Branding and Lifestyle Sports by Adam Burges

Branding And Lifestyle Sports

1 Adam Burges Research Report

CONTENTS

Introduction....................................... 4 Branding............................................... 6 Lifestyle Sports............................... 20 Case Studies....................................... 32 conclusion.......................................... 44 Bibliography...................................... 45

introduction why branding

For the most part, branding is widely misunderstood. It is a discipline closely associated with graphic design, but from my experience as a design student, branding is often confused with visual identity: the design of logos, stationary, colour palettes, typefaces, etc. And while visual identity is a very important of branding (and perhaps the most obvious area of interest for a graphic design student) it is only one element of a brand. Since we live in a branded world, design plays an important role in helping to differentiate a brand. However, design in branding is not the focus of this report: from an early stage it became apparent that branding is in fact much more closely linked to marketing and business than design. This did not put me off, in fact quite the opposite - I found it enjoyable to move away from the world of type and image and gain knowledge on an entirely new subject. This report is divided into three main sections. The first presents an overview of branding and key issues in contemporary branding, including ethics and the impact of social media. The second section looks at how branding is used by lifestyle sports companies, asks if there is anything unique about the sector and examines how these brands establish, maintain and grow such strong brand loyalty. The final section looks at two case studies: freestyle ski company Armada and mountain bike company Howies. This section draws upon the knowledge and insights gained from researching the first wo sections to analyse how these companies have built successful niche brands.

branding why lifestyle sports

I spent two winters living and working in the French Alps, and filled the gap working for Snow and Rock (the UK's biggest ski and snowboard retailer). During this time I spent a lot of time engaging with lifestyle sports brands. I noticed that the customers had fierce loyalty for some of these brands and I wondered if there was anything unique about this particular sector. Undertaking this report has been beneficial to my professional aspirations; I harbour ambitions of working in this sector; perhaps as inhouse designer, brand manager or marketer. Conducting my research has enabled me the opportunity to establish relationships, make valuable contacts and hopefully, become somewhat of an expert on the sector.

branding The first section of this report provides an overview of branding and key issues in contemporary branding practice, including ethics and the impact of social media. This information is drawn from a collection of articles and books alongside interviews with Martin Lawless (Creative Director of 300Million) and John Bateson (Head of MA Branding at the London College of Communication).

A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or company. Marty Neumeier

branding what is a brand?

Brands, have changed a great deal over the last 100 years. They are frequently misunderstood. So lets first establish what a modern day brand is: Vincent Grimaldi offers the following definition in The Fundamentals of Branding : A brand is a combination of attributes, communicate through a name, or a symbol, that influences a thoughtprocess in the mind of an audience and creates value. (Grimaldi, 2003)) Melissa Davis says: . Brands exist wherever there is a marketplace. They help us select one product or service over another in a complex world or increased choices. Brands today represent more than a product, service or brand identity. A brand is synonymous with the business and the style behind the product or service; it encompasses the people working for the company and a philosophy and spirit that sustains it. Brands offer a set of values, a vision and an attitude." (Davis, 2009, p.12) In Great Brand Stories: Innocent, John Simmons notes:. There is a big difference between our understanding of a brand today and our understanding 30 years ago. Brands now are much more the everyday currency of our lives. Rather than thinking that brands are found only on supermarket shelves, we are now prepared to see more or less anything as a brand. (Simmons, 2006, p.22) He goes on to say: . USA, David Beckham, Sotch Whisky and Arsenal are brands. In other times, we would have labelled them a country, a sportsman, a drinks category and a football club. Today we call them brands because we can define them

as having recognisable characteristics that they shape and manage in a relatively consistent way. Brands have personalities that make them like people. People have personalities that make them like brands. (Simmons, 2006, p.23) In On Br@nd (2003), Wally Olins argues that brands are no longer just about corporations, their products and services: He says that all the significant institutions of our lives are given strength, identity, a defining role and a satisfying cohesion via branding, which he describes as one of the most significant social - as well as business - developments of modern times. He claims 'brands are the cultural phenomenon of our time.' (Olins, 2003, p19) Perhaps the most succinct definition comes from Marty Neumeier. In The Brand Gap he says: . â&#x20AC;&#x201A; A brand is a person's gut feeling about a product, service or company. While companies can't control this process they can influence it by communicating the qualities that make this product different than that product. When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. (Nemeir, 2006, p.2) Clearly a brand encompasses the perception of it and its reputation, as well as its tangible 'look and feel'. It also relates to the customer experience of it. Put simply: a brand is an image representing a set of values.

branding what is branding?

