In 2017, unlike most sneaker websites, Saucony was my top brand of the year. In my top 40 list the company held a number of spots:
In 2018, however, Saucony made a decision to work with a series of influencers when the company was making incredible footwear independent of needing any validation from streetwear and the people who drive engagement on social. I explained that hype doesn’t translate into loyalty and that the brand had an issue with its low end items failing to hit the target. Making a hyped release becomes a false positive. The shoe sells because it’s limited and not because people are truly admiring and falling in love with the brand. The Bricks, Chocolate Pack and Ramen were dope without trying to be for the “culture”. Pushing money into the arena of hype I thought was a mistake so I wrote:
In this post I laid out the groundwork for the issues associated with influencer marketing. Today I was taking the time to browse brand websites and I visited the bookmarked blog for Saucony and noticed a redesign. The company has leaned heavy into its performance footwear and has seemingly abandoned Originals. On previous visits the blog was a blend of lifestyle and performance with a heavy emphasis on small accounts carrying the footwear (a very good strategy for longterm relationship building). Noticing this change, I took a second and visited the Twitter page which was very active last year and found that the Saucony Originals Twitter hasn’t been updated since last year with the Oktoberfest. In 2019 there hasn’t been an emphasis on Originals very much and even the fantastic drops from 2017 haven’t been as consistent.
This doesn’t mean that the brand has forgone Originals. The company has released a number of collabs this year, but instead of focusing on the influencer route, they have partnered with other brands.
Dunkin Donuts for the Kinvara (which was a performance release not lifestyle/Originals)
Avocado and Toast Shadow 6000 (Not a collab, just a colorway)
Bodega Azura (a smart collab with the retailer)
Sneaker Politics (Cafe Du Monde Shadow another smart collab with a retail also at the regional level)
Kith x Saucony (retail collab)
24 Kilates x Saucony (retail collab)
The strategy has shifted to regional collabs with retail outlets which is a smart strategy and a smart play by Saucony. Saucony hasn’t exactly exited the world of hype. The company has simply shifted their energy towards IG and to sites like Hypebeast to introduce the collabs. The unfortunate thing is that in moving away from the coverage on their own site for these releases, they limit the reach to HB fans or Highsnobiety fans which leaves a new consumer who may be interested in a different brand without the information on the company’s high end models.
There is a fine line for brands looking to become more accepted by streetwear or more stylish people. Right now Saucony isn’t delivering a lot of these Originals. They’ve begun placing “original styled colorways” onto performance footwear like the Shadow EVR but that model doesn’t capture the flavor of the Shadow 6000. Abandoning Twitter for IG is problematic as well, but what does a brand do that isn’t exactly killing at retail for their GR releases?
