UGGs — The Ultimate Positioning Machine
How the famous footwear brand has changed its products and its image over the years
The Skinny:
I do not own any UGGs. For a long time the brand came across to me, and a majority of my male peers, only as a women’s luxury shoe. Last year my step-dad bought a pair of their desert boots, though. I had no idea what they were, but when I came home for a holiday visit, I commented on his new shoes. As usual, he said, “Thanks man! These are my new UGGs!” I didn’t know what to think at first. I had just then told my step dad his boots from a perceived “feminine” brand were awesome. Though we don’t have the same foot size for me to try them on, I could tell they were a well-made and good looking shoe. He also explained how comfy they were with their wool liners. Besides the “UGG” gently stamped on the back of the boot, it is impossible to tell that these shoes were made by the same company who made the floppy and fuzzy boots that are so popular with women. That’s when I realized what UGG’s was doing. UGG’s was repositioning as a men’s brand!
The Fat:
UGG boots began in 1978 by Australian man in Southern California as a relaxing wool-skin slipper after hitting the waves all day. Little did he know that just 20 years later, his boots would be touted by the likes of Oprah, and eventually female college students everywhere. Of course, this was not the original intention of the boot, but by paying attention to the proper segment, target, and positioning of the product, UGGs boots made their fuzzy footwear a hit with ladies everywhere. Now, they are returning to their roots of men’s footwear in an unprecedented fashion. Here we take a look at how UGGs have positioned their women’s and men’s footwear toward new target markets depending on the opportunities in the marketplace.
UGGs 2.0
The UGG story is a perfect example of a company seeing opportunity and pursuing that opportunity through new segmentation, targeting, and positioning. In 1995, UGG boots were bought by Decker Outdoors, a large retail conglomerate who saw a huge opportunity with the furry-floppy boots that ladies were wearing around ski towns and surf shops. First, they recognized the problem: more women were interested in their fluffy wool skin boots than men were interested in the same footwear. To solve that problem, UGG boots went through with repositioning the footwear by buying ad placements in new, strategic areas.
Though UGGs had identified the opportunity, there were few financial resources at the time. However, they were confident in the opportunity and pursued the risk, nonetheless. Their president Constance Rishwain, said of their ad buying, “When I could only afford one ad, it was Vogue.”
Even though they had few financial resources, UGGs managed them well, and through that management got their big break in 2000. Only five short years after officially repositioning their flagship products, Oprah declared UGG boots one of her “favorite things,” which launched a frenzy around the U.S. The frenzy became international in 2006 when they opened up retail stores in Japan and continued to expand from there. The first major repositioning of UGG boots was an obvious international success that launched them into the starlight as one of the most popular boots in the world…for ladies.
UGGs 3.0
Now, the brand is going through another enormous repositioning of their brand; not just as a ladies comfy slipper, but as a manly and well-crafted boot. They enlisted Tom Brady as a brand ambassador nearly six years ago when they identified the tremendous opportunity to leverage their world-renown name with men. Since then, they have been utilizing their resources and managing their positioning to a point where they are coming into the spotlight and preparing to harvest their newly found recognition.
The most important question to ask when analyzing the target market segment and how UGGs is positioning their men’s footwear is “does the target segment want the perceived value of that my positioning is trying to deliver more than other segments?” UGGs’ positioning is to the rugged, yet sophisticated man. Someone who could come across as a normal guy while being higher class. That’s why they have enlisted celebrities like Tom Brady, Jeff Bridges, and Julian Edelman to become integral parts of their advertisements. UGG has been recorded saying, “Brady — perhaps because he was an underdog second-to-last-round draft pick who went on to win three Super Bowls — somehow still exudes a “normal guy” vibe that will convince men that UGG shoes are cool shoes worn by cool guys (Adams, Dan).” While the “normal guy” mantra could be debated for the likes of Tom Brady, one thing we know is that their ads exude an aura of a manly, sophisticated, and high-class lifestyle (not to mention they are hilarious).
UGGs takes it a step further to build it’s virtual community with their Do Nothing campaign across multiple media platforms, like Instagram and Youtube. The Do Nothing Campaign is centered around Tom Brady and his relentless pursuit to not do a single thing. That’s where Jeff Bridges and Julian Edelman step in to try and shake his “do nothing” mentality. These ads do a good job at making the brand more personable and appealing to the humorous side of the audience who see it. The Do Nothing campaign builds a lot of trust with the gruff ol’ men who still view the UGG brand as a women-only or feminine product. In a lot of measures of success, their ad campaigns are working.
They also have the positioned their products to back up their promotions. UGGs has boots for the winter, desert, and any condition in between are named with rugged names such as “Butte,” “Grand Canyon,” and “Fairbanks.” UGGs is charging relatively high prices (upwards of ) and highlight technical specs such as EVA midsoles and UGGpure™ Wool. UGGs’ descriptions are helping build their case for being a men’s boot, as well. The Keaton boot is described as, “Premium craftsmanship and rich full-grain leather affirm the elevated status of this wear-everywhere style…”
The Takeaway:
UGGs is still in the process of utilizing their resources, like brand ambassadors and ad placements to reposition their brand in the luxury men’s footwear market. However, they are kicking ass ant taking names managing their repositioning across all platforms, like their website, social media, and their physical product. If my step-dad, an average Joe, is wearing their shoes, I must say they have accomplished yet another great repositioning feat. What’s next? Clothing?
References
Adams, Dan. “UGG hoping Tom Brady draws men to market” Boston Globe. 9/3/2012
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/09/03/ugg-puts-shoes-brady-hoping-draw-men-market/eeTyGONjEN70XU97wddy1J/story.html
Blog, UGG. “Do Nothing feat. Tom Brady and Jeff Bridges”
http://www.ugg.com/blog?postid=do-nothing-feat-tom-brady-and-jeff-bridges
Schulte, Erin. “How UGG Got Its Y Chromosome Back” Fast Company. 9/12/2011
https://www.fastcompany.com/1779173/how-ugg-got-its-y-chromosome-back
Wilder, Charlotte. “Julian Edelman drives Tom Brady crazy in a very funny new ad for Uggs”
USA Today. 10/10/2016. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/10/julian-edelman-tom-brady-uggs-ad