In the previous section we defined what a brand is. Having established that, it follows that branding is the process of building and maintaining a brand. As we have seen, it takes into account both tangible and intangible attributes functional and emotional benefits. Wally Olins suggests that each time we read the word 'brand' we could just as easily replace it with the word 'image' or 'reputation' (Olins, 2003) Put simply: branding is reputation building.

Branding is the dialogue that helps create and sustain a relationship between the organisation and its audience. Melissa Davis

93% The Xerox brand is worth 93% of the value of the company

branding what makes a successful brand?

Enormous amounts of time and money are invested to build and maintain the top brands - why? According to Marty Neumeier (2006), branding is the most powerful business tool since the spreadsheet! There is no doubt that having a strong, successful brand has become vitally important to any businesses in any sector. The impact of a brand is quantifiable. Coca Cola is a prime example, its brand is worth $70 billion, which accounts for more than 60% of its market capitalisation. The flip side is that branding is now so closely linked to the workings of a company, that if a brand suffers damage, so too does the company. So brands are clearly important to companies, but brands are equally important to consumers. Thanks to mass production, globalisation and rapid technological advances there is very little to chose between the functional attributes of one product over another. Our purchasing choices have multiplied, and in a world with so much choice, brands represent everything that helps human beings to define themselves: clarity, reassurance, consistency, status and membership. Branding doesn't only exist in the corporate and commercial world: it is now playing a large and increasing part in politics, the nation, sport, culture and the voluntary sector. Clearly the power of brands and branding will continue to grow - the challenge lies in learning how to manage and control them.

branding what makes a successful brand?

A consistent characteristic of successful brands is their position in the market place. The number one brand can charge a premium. Number two can also be profitable despite a smaller market share. Neumeier (2006) suggests that if companies can't be number one or two, they should aim to redefine their category. He says 'It is often better to be number one in a small category than number three in a large one' (Neumeier, 2006, p44). So how does a brand become number one or two in a market place? Olins says, 'if all the competitors are good, the one with the best reputation wins' (Olins, 2003, p.8) The success of a brand, is not determined by how many people are aware of it, but how positive they feel about it. Consumers want to know who makes a product because if they can trust the maker, they are much more likely to buy. Neumeier says that 'trust is the ultimate shortcut to a buying decision, and the bedrock of modern branding.' (Neumeier, 2006, p.11) Image and differentiation are also important parts of reputation. Today we mostly take a product's functional characteristics for granted and while brands are still all about image, it is no longer just their own image - it is also our image. This means that although features and benefits are still important to people, personal identity has become even more important. Consumers want to feel like they are part of a select clan when they buy products from clearly differentiated companies. Brand behaviour is a big part of reputation; it is the only way by which the customer can judge whether the brand lives up to the claims it makes in its communications. Since there is often very little to pick between rival products; customers look at a package of product and service. Consumers are frustrated by poor service, but good service helps build reputation and leads to repeat custom.

