KiraSheppard, DarcyTurenne, Christina Milian and Niki Gudex Interview Oakley is known for high-tech eyewear and goggles and has just come out with a new women’s eyewear line. However, the origin of the brand is something else. That’s true. Oakley started with a BMX bike grip about 30 years ago. At BMX competitions our founder and chairman Jim Jannard did not like the way the grips were working on the bikes so he did his own version that was a better functioning product. Pretty soon though Oakley went into eyewear with goggles and sunglasses being the next venture. Eventually eyewear expanded and step-by-step we were getting into apparel like sweatshirts and tees and small accessories, for men first and then more and more for women. Today our product categories are footwear, eyewear, prescription eyewear, goggles, watches, apparel and accessories with the strongest category still being sunglasses. What’s the retailer’s benefit of an Oakley product? High customer satisfaction. We are a brand that is based on technology, quality and style, and we are always testing the bounds of what is possible. We are really progressive because we are making equipment for authentic athletes. [We] offer a quality product not just an in-and- out trend product. We and the retailers know that customers are getting what they paid for, or even more. Both the awareness that women are an important target group and making women- specific products are not new. Usually a first- mover brand, Oakley was not ahead of this development – how come? It’s all about timing. We built our brand [to be] primarily male-based and that is what we stand for. As we started to grow more and more women became attracted to the brand even though we were a male brand. We went into women’s products when we were ready for it and when it felt right for us. We wanted to spend time to find out what women really want, address [those things] in the proper way and do [them well] instead of half way. What’s the most striking difference between creating and marketing women’s products compared to unisex or men’s eyewear? Style and fit. Technology-wise we definitely have dialled what we want out of a product from a functionality, quality and lens clarity standpoint of each product. What we had to do for the women’s products was work on fits for women’s faces/anatomies, and a women’s preference of fit which we initially did not know enough [about]. So we spent a lot of time fit trialling, testing products on women. Also, aesthetics are really different: women require feminine colours and lens shapes. 2007 was the year of your Global Women Launch. What is it all about? This is really our big push this year. We started off last year with a soft launch as we were just getting involved and learning about the consumer behind this product. This year we were investing a lot of money and effort in marketing and we developed and just launched the Uniquely Oakley campaign. It is based on a great [team of women athletes] – surfers Kira Sheppard, Roxy Louw, Mizouki Hagiwara and Claudia Goncalves as well as mountain bike riders Niki Gudex and Darcy Turenne – to communicate Uniquely Oakley to our retailer and end consumer and make Oakley women’s eyewear and apparel discoverable. We have these unique, strong and independent women with a profile which we feel is attractive to the ‘Oakley woman’ who is athletic and outdoor-oriented but not necessarily a sports professional. These athletes are our platform, they tell the story about the brand and their lives and personality. There are tons of women out there who we expect to connect with these athletes because they see how beautiful and active, attainable and real they are. We plan to catapult it into multiple campaigns about women and their sports and inspiration. All of these athletes are summer sports athletes. What’s happening with the campaign right now in winter? That’s right. Uniquely Oakley kicked off in summer but now we are doing winter featuring skiing and snowboarding, and wakeboarding for the southern hemisphere. Again we have a great women’s snowboard team with Gretchen Bleiler, Sachi Tanaka (a Japanese snowboarder), and Laura Hadar from the US. We also have European athlete Anne-Flore Marxer from Switzerland. Most of these athletes have been with us for [a] very long [time]. You will find all their bios, videos, stories, pics, products on our new website www.oakleywomen.com. We also have a community section there with news and events. Oakley’s Jenn Bradley Jenn Bradley, Global Program Manager of Oakley Women’s Eyewear and RX Frames, explains Oakley’s women’s eyewear marketing concept, the Luxottica purchase and the expected effect of both on the EU market and retailers. Interview by Stephanie Kranz (www.stephaniekranz.com). 38 www.boardsportsource.com Issue32_18.indd 38 Issue32_18.indd 38 08-11-07 02:18:51 08-11-07 02:18:51
Transcript
KiraSheppard, DarcyTurenne, Christina Milian and Niki Gudex
Interview
Oakley is known for high-tech eyewear and
goggles and has just come out with a new
women’s eyewear line. However, the origin of
the brand is something else.
