Inspired by the food we love so much, the “Sherbet
Source: Grid 9000 HT
I recently questioned if Saucony is exiting the lifestyle market. The brand that delivered 3 of my top 40 sneakers of 2017 had done very little with their retro line of runners. Last year the brand shined with releases like the Bricks, Ramen and Chocolate Pack. They also released a Moon pack as well as a drop featuring a series of influencers. This year there really haven’t been any lifestyle releases at the same level as the premium drops by the brand last year. They did release a modern update of the Pink Devil but it was a performance model in the same colorway which was not quite the same thing.
I chalked Saucony’s decision to focus more on performance up to what I thought was a poor decision in aligning with influencers instead of building their own concepts and delivering the narrative via their own platforms. Basically when they made the Ramen the marketing side of me wanted them to create a series that took on finding the perfect bowl of Pho at restaurants. I wasn’t contacted so that idea never happened. When they delivered the Chocolate Pack I wanted so badly to visit my own local chocolate companies and do a video series featuring each colorway (White and Chocolate), but I didn’t submit a package and they didn’t reach out. That idea never happened. When I saw the influencers I thought to myself that ‘they just aligned themselves with guys who make a living on other brands’… and in doing so they aren’t going to generate any long term interests in other releases outside of the Influencers’ shoes.
Today I took the time to visit the site to browse the lifestyle section and for a minute I was going to write a post named, “Saucony is moving on from lifestyle footwear” until I noticed the Sherbet Pack. It’s important that I say “noticed”. There wasn’t anything that distinguished the Sherbet Pack from the other releases. The shoe simply looked different than the other shoes. Which is certainly a problem for the brand as they haven’t taken any interest in creating at least a splash page for the pack or marketing materials for the shoe. The entire pack looks like just another shoe on the lifestyle page, when it should be in bold print and given an image that creates the feeling of a hot summer day and the cool feeling of a scoop of sherbet on a waffle cone.
I guess with this post I’m doing my small part in bringing attention to the Sherbet Pack. This time maybe I will reach out to the brand and discuss with them a series focused on finding the perfect scoop while wearing each colorway of the Sherbet Pack. Now that would be a series that could be placed on the webpage with this pack to drive consistent traffic and interest in what I think is another dope drop with a price that is much better than the constant knit and mesh drops from the bigger brands.