FOUR fundamental qualities . of a great brand * 1 They offer and communicate a clear, relevant customer promise 2 They build trust by delivering on that promise 3 They drive the market by continually improving the promise 4 They seek further advantage by innovating beyond the familiar

* Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan. Harvard Business Review, Dec 2010

Vibrant brands provide opportunities for people to add to, adapt, evolve, interpret, translate and influence the brand over time. Moving Brands

branding the impact of new technologoes

Successful brands are those that are dynamic and adaptable, that are able to evolve as markets change and audiences segment. Our world is becoming increasingly social, mobile and interactive. We are now seeing the rapid emergence of people as content creators, rather than simply spectators or consumers. Social media present many opportunities for brands, they offer tools for engagement and collaboration and have given consumers a new platform to share their experiences about a brand. Perhaps the greatest benefit is the opportunity to gain rich, unmediated customer insights faster than ever before. This ethnographic research helps companies understand how a brand and its products fit into people's lives. As suggested in Barwise & Meehan (2010). Branding agency, Moving Brands, suggest that brands must be alive to change, utilise different platforms and move from conventional, static brand identities towards 'living identities'. Moving Brands (2010). A living identity has the capability to respond automatically to the latest aesthetic trends, giving its users a constantly refreshed version of the core identity - an example is Google Earth. They argue that static identities tend shout "this is me, I'm here"; while living identities invite or inspire conversation. Moving Brands also suggest that brands should be looking to create things with the potential to grow. They say 'If you involve customers then they become the co-creators of what they want to see the company doing for them.' (Moving Brands, 2010, p.42)

branding branding and ethics

Brands have been heavily criticized, many question the integrity and ethics of branding practice. First Things First, a manifesto from 2000 signed by several leading designers including Jonathan Barnbrook, suggests: â&#x20AC;&#x201A; Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development are supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think, feel, respond and interact. Naomi Klein, presents any equally scathing view of brands in her book No Logo. (Klein, 2000) The weakness of such arguements is to treat brands as though their only manifestation is corporate and commercial. This seems short sighted since the influence, strategies and tactics of branding now go so far beyond its commercial origins - its impact is virtually immeasurable in social and cultural terms. It has spread into education, sport, fashion, travel, art, theatre, literature, the region, the nation and even notfor-profit organisations and charities. Olins goes as far as to say 'brands and the idea of branding are the most significant gifts that commerce has ever made to popular culture.' (Olins, 2003, p.15) Olins points out a fundamental issue: we like brands, if we didn't we wouldn't buy them. Customer have the ultimate power, if they don't like the product, the service or the company behind it they can go elsewhere. Boycotted companies soon get the message and start behaving themselves.

Maybe branding has become a dirty word, maybe it's time to rebrand branding. Martin Lawless

LIFESTYLE SPORTS In this second section of the report I will be looking at how branding is used by lifestyle sports companies, asking if there is anything unique about creating a successful lifestyle sports brand and examining how they establish, maintain and grow such strong brand loyalty.

It doesn’t have to be an extreme sport…there’s a lot people that snowboard in a fairly conservative manner. A better moniker is that it’s a lifestyle sport; a lot of the kids and people doing it are just completely living it all the time. Skateboarding and surfing are the same way. Jake Burton 21

lifesTyle sports WHAT ARE THEY?

Lifestyle sports tend to mostly be indiviualised sporting activities, from established practices like surfing and skateboarding, to new emergent activities like BASE jumping and kite surfing. Some argue that these could be classified as forms of play rather than sports. Many of these sports have their roots in counter culture with characteristics that are different from the traditional rulebound, competitive, dominant sport cultures. Participants of these activities describe their activity as a lifestyle rather than a sport. This lifestyle gives them a particular and exclusive social identity. (Wheaton, 2004) For the purpose of this report, 'lifestyle sports' refers to active sports such as surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.

lifesTyle sports WHAT ARE THEY?

Lifestyle sport logos These logos represent some of the most successful lifestyle sports brands. Many of these brands have their roots in surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. A few are relatively young, but most have taken decades to build.

lifesTyle sports what are lifestyle sports brands?

Lifestyle sports brands are the brands associated with the lifestyle of active sports such as surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. It is no surprise to see lifestyle sports brands like Quicksilver and Burton, succeeding in the mainstream market place. They represent the attractive lifestyle and values linked to active sports and therefore, own a unique position in the minds of consumers. The successful brands have developed emotional and long-term bonds with an entire generation of young consumers. These brands deliver self-expressive benefits; teens and young adults use them to express their aspirations of individuality and non-conformance as a lifestyle (Hogeboom, 2010).Effectively, the brands have become perceived as authentic representations of the lifestyle and values they are attached to. Edward O'Hara, of SME Inc specialist sports branding agency says 'I think when a sports brand is based in performance, there's a sense of authenticity to the brand. You can't just come out and say "I am a sports-lifestyle brand" you have to earn it.' O'Hara (2004, cited in de Mesa, 2004),

lifesTyle sports why are lifestyle sports brands successful?

