Beatle, Snuggie and Birkenstock. Even Crocs made light of its odd styling by using the tagline “Ugly can be beautiful” back in 2005, in response to the many vocal Croc-haters out there. Fast forward to the present, and it sure feels like Crocs has lost its sense of humor and its sense of self. They seem to be abandoning a core audience who identified with and embraced the oddball styling. In their attempt to appeal to everybody, they may very well end up appealing to nobody.

It remains to be seen whether Crocs’ new campaign will breathe life into the brand. But one thing’s for sure; social media marketing campaigns and PR opportunities abound for those who aren’t boring, especially when it comes to fashion.

Let us help you reinvent your brand with our brand planning services. Give us a shout today.

Flickr image courtesy of Ferdi’s World.