Walk On

By / June 10, 2008 /

We recently read the article “Burning Rubber” from the latest issue of 5280 detailing the turbulent times at Niwot-based Crocs. It’s a good read, with all the drama, intrigue and bombastic behavior of an Aaron Spelling hit TV show. Check it out.

We’ve never been huge fans of Crocs shoes—at least not the ubiquitous Beach model worn by every man, woman and child we come across at the mall. (Hey, you’re not at the beach. Put your loafers on already!) But there’s no denying what Crocs has pulled off in six short years, becoming close to a billion-dollar company and part of the cultural landscape every-friggin’-where. And the company has worked hard to introduce new styles, so we respect that. No doubt, Crocs is facing uncertainty (Ain’t we all, sister?), so it will be interesting to see if the breadth of new products makes an impact.

On the topic of Crocs marketing, here are two items. One, their latest TV work out of NY’s Zimmerman and featured below. Two, the launch last month of their branded content initiative, citiesbyfoot.com, from Denver’s Red Robot.

Some of the TV is intentionally obnoxious. Tagged with “What a Croc!”, one spot features Don King in all his annoying, fantastitudal glory. Another features a man screaming at a shoe and trying to destroy it. For the kids in the room, there is a little princess showing off her Crocs and Jibbitz, the colorful toy accents made for customizing the shoes.

We suppose the strategy here is to acknowledge the polarizing nature of the shoes—people either love them or hate them. But in this case, by shining a light on a hater (the screamer), do you embolden the loyalists or simply raise doubt in their minds? These aren’t the Doc Martens of the early 80s, worn by punks and rabble-rousers. These are rubber shoes worn by little girls, mild-mannered nurses and portly short-order cooks. Do you need to shout? And the bigger issue is the line “What a Croc!” Isn’t this the worst possible choice for a company criticized as being a flash-in-the-pan by financial folks and trend watchers—especially at this stage in the game? What do you think?

Number two item on the agenda: citiesbyfoot.com. With its initial launch, the site chose 6 U.S. cities, including Denver, Aspen and Vail, to feature walking destinations. Each destination gets a visit from an on-camera host and a little one-on-one interview with a shop/restaurant owner or other person of note. The production quality is nice, the hosts are likable and the vignettes play like a warm and fuzzy cable show. Wait, not warm. Tepid. Embedded in the site are the Google maps to each destination.

We like the notion of site-seeing by foot (Lord knows our collective fat asses could use it) and the Crocs tie-in is more than obvious, but we’re not sure this is giving us anything different than the three billion other travel sites already out there. What do you think?

One additional side note: If you want to see how advertising can be turned into a dry, mind-numbing science, make sure to visit Zimmerman’s website. We’re all for ROI, but holy shit. If JT brought sexy back, these people are trying hard to send it packing. Ain’t no sexy here.