In today's society, sport and leisure lifestyles have become increasingly significant to communicate self identity. There is a close relationship between identity and consumption. Today's brands are all about image, not just their own image, but also the consumer's image. What sets lifestyle brands apart from even the most successful brands is their ability to give customers an identity. Lifestyle sports brands don't sell functional benefits, they sell the emotional attachment of the desirable lifestyle of active sports and the multiple core values inherent in this lifestyle. These values include freedom, creativity, self expression and independence; and drive loyalty because they meet the deep-rooted emotional needs of consumers. (Hogeboom, 2010) The personality traits of these brands are linked to the lifestyles of specific active sports, for example the young surfer who lives by his own rules or the daredevil skateboarder. A big part of the reason people purchase these brands is to link the personality traits of the brand to their own. They attract loyal customers who purchase these brands not for what they are, but rather for what they represent. For example a Quicksilver t-shirt isn't just a piece of clothing, its a symbol of the look and attitude of hard-core surfers. Brand with strong ideals and a strong personality can charge a premium because consumers like what they stand for and how they conduct themselves.

lifesTyle sports what makes a lifestyle sports brand successful?

The success of a brand is not determined by how many are aware of it, but how positive they feel about it. Successful lifestyle sports brands do not just piggy-back off the coolness of a sport, rather, they accurately symbolize the lifestyle attached to that sport. This is the reason why surf brands like Quicksilver and O'Neil attract millions of loyal consumers who have never actually surfed. This is a point recognised by Hogeboom: the leading lifestyle sports brands are successful because they are perceived as authentic representations of the lifestyle and values they are attached to, but most so-called lifestyle brands never reach this brand pinnacle because they are perceived to only promote a lifestyle rather than truly symbolizing it. (Hogeboom, 2010) The most successful brands in this category, were once speciality brands, that have made the journey from sports to lifestyle brands. They were created out of a passion for a particular sport and making participation in that sport a better experience. They started small and built a strong reputation before carefully growing the brand and attracting a wider audience. For a lifestyle sports brand, sometimes growth and expansion can actually threaten the qualities that originally made it successful. Once a brand seeks to attract a wider audience, the original consumer losses affinity and the original vision gets lost. However if they only addressed the core customer there is a risk that the market base would get older and move on to other lifestyles without being replaced by younger consumers and other enthusiasts (Rusch, 2001). The challenge lies in broadening the brand to a wider audience without over extending the brand to be too many things to too many consumers (brand dilution).

a four point plan for successfully expanding a lifestyle sports company * 1 Avoid being blown out by competition 2 Remain relevant to core consumers while attracting new ones 3 Remain true to the original spirit and promisie of the brand 4 Continue to have fun along the way.

* Robin D. Rusch. Riding the Next Wave. www.brandchannel.com 29

lifesTyle sports how successful lifestyle sports brands do it

The majority of successful lifestyle sports brands share key attributes: high performance, contemporary, technologically innovative, 'cool' and youth-orientated. The combination of these ingredients make lifestyle sports brands authentic, and therefore appealing to customers. There also appears to be shared branding, marketing and promotion strategies specific to this sector and fundamental to the success of these brands: Most lifestyle sports brands focus heavily on a young market as their core audience (young teens to 25/30s) but are not overly concerned about identifying with an older target market as they don't want to risk moving too far beyond their core audience and damaging the authenticity of the brand. The core market for most of these brands have a strong loyalty for local brands; so many of the big brands try to reflect local market tastes and themes in their own products. The visual identity of successful lifestyle sports brands frequently change - this is unusual outside the lifestyle sports industry. It is hoped that this strategy allows the brands to remain fresh and attractive to the current and upcoming market. Product placement is very effective in promoting the brand to a core audience and beyond. Seeing the product in use, but not via advertising, in the printed media, film or television gives a brand credibility and exposure. Viral marketing can have a huge impact for these brands. Bill Carter of sports marketing agency Fuse says â&#x20AC;&#x201A; with a lot of brands I think the most effective way of

