Crocs’ Marketing Strategy. How it Turned an “Ugly” Shoe into a Hot Commodity
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That’s what the management team over at Crocs was thinking when it reported earlier this year that its revenue in 2022 was up 53.7% to reach a record $3.6 billion. If you are wondering if Crocs are just a fad maybe it’s time to stop wondering. While Crocs boomed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic people are still wearing them. Crocs are so popular they were a number one best selling product on Amazon last year across clothing, shoes and jewellery. They also took the fifth spot on the list of most popular footwear brands for teens. If you are wondering what Crocs is doing to stay relevant then consider these four elements of its marketing strategy.
1. Stay true to yourself. Crocs are not known for having the most ascetically pleasing footwear. Designer Victoria Beckham echoed that sentiment when she said she would rather die than wear a pair of Crocs after Justin Bieber sent her a pair from his collection. Despite the fact that Crocs have landed on many lists of what not to wear the company has embraced its “ugly” self.
Instead of redesigning its signature shoes, to make them more appealing, which Crocs has done in the past, a few years ago Crocs began to focus on celebrities who are already fans of the brand. Bad Bunny the Latin pop superstar collaborated with Crocs to release a pair of white Crocs in 2020. The Crocs were so popular they sold out in minutes.
Crocs also partnered with KFC to release a pair of Crocs in 2020 that look like a pair of shoes covered in KFC’s deep fried chicken. Speaking about Crocs’ collaboration with KFC, Crocs’ for global chief marketing officer Terence Reilly said this: “we launched a campaign that was focused on making the classic silhouette an iconic symbol. Because we know it’s always been a polarizing brand. But remember, when you're polarizing, there's one side of the polarization that loves you.” Instead of catering to everyone, Crocs knows it has a dedicated audience willing to come back for more. "Our goal is not to make the haters love the brand," says Andrew Rees, Crocs’ CEO. "It's to exploit that extrinsic tension because it creates opportunity, it creates PR, it creates media, it creates interest. It creates a whole lot that would cost you a fortune to buy in other ways."
That tension can be seen when Crocs collaborates with unlikely brands like Balenciaga which created a high heel Croc earlier this year that retailed for $850. “As a brand, Crocs figured out how to grow with their youth consumer while also attracting a new generation of kids. That is really hard to do,” says Mel Peralta, senior director of Project Greenhouse, Footlocker’s streetwear incubator. “I think the breadth of their collabs have been the main driver of the excitement around the brand.”
2. The right collaborations. Many brands have collaborations with celebrities and influencers but not all collaborations take off the way Crocs’ collaborations do. One of the reasons Crocs’ collaborations are powerful is because they often choose celebrities that are already true fans of the brand.
Justin Bieber is a long time wearer of Crocs and has been seen sporting the shoes on many occasions. When Bieber dropped his first collaboration with Crocs in 2020 it was incredibly successful. “We were very pleased with the Justin Bieber collaboration. Obviously, given his global status, his celebrity status around the world, his social media following, it was a really good partnership in terms of being able to activate that around the world,” said Rees. Part of what makes a collaboration like that successful is the fact Bieber fans know that he likes Crocs adding a higher degree of authenticity to the launch. You don’t have to wonder if he really likes the brand. We have all had situations where we think there is no way the influencer actually uses the product they are selling.
Collaborations for Crocs have also worked because in many cases they are unexpected. Who was expecting Crocs to team up with KFC? "[A collaboration] needs to be a little controversial, but not too controversial, and it needs to be clear that your voice is all-embracing, not judging," says Rees. "The risk is that you align yourself with a brand or with an artist that is too controversial and it jars with your core customer base in a way that they don't understand."
Crocs has found that its expect the unexpected collaborations have resulted in greater media attention and have attracted customers that may not have normally been attracted to the brand. The brand is also focusing on micro influencers instead of only targeting celebrity collaborations. “Influencer strategy is a really critical part of our marketing playbook. And it has evolved. Several years ago, when Crocs was really trying to get back on the radar to be perceived as a more aspirational brand, we leveraged some big name celebrities to really be ambassadors for our brand — people like Drew Barrymore,” says Crocs’ president Michelle Poole. ”We continue to do some partnerships and have some partnerships with some broader well known names like Priyanka Chopra, for example. But I would say, we’ve also now evolved to really focus on a tapestry of micro-influencers.”
“Some of these influencers have such dedicated followers; they might have a smaller number of followers, but they have a really devoted — almost obsessed — group of followers. So we think about our influencer strategy as a rich tapestry of interests and affinities and geographies — and we stitch it together like a quilt.”
“Their playbook isn’t terribly different from what a lot of other brands are doing — using key influencers to post on social media — but Crocs has done it extraordinary well,” says Jay Sole, an analyst for UBS. “They’ve made the brand cool again.”
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3. Limit distribution. As many in the footwear sector know, limiting supply is often critical to success. Designers like Kanye West while working with Nike and Adidas have popularized this model by limiting supply of new footwear styles in the beginning only to expand distribution in the future. This strategy creates a fear of missing out which drives consumers to buy a product while it’s available or risk being left behind.
Many of Crocs’ collaborations are limited editions meaning they are scarce in supply. Bad Bunny’s Crocs sold out within minutes and then more than 1,300 of his fans signed a petition for Crocs to release more. Speaking about this Poole said: “it’s certainly something that isn’t off the table if there’s appetite.” “That said, what we want to do is have the feeling for our customers that they’ve captured something that’s really valuable. And if you over-distribute anything it loses its value, so it’s really about finding the right balance.”
4. Be civic minded. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic Crocs donated over 900,000 pairs of Crocs to frontline healthcare workers. The shoes were a hit, with many healthcare workers showing off their shoes, which are very comfortable for long shifts, on social media. While this was a goodwill initiative it created a lot of attention and interest for the brand, showing that it never hurts to do the right thing.