SMARTWOOL: GO FAR. FEEL GOOD.
We have reached the half way point of the Made in Colorado series. This week I’ll be discussing digital marketing from Smartwool. Smartwool is an innovative company at its core, pioneering the first ski sock that cost over $20. I have a lot of Smartwool socks that have stood the test of time, but I can’t say the same about Smartwool’s digital marketing. This week I will solely focus on their website, brand and social media channels.
Smartwool was founded by New England ski instructor Peter Duke and his wife Patty in Steamboat, Colorado in 1994. This husband and wife team was looking for a sock that would stand up to a full day of skiing. In Smartwool’s 24 years in business they have grown from a moisture-wicking, odor-reducing, anti-microbial sock company to an internationally known performance apparel company. Smartwool was acquired by the Timberland Company in 2005 and then in 2011 Smartwool became a subsidiary of the VF Corporation.
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, a brand’s marketing won’t stand out if there is no storytelling associated with their brand. True marketers know storytelling, smart strategy and integrity are what differentiate you from your competitor’s in today’s market. Consumers can smell when a company is not coming off as authentic. For me, this is the biggest miss for Smartwool. When looking at their website, email and social channels I am lost on what story Smartwool is trying to tell me. Across multiple channels, Smartwool’s images convey an adventuresome lifestyle but the images appear more like stock photography than intentionally placed story pieces. You can’t deny the images are attractive but there is nothing to inspire the consumer.
Online their website is definitely visually pleasing, including image and video based backgrounds and the navigation has been well thought out. Five level 1 categories house all the information you’d expect from a product based website. An interesting strategy Smartwool has chosen is to list their products in the first three navigational buckets, but the last two categories are image based navigation housing activities and other content.
Within the navigation Smartwool has a header called ‘discover’. This bucket houses everything that doesn’t fit within the other categories. I can see this is where Smartwool is trying to tell their story, build relationship with their consumers, create content and address sustainability. This section feels disingenuous, almost like a catch all. Obviously this section makes great sense from an SEO stand point. Digging further in to this section I came to learn about Smartwool’s athletes, all winter sport athletes. If, as a company, you’re looking to get into summer outdoor activities it would make sense to diversify your athlete portfolio. Additionally diversify your athletes to include older athletes and younger up and coming athletes, show your consumers your products are for all ages, genders and races.
Some other misses I see on Smartwool’s site is any information regarding the company’s history, sustainability of their business and media/press room. Furthermore Smartwool uses Merino Wool, a great product, but speaks nothing about this technology and the progression of this material.
As for email sign up, an anchor link from the top of the website sends you down to the footer of the site to sign up. It is extremely easy to enter your email but again I want to tell Smartwool my name and other details but I am not direct to do so; a miss in my book and also a miss for future personalization of a website. Since I have been signed up for Smartwool emails for a few years I am unable to comment on their welcome series. In general, Smartwool emails are product based and have a UGC component. Overall Smartwool is rolling with the same industry standard as most product based companies.
Smartwool is followed by just over 53k people on Instagram. Having looked through their channel I am trying to work out what the intent of their account is. As you know, accounts with a theme that reflects the personality of the brand are more successful than those accounts that just post to post. Well thought out hashtags specific to a post is just another way to create your community. Four to seven different tags is a healthy amount for a post. Smartwool falls short the majority of the time with an average of two hashtag per post. Posts are scattered between product promotions, outdoor action photography, and video and landscape shots. Smartwool offers a great product but this account doesn’t reflect this.
Smartwool has a lot of innovative partnerships with different companies that I won’t have the time to address. However I will say that this type of cross-pollination is a very strategic move I am interested to watch play out.
When you look at other Colorado companies like Voormi, Osprey, Melanzana and the like you can see and feel what the brand is creating, with Smartwool you don’t aspire to be part of that community. This opinion is based solely on their email, website and social channels. Smartwool truly offers amazing products and they are built with the consumer in mind but their marketing mix is off. When small companies are purchased by large corporations often times the true soul of that small company is detatched, I believe this is what has happened here. What Smartwool does well with marketing, they do really well and that should be applauded because they are leaps and bounds ahead of most. My advice to Smartwool would be to start telling their story, inspire people of all ages and races and decide on three or four themes for their social channels.
If you’re in the market for great socks, I stand by my Smartwool socks!
*Please note I have not been paid by or sponsored by Smartwool or the VF Corporation. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I have not been made privy to any marketing information from this company.