marketing is word of mouth - especially in the youth and teens - that market likes to discover things on their own. They don't necessarily gravitate to brands that have been dumped in their lap. Fuse (2004, cited in de Masa, 2004). Continued support and sponsorship in the core sport seems to be a key tool in remaining relevant and respected even as a brand grows. This includes sponsoring individual athletes as well as events and competitions. Top athlete endorsement is very important to these brands. Firstly, it proves the effectiveness and credibility of the brand and its products. Secondly, it appeals to the average consumer aspiring to be or do something greater. Summersgill says 'these brands are aspirational on the part of the consumer because most people are never going to be using that device or item to the peak of its capabilities.' Summersgill (2004, cited in de Masa, 2004). Internal brand management is another important consideration - as the company grows it becomes harder to maintain continuity among employees and original values Maintaining focus on the original product and vision is crucial to success and integrity. This means targeted growth that reflects the needs of the user and avoids the distraction of other non-related sports or lifestyle products. Gary Dunne, Team and Promotions Manager at Rip Curl says that they engage in a number of strategies to grow the market base and distinguish the brand from competitors. These include making sure the product line is differentiated and focused on quality. Maintaining and highlighting unique aspects of the brand, a commitment to focus on the core sports and not get distracted by growing the product line. (Rusch, 2001)

case studies In this final section of the report I will be looking at two case studies of lifestyle sports brands. These are presented through brief explanation of the companies, interviews and visual audits of their key touch points.

The first and most important thing you need is a love for something â&#x20AC;Ś the second thing is a purpose. David Hieat

case studies armada: key facts

2002 The year Armada were formed by a group of professional skiers and a snowsports photographer.

Costa Messa California Armada chose to set up their HQ in an area dominated by skate and surf brands.

Top Magazine advert Above Website home page

Interview With hans smith president of armada

How did the idea for Armada come about?

Who is Chris O’Connell and what is his role?

At the time our athletes had come form the bigger companies like Salomon and Rossingnol – and they weren’t particularly happey with the direction that skiing was going in – they’d dedicated their lives and their livelihoods to the sport, to change the direction of skiing and contribute to it in a positive way. The sport was still very race driven, snowboarding was taking off tremendously, and all the kids were driven to snowboarding because of the way it was marketed and the personalities of the athletes - skiing wasn’t generating any new interest – it was losing to snowboarding. The athletes saw this and the product they were receiving fro their sponsors wasn’t particularly good, so they decided to do something about it – which is pretty cool, because they had staple salaries, they were getting paid good money and they took a big risk. Chris O’Connell was shooting those guys, I was working in marketing at Oakley at the time and my background was skiing as well. We said lets try to be the catalyst, lets contribute to skiing in a way that we control it and produce product and drive the branding of the sport in a way that is going to be different from what we’ve seen in the past.

Chris is the Chief Brand Officer, so he oversees the marketing team and any of the branding, branding strategies of the business, as well as shooting the creative photography, overseeing the filming, team selection (of the athletes). He and I are still very involved in the day-to-day operations – Chris spends a lot of time out in the field shooting the athletes– and that forms a lot our content (for the websites, adverts, catalogues etc). The Armada name is very distinctive, where did it come from? We probably came up with over 200 names! We wanted to find a name that resonated well and was a cool name. The name Armada was specifically based around the idea of these athletes, and myself and Chris, all taking a big risk in starting something. The definition of an Armada is a fleet of ships going to battle, and for us at the time, that what we felt like going to battle against these bigger companies! We thought it was a very suitable name for what we were doing, we liked the way it sounded, it translates into most languages very cleanly – so it worked out from a pure brand and marketing perspective. Trademark was also a factor and where we could register the name. But it did have a much deeper meaning than just a cool name, and its still sums up our mentality.

whole supply chain is equally influential on the reception of your brand, and that ultimately influences the brand message and the strength of the brand. You cant be delivering late to your dealers, or delivering them a poor product that consumers return. Its how you manage the product, the delivery, the pricing, the margins – and if you do that right, and the product’s good – then you are cultivating a strong brand, and able to cultivate a strong relationship with the consumer.

