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Shoe Style Tips :: Wolverine Shoes
Wolverine Shoes: Why Wolverine Boots and Shoes is an Example of Great Branding
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Wolverine shoes has always been at the forefront of branding. Why? Because of their innovative naming strategies that take something as simple as a shoe or a boot and turn it into a product that customers can relate with.
Last year, Wolverine Shoes did close to $1 billion dollars in sales and sold over 40 million pairs of shoes all over the world. They’re the country’s biggest footwear manufacturer and much of that success is owed to their amazing branding and product naming.
Names that Speak to Customers
Where Wolverine excels is taking their shoes and naming their models with names that have little to do with footwear. For example, ten years ago, Wolverine licensed the CAT and Caterpillar names from Caterpillar, the world’s biggest manufacturer of mining and construction equipment.
They used the CAT brand to sell work shoes and it worked. Those steel-toed boots have sold more pairs than any other brand of work boot. Why? Because those Wolverine shoes share a name with a brand that’s instantly recognizable to the people in that industry.
Branding and Naming for Image
Wolverine Shoes took a name that said power, quality and ruggedness and co-opted it for their own brand. In the end, they created a line of shoes that embodied those massive and tough pieces of machinery.
Every aspect of the design, from the tractor-like tread to the high-tech systems like their Hidden Tracks technology, was developed to invoke that Caterpillar image. It was a coup d’etat in branding and a simple principle that can be done with almost any product.
Without the expensive Caterpillar licensing agreement, the Wolverine Shoes’ line wouldn’t have been as popular, but it’s still possible to invoke powerful brand imagery without a costly licensing deal. For example, many brands invoke images from nature – including the Wolverine brand itself.
How the Wolverine Shoes were Marketed
Instead of just throwing the shoes out on the marketplace, the marketing staff at Wolverine Shoes based their entire strategy on the imagery of Caterpillar – their equipment, literature and lifestyle.
Whenever a branding or name strategy focuses on invoking an image, you need to go all in like Wolverine. Every aspect of a product’s packaging, literature and presentation has to tie in to that branding naming strategy to really make it work.
Where Wolverine Cat Shoes Stand Now
The licensing deal between Caterpillar and Wolverine shoes was first signed in 1994. By 1995, they were selling 3.2 million pairs a year. Today, that number sits at a comfortable 5.7 million pairs every year. It’s amazing what a smart naming strategy and invoking brand can really do for a product.
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ShoeStyleTips.com :: Wolverine Shoes