Executive Vice President & President for the HEYDUDE Brand, CROCS INC
Inside Business with Terrance Reilly - CMO at Crocs
Riding the wave of a consumer fad can be a thrilling experience. But sustaining or growing a business after the next hot trend ...
About Terence Reilly
In a 2017 interview, Terence Reilly, then chief marketing officer of Crocs, described the company as a $1 billion brand selling over 55 million pairs of shoes annually. He acknowledged that Crocs had experienced a "wonderful fad" and a subsequent decline in popularity, but stated that the brand maintained a "strong fan base" and was working to convert "considerers and neutrals" into loyal customers. Reilly said the company was "listening to our consumer" and focusing on improving search functionality on its website and through wholesale partners such as Amazon, Famous Footwear, and Shoe Carnival. Reilly discussed the company's increasing use of data to model media mix and shift spending from television to digital and social channels, where it could be measured and optimized. He noted that Crocs was prioritizing video content over traditional television spots, as he said consumers were responding more to video. Reilly also speculated about the future of footwear technology, mentioning the potential for voice-activated features and the company's "jibbitz" charms. He stated that Crocs' immediate goal was to "put as many pairs of Crocs on people across the world" and that content creation was a key part of that strategy.
Transcript (7 segments)
T
Terence Reilly0:13
I'm Terence Reilly and I'm the chief marketing officer for Crocs. I'm fortunate to be the chief marketing officer for Crocs based in Niwot, Colorado. Yes, Crocs, the shoes that the world loves. The not quite 15-year-old footwear brand featuring those classic shoes with those awesome holes in them. We're a $1 billion company and we'll celebrate our 15th birthday this year. Pretty remarkable success for a small little brand founded in Boulder, Colorado, that's now known the world over. We sell 55 million plus pairs a year, so we're doing a lot of things right. Yes, we came in as a wonderful fad and then might have fallen out of favor through some years, but we really have a strong fan base, lots of loyal consumers, and we're really trying to convert a lot of those considerers and neutrals to also join our group of loyalists.
We're listening to our consumer. Where our consumer is, is where we try to be. Like most brands, we have made a significant improvement in ability to search for footwear at Crocs.com, with our wholesale partners whether through their brick-and-mortar or their e-commerce channels. So we're really listening to where she's shopping and doing our best to reach her and serve her there. It's exciting being part of their journey to find where they can find Crocs. It's challenging, but it's also exciting to see the various ways that she's shopping and looking to investigate more about our brand. We've made a significant push to digital and social media in 2016, even bigger in 2017, and I'm sure in 2018. As a global brand, it's easy for us to feature the same footwear. We don't have as many language barriers, we don't have the translation needs, so it's very scalable for us to reach the similar consumer because our consumer is very similar across the world despite geography and cultural differences. Our consumer remains very similar whether you're in Japan, China, the United States, or Germany. Through digital and social, we're really able to scale our media and our message.
Some of our partners alone — Amazon for example is the big epicenter for a lot of that from both a reach as well as an immediate shopping experience. Certainly our partners whether it's a Famous Footwear or a Shoe Carnival, their e-commerce platforms are well traveled, very highly visited, so where we can show up there is important to us. Certainly the more mainstream Facebook and Instagram line in Japan is emerging for us. So there are various ways and we have partners across the globe that help make us smarter and help make sure we're doing the right thing to reach her where she wants to be reached for Crocs.
We're always looking to get smarter. In the last few years, data has become an even more significant part of our media mix modelling, figuring out what's the use of television and then how do you move and migrate that as a brand into more digital and social where we can measure it, we can optimize immediately. All of these things become part of our spend. To answer to a board of directors and to shareholders, they want to know how are you spending your money, our money, and how are you maximizing the investment that we trust you with. So we're using data more and more.
We're looking at programmatic everything. In 2017 for Crocs, and probably forever, we're looking far more at video content than just traditional television. Reacting to where she is consuming her media, she's responding more to video than 15- or 30-second traditional spots. The more content creation we can use through video content, that's the avenue we're likely pursuing and will continue to pursue.
We've thought about it. It's certainly not in the short-term. As a barely 15-year-old brand, there are things that we have to really get good at before we can begin to fulfill larger dreams. Right now, we want to put as many pairs of Crocs on people across the world through a lot of different ways. Content certainly will be one of them. For now, we're using our external partners and some in-house talent to do that. But as the years progress, who knows what that future will look like. Maybe we'll have a virtual reality studio in house. There are so many things. It's just an amazing time to be alive from a technology perspective.
From virtual reality, wearables — walking around Austin here it seems like everyone has a different Nike watch or Apple Watch or a Fitbit or you name it. So what wearable future might footwear take, especially Crocs? We have the opportunity with our Jibbitz, those wonderful charms that fit inside the hole of our classic and some of our other styles. What's possible there? Certainly voice-activated. It gets sometimes a little bit creepy; you wonder who's listening as rumors persist. But what does that mean for the future of footwear? These are just the possibilities. I think Crocs will be certainly participating in leading the way in lots of different ways.