You sound like you were quite clued up about building a brand? Well every athlete has to build their own brand, and our athletes like JP Auclair and Tanner Hall, have done that very well. I think their understanding was very beneficial when it came to creating a new brand. We always had the goal to cultivate a brand from an athlete driven mentality, and that’s what we still rest our foundation on today. We had the best group of riders at the time, they wanted to cultivate the image of the sport, and the other components fell into place. We started off with a good brand, but the product we made for the first wo years was terrible – the skis fell apart! We quickly realised it doesn’t matter how well you’re marketed or how good your team riders are, or how strong your name was – if you don’t build a good product you’re going to go out of business and we very nearly did! The branding side came pretty natural to us, that was the easy part. There aren’t a lot of brands in the ski market place, ski apparel or hard goods. It was easy to make an impression when we had a handful of great riders - but once you start the selling the product and it gets into the hands of your consumers and your dealers you really start testing the brand. The branding exercise doesn’t stop with the consumer, there’s sales reps, distributers, dealers and consumers; and throughout that chain you have to make sure all those parties get the brand experience that they bought into. The

How important has the endorsement of the athletes been to building the brand?

Was there a conscious drive to create brand ambassadors at grass roots level?

Our consumers see Tanner Hall win the X Games or JP ski a line in their favourite movie, that’s what they aspire to be like, and they can purchase a product that these guys ski on or the garments that they wear. If they can get an enjoyment out of the product and they didn’t have to wait around for it, they got it at a reasonable price – then you’re going to build brand loyalty. To do that consistently on our part is very challenging. Tanner’s name and all of our athletes have been absolutely instrumental to our success. The majority of our marketing budget goes into athletes. We pay retainers to our team. We don’t sponsor events, we don’t advertise in many magazines. The personalities of the athletes and their success in competitions, video exposure, editorial – that has been instrumental. The reason we do that is authenticity. If Tanner Hall wins the X Games and he’s standing on the podium holding his Armada skis, that’s authentic, it shows that the product works.

It was very conscious, for many people the professional athletes are unreachable, people may never come across the magazines and the movies they are in. We definitely tried to seed the market at a grass routes level to further authenticate the brand. A good skier that is an opinion leader in their local resort has an influence and a lot more contact points on the hill, in a very authentic way, than our pros do. It was a two-prong effect – some of it was driven on our own, but some of it happened naturally because those opinion leaders saw our pro guys and they went out and bought the products. That was the value of the pro team and the authenticity. Armada skis have unique and distinctive graphics, how did that come about? Partially that was influenced from where we are based. Chris and I had lived in Southern California for many years prior to starting Armada. There’s a great youth culture and art scene here, and the heart of the action sports industry is located within a 25-mile radius of our office. We took influence from action sports brands outside of. Also, what the athletes wanted the product to look like was nothing like what they were getting from their previous sponsors, so we bought an art component to the ski graphics. We viewed the ski as a canvas and worked with local artists to change the identity of skiing and create something more compelling at the point of purchase.

Was there always an intention to grow the product line from hard goods, to include soft goods.

How the company has grown? Are you still looking to expand it? Our growth has been triggered by our success with sales. As you grow as a company, you have to have the proper resources in place to satisfy the demands of the business. Right now we are completely under resourced, but we are managing because we have very dedicated and passionate people that love to ski, that love the brand, and are flexible enough to help out with a lot of different aspects of the business. The staff we have a very important, they feel ownership in the success of the brand. As we grow we will definitely add resources, but one of the reasons for our success is that we’ve kept our overheads very low – we don’t hire people unnecessarily, so we will only build our resources as the sales justify. We have to keep doing all those things on the back end better than what our competition is doing.

