Now's the Time to Double Down on Brand and Boston, Here I Come!
Also, I bought a sewing machine, some people you need to know AND we giveaway another free year of Coopah with a pair of Hokas.
I was on the Backcountry Marketing Podcast. I ramble on about creativity and how brands don't do themselves any favors by treating it as a function that is pushed down the org chart and relegated to a department. C-suites and VPs need to foster a creative environment across the board and be the example. Inviting creatives in the room earlier and more often will lead to better outcomes - especially when they know their audience.
Auteur Sportif is lumbering on despite the lunacy of tariffs on the entire manufacturing base for literally everything. I’m actually fortunate to NOT be further along on my journey because these tariffs would have disastrous consequences and likely kill the dream. We have one more product coming for Western States that should be good to go but I may pivot to focus more on content storytelling to continue to build our purpose/meaning while waiting it out. Huge thanks to all of you that purchased the latest drop.
That being said, watch out because I bought a sewing machine so it’s game on! Dialing in the stitch types, length, tension, materials, etc. are very similar to the interdependence of camera settings. I’m excited about where this may lead.
For the third straight month I’m working with Coopah to giveaway a one-year subscription to their run coaching app. To enter comment COOPAH on this post or the IG post and I’ll pick at winner when commenting closes at the end of April. The winner will also win a pair of Hoka Bondi 9s to get you out the door. It’s a deal and the odds are crazy good so tap in those comments.
Boston here I come, albeit briefly.
I head to Boston on Wednesday to participate in a panel with On about storytelling within running. It’ll be on YouTube so stay tuned. The panel is stacked with some heavy hitters and I’m honored to have a seat at the table.
Stay tuned to this newsletter as I have more coming around my experience with the On team and a look at the moves they’re making. I’ve been running in the new Cloudboom Strike LS (Lightspray) and it’s really unlike anything I’ve ever seen in running. Lots to discuss.
I’m not able to stay for marathon Monday, unfortunately, but I do want you all to pay attention not only to the brands literally winning the race but maybe more so to the brands winning the community. There are two ways to “win” Boston (or any big race) and it’s possible that the more impactful way for business is to capture the lion share of excitement within the community.
It’s time to doubledown on brand to build pricing power.
The recent tariff insanity obviously has a lot of brands scrambling. So much is in flux and the unpredictability is equally problematic. The impact on all of the beautiful small brands flourishing in our space could be catastrophic.
Sole Review published an informative breakdown on the tariff effect on footwear that built on a very in depth 2022 article on the same subject. It’s worth a read to wrap your head around the price increases the consumer may see. Keep in mind this was a whole week ago before the tariffs on China doubled to 125% (or whatever they are at the time I publish this).
I can tell you brands are scrambling right now to sort their options in dealing with a massive cut into margins. They can cut costs by laying off people and cut corners with materials and production - or they can raise prices. A combo is of course on the table as well.
To dampen the impact of raising prices, brands need to establish pricing power to make them less vulnerable to the price elasticity of demand for their products, meaning the degree to which the demand for their products changes when the pricing changes. If the demand doesn’t change with price then it’s inelastic - think things we can't live without like TP, or maybe for some of you running gear falls into this category 😂.
I see two ways to do this - truly differentiable innovation and strong brand work. Both can be costly but brand work can be accomplished largely with creativity and insights - budget is helpful of course but a great team can do a lot when the dollars are tight.
The time is NOW for brand.
Ogilvy exec Rory Sutherland was just on the Uncensored CMO podcast spitting a gospel about the importance of marketing and creativity to generate economic growth. Seriously don’t miss this one - especially if you’re that CFO that is rolling your eyes right now. I see you.
In the last couple weeks I’ve met with some incredible people you should follow.
Adam Copeland at Tantrums - Adam is creating a performance hydration brand with plans to go deeper with branding than the stale existing pack brands. Picture a streetwear angle on hydration packs. Plus he has a production/creative background like me so we hit it off.
Corrine Shalvoy from The Feed - Corrine is helping The Feed punch way above its weight as a nutrition partner. The work she’s doing with athletes and races is noticeable. She also started the Women Can movement and my fam is now rocking a tee and a sweatshirt.
Matt Fiedler from Vinyl Me Please. Matt has the background and passion for two things - running and music. He’s created a crazy cool vinyl company from scratch and is looking for his next venture. Guess where he’s looking.
Ashley Mateo, journalist and founder of Runher magazine. We had an awesome conversation about the media landscape that could have gone on for hours. She’s taken the leap into the niche print magazine landscape with a female focus. Buckle up, this will be great.
Matt Walsh at TrailMix. His substack needs no introduction at this point. We jumped on a google meet to chat and our perspectives are awfully similar. There may or may not be a collab in the works. Cannot confirm but I do owe him an email response.
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