Meet The Ambassadors | Merrell
Source: Meet The Ambassadors | Merrell
Brands operate inside of boxes. There are often moments when people within a company have no idea of what is happening with each division. Brands are complex machines and every part has to be in sequence for things to work and expand. Even when the spark is there and the brand has combustion, if the drivetrain doesn’t respond a brand can’t reach the consumer. To extend this metaphor even more, you can have a functioning drivetrain, strong engine and everything can be working in unison, but the outside forces are beyond a brand’s control.
Last week I wrote my first post on Merrell. The company had produced one of the best videos I’ve seen and after visiting Portland for the African-American Footwear Forum and leaning on the last year and a half of discussion on Blacks in the footwear industry, I thought that Merrell offered a genuine outreach to the Black consumer via storytelling. The problem is by survey, outside of very niche circles the brand is an unknown entity within the African-American community. It didn’t make sense that the company would spend any time at all creating content like “Bringing It Home”. In the last week I’ve spent time browsing the site and I realize that Merrell has a roster of brand ambassadors that should be easily seguing the brand into other markets, not just African-Americans.
https://twitter.com/merrelloutside/status/1173587528479387649
When and How Does a Company Become Athletic & Casual?
No one is writing about Will “Akuna” Robinson. I haven’t seen memes or articles on Black news networks. He hasn’t shown up randomly in my feed on LinkedIn or any form of social media. It would seem Will is an anomaly, and he is when you consider what he just accomplished, but Will isn’t alone.
On Merrell’s Ambassador page the list of athletes is a true melting pot that looks like what America is. It’s a diverse group of men and women of varying shapes and sizes who all participate in everything that outdoor has to offer. The pictures there are as inclusive as it gets.
Unfortunately this beautiful athletic diversity has not crossed over into a more casual atmosphere. Merrell is facing the same issue that a bigger brand like Nike is encountering with their 4 Billion dollar marketing budget and roster of athletes in basketball. Basketball shoes aren’t selling. The focus on athletics is at the core of Nike’s business model; they aren’t going to shift from that. Merrell is basically in the same boat. You do what you know as a brand.
You can’t force a crossover.
The move to capture a new segment comes at a loss. It comes in creating beautiful videos like Bringing It Home and with a consistent message across platforms. In other words, Merrell IS doing what needs to be done to an extent.
Urban Hiking (I haven’t trademarked this yet, but I’m either going to or I’m just going to lay it out and hope that every outdoor brand that isn’t reaching us will implement it in some way.) Urban Hiking is already a category. The difference in what I’m proposing and what already exists is when “Urban” Hiking is discussed the trails consists of locations within the city that are hidden nature pathways. It’s basically hiking in the city. When I state that Urban Hiking is a solution I’m saying that the discovery of the city holds amazing opportunities and in discovering the city, brands get the opportunity to make clothes for date night, food tours (my concept, lol) and educational opportunities vs rugged outdoor wear.
The problem for Merrell also lies in the layout of the site and the segmentation of its casual footwear. Those of you who are politically correct cover your eyes. Merrell makes some white ass kicks. When I click on the casual segment, not saying I’m the most stylish… Yes I am. I’m pretty damn stylish, but the shoes on the page look like math and shop teacher shoes. But in the middle of all of those shop teacher styles are shoes like the Ashford Mid Canvas above. There is a look that exists waiting to be captured by an outdoor brand and Merrell isn’t utilizing the misdirection. You don’t focus on the shoe, you focus on the style. There isn’t any imagery on the page that looks like this:
I get it. You’re an outdoor brand, but this guy shouldn’t be wearing a pair of Clarks, he should be wearing the Ashford. More important, I know that pictures on sites can be misleading and it’s better to undersell, but that picture of the Ashford isn’t flattering at all. Adding on to this issue is I don’t get a chance to see a picture of the shoes on foot.
Now imagine the picture above with the Ashford and a short discussion on Urban Hiking (my version) talking about a walking path in Memphis (I live here) from Mason Temple, to the Lorraine Motel ending at the Blues Museum and dinner at Rizzos. I know someone is saying, I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. Urban Hiking trails exist in every city. They are the walks we take when we visit different districts and try new food. Merrell is missing the excitement involved in discovering our own cities. All outdoor brands are missing the excitement of an Urban Hike. Merrell is missing the merchandising of their products and the push of a guy like Will “Akuna” Robinson.
In the next few weeks I’m going to take the time to build on this discussion using Merrell as my example. Consider it a case study. If you really want to know what this is, it’s an example of Market Segmentation written for my 355P class at the University of Texas at Austin. I told my students I would write the research paper I assigned along with them. I’m taking my site visitors along for the ride.
Hit me with any questions.
Note: My students, you can’t use first person and your information must be in APA format. Since I used a pic from Taylor Stitch here is my Reference:
The Sea Ranch Collection. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.taylorstitch.com/collections/sea-ranch