Yes, from the beginning we always planned to launch soft goods. From day two we had basic items like t-shirts and hoodies, but two years ago we launched technical outerwear because the timing was right. Soft goods weren’t launched because we exhausted all of our opportunities in hard goods, they were launched as a compliment to the brand. The outer wear is a big part of the ski experience. A lot of companies get a little bit of momentum and they try to do too much too quickly – so we are going to continue to concentrate on our key product categories and not overextend our resources by trying to move into areas where we don’t have the expertise. Is there an opportunity for Armada to become a lifestyle ski brand appealing to consumers outside of skiing. I’m not sure that the image of skiing is where we need it to be for that yet. At the moment we are looking to become more of a winter lifestyle brand, we need to conquer that before we look to compete with the surf brands. If the image of skiing gets there we will be in a position to capitalize on that, but we don’t need that to happen in order for us to be successful – you won’t see us start making board shorts tomorrow! (Smith to Burges, 2010)

case studies howies: key facts

1995 The year Howies were formed by David Hieat and his partner.

Cardigan Bay The small coastal Welsh town where Howies were started.

Top Website home page Above Magazine advert

Interview With David Hieat. Founder of Howies

When you started Howies was the intention always to create a brand?

Do you think there is anything unique about creating a lifestyle sports brand?

Yes. When I started Howies, I was working in advertising as a copywriter. The agency I was with pitched for an account with Adidas, they didn’t get it but I actually ended up going to work for the company that did win it! I felt that I understood the Adidas brand much better than my boss, and we weren’t doing the kind of work I wanted to, so I ended up leaving. But the knowledge I learnt from during this time was really important in helping me to create Howies. I started Howies brand based around something I loved. But that wasn’t enough on its own I still had to learn about business and it still had to have a purpose.

The first and most important thing you need, is a love for something – when I created Howies that love was mountain biking. It took until 2001 to get paid – if it takes 7 years to become profitable its that love of what you’re doing that will keep you going and get you through. I can think of a good example where this love of the sport shines through - I think its the best snowboarding advert I've ever seen. Its by Burton, its an image of a solitary snowboarder on a chair lift in the fog and it says “will you still be doing it when its not cool?” – and you just know that its written by a snowboarder, someone who absolutely loves snowboarding. The second thing is a purpose – my purpose with Howies was to see if there was another way to do business – a better way. You need to offer something different. Its not enough just to love snowboarding (or whatever other sport it is) and to be cool – cool doesn’t have longevity – that’s where the purpose comes in. You have to contribute something new or unique. At Howies we were the first company of our sort to introduce organic cotton and the first to use a blog. A purpose gives your company a focus. When we started out with Howies there loads of other companies starting up at the same time – but most of them didn’t last the distance because they didn’t have the focus.

Were there any companies that you looked to as inspiration? A lot later, someone said to me that Patagonia were doing similar things to us but when I looked at the company I realised that they were actually doing things much better than us! So I guess they were a company that I looked up to.

How did you go about growing the brand?

You said it took until 2001 to become profitable! Is this par for the course?

Well once we started getting things right the brand took off, it was a case of all the things I’ve mentioned and learning from our mistakes. The organic cotton thing was crucial, it took off and we grew massively. By 2003 we had become so big that we were struggling to meet the financial cost of fulfilling the orders. We needed help so I looked for investment or to sell the company. I had a few options but decided to sell it to Timberland because they seemed to understand the importance of keeping the company in Wales. Unfortuantley after a while it turned out that they wanted to move production to Holland and relocate me to Colarado. They spun me off and I was devasted. In the end I decided that the pain of leaving was less than the pain of seeing something I loved and created being changed and becoming something I didn’t want it to be, so I left the company.

Yes I would say it is! I like the analogy I can give you is a potato: when you plant a potato you don’t get results over night, it takes time to let it grow and become something. The guys who run White Stuff are friends of mine – I went to college with them, they started out as two mates who took on a job to print 10,000 t-shirts for Martini and they used that money to start the company. With me, I carried on working in advertising all the time I was trying to build Howies. It was really hard work but you need to feed it, you can’t go investing everything into it because then you need it to produce results immediately and that’s not going to happen. If you are looking for instant results when you start a company like this it’s a mistake because you’re asking the company to run before it can walk. Also there seems to be something about dropping out! I dropped out of college after 8 months, there were 4 others on my course who also dropped out - but now, several years on, we’re the four people from the course doing the most interesting and successful things. I think it taught me the harsh lesson of making money to survive. At Howies I always knew that there had to be a strong focus on selling, on making money.

How important is the visual side of the brands that you’ve created? It is really important. It might seem all about the ethos of the brand but you need to project yourself in the right way. At the end of the day – that’s what people see first. You can’t afford to be average, you have to be different and stand out. With lifestyle sports the imagery is so important, at Howies I would always ask myself “does that photo or that ad make me want go out and ride?” that was always the goal. (Hieat to Burges, 2010).

conclusion

I have enjoyed researching and writing this report. Designers and creative people are supposedly left side of the brain thinkers - but I've always deemed my approach to design as considered and rational. I think this is why branding appeals to me: its a mixture of strategy and creativity. I set out to ask if there is anything unique about lifestyle sports brands. Throughout my reading and research it has become apparent that these brands own a unique position in the mind of consumers. What sets lifestyle sports brands apart from even the most successful brands is their ability to give customers an identity.The most successful lifestyle sports brands are perceived as authentic representations of the lifestyle and values that they are attached to. They are perceived to truly symbolise that lifestyle. My interviews have reinforced that successful lifestyle sports brands are built on the same principals as all successful brands. These brands don't happen by accident, from the outset the goal is to build a brand - not just a product or company. They are usually started by focused, hardworking individuals, who, more often than not, have some experience of advertising, marketing or branding. I believe the key ingredient for success, is a founder with a love for a particular sport and an equally strong passion for the subsequent brand they create. That love translates to a brand with integrity and authenticity.

bibliography books, articles, websites, etc Adbusters, (1999), First Things First, Eye. no. 33 vol. 8, Autumn 1999. Barwise, P. & Meehan, S. (2010) The One Thing You Must Get Right When Building a Brand. Harvard Business Review. December 2010 pp.80-84. Davis, M. (2009) The Fundamentals of Branding. Lausanne: AVA. Grimaldi, V. (2003) The Fundamentals of Branding. [Internet]. Available from ‹http://www. brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=183› [Accessed 1 November 2010]. Grimaldi, V. (2001) What Makes A Brand Great? [Internet]. Available from ‹http://www. brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=66› [Accessed 1 November 2010]. Hieat, D. (2011) Interview with the author. London, 14 January. [David Hieat founded mountain bike brand Howies and now organises the Do Lectures]. Hogeboom, R. (2010) Active Lifestyle Brands: Popular apparel brands reach pinnacle and ride wave of success. [Internet]. Available from ‹http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review. asp?sp_id=1126› [Accessed 1 November 2010]. Kelin, N. (1999) No Logo. Lawless, M. (2010) Interview with the author. London, 17 December. [Martin Lawless is Creative Director of branding agency 300Million]. de Mesa, A. (2004) Sports Brands Play at Life Style. [Internet]. Available from ‹http://www. brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=235› [Accessed 1 November 2010]. Moving Brands (2010) Living Identity. London: Self published. Neumeier, M. (2006) The Brand Gap. Berkley: New Riders. Ollins, W. (2003) On Br@nd. London: Thames and Hudson. Rusch, R. (2001) Riding the Next Wave. [Internet]. Available from ‹http://www.brandchannel. com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=58› [Accessed 1 November 2010]. Simmons, J. (2006) Great Brand Stories: Innocent. London: Cyan Books. Smith, H. (2010) Interview with the author. London, 10 December [Hans Smith is president of a ski brand]. Wheaton, B. (2004) Understanding Lifestyle Sports: Consumption, Identity and Difference. New York: Routledge.

Written and designed by Adam Burges