That’s true. Oakley started with a BMX bike grip about 30 years ago. At BMX competitions our founder and chairman Jim Jannard did not like the way the grips were working on the bikes so he did his own version that was a better functioning product. Pretty soon though Oakley went into eyewear with goggles and sunglasses being the next venture. Eventually eyewear expanded and step-by-step we were getting into apparel like sweatshirts and tees and small accessories, for men first and then more and more for women. Today our product categories are footwear, eyewear, prescription eyewear, goggles, watches, apparel and accessories with the strongest category still being sunglasses.
What’s the retailer’s benefit of an Oakley
product?
High customer satisfaction. We are a brand that is based on technology, quality and style, and we are always testing the bounds of what is possible. We are really progressive because we are making equipment for authentic athletes. [We] offer a quality product not just an in-and-out trend product. We and the retailers know that customers are getting what they paid for, or even more.
Both the awareness that women are an
important target group and making women-
specific products are not new. Usually a first-
mover brand, Oakley was not ahead of this
development – how come?
It’s all about timing. We built our brand [to be] primarily male-based and that is what we stand for. As we started to grow more and more women became attracted to the brand even though we were a male brand. We went into women’s products when we were ready for it and when it felt right for us. We wanted to spend time to find out what women really want, address [those things] in the proper way and do [them well] instead of half way.
What’s the most striking difference between
creating and marketing women’s products
compared to unisex or men’s eyewear?
Style and fit. Technology-wise we definitely have dialled what we want out of a product from a functionality, quality and lens clarity standpoint of each product. What we had to do for the women’s products was work on fits for women’s faces/anatomies, and a women’s preference of fit which we initially did not know enough [about]. So we spent a lot of time fit trialling, testing products on women. Also, aesthetics are really different: women require feminine colours and lens shapes.
2007 was the year of your Global Women
Launch. What is it all about?
This is really our big push this year. We started off last year with a soft launch as we were just getting involved and learning about the consumer behind this product. This year we were investing a lot of money and effort in marketing and we developed and just launched the Uniquely Oakley campaign. It is based on a great [team of women
athletes] – surfers Kira Sheppard, Roxy Louw, Mizouki Hagiwara and Claudia Goncalves as well as mountain bike riders Niki Gudex and Darcy Turenne – to communicate Uniquely Oakley to our retailer and end consumer and make Oakley women’s eyewear and apparel discoverable. We have these unique, strong and independent women with a profile which we feel is attractive to the ‘Oakley woman’ who is athletic and outdoor-oriented but not necessarily a sports professional. These athletes are our platform, they tell the story about the brand and their lives and personality. There are tons of women out there who we expect to connect with these athletes because they see how beautiful and active, attainable and real they are. We plan to catapult it into multiple campaigns about women and their sports and inspiration.
All of these athletes are summer sports
athletes. What’s happening with the campaign
right now in winter?
That’s right. Uniquely Oakley kicked off in summer but now we are doing winter featuring skiing and snowboarding, and wakeboarding for the southern hemisphere. Again we have a great women’s snowboard team with Gretchen Bleiler, Sachi Tanaka (a Japanese snowboarder), and Laura Hadar from the US. We also have European athlete Anne-Flore Marxer from Switzerland. Most of these athletes have been with us for [a] very long [time]. You will find all their bios, videos, stories, pics, products on our new website www.oakleywomen.com. We also have a community section there with news and events.
Oakley’sJenn Bradley
Jenn Bradley, Global Program Manager of Oakley Women’s Eyewear and RX Frames, explains Oakley’s women’s eyewear
marketing concept, the Luxottica purchase and the expected effect of both on the EU market and retailers. Interview by
No, not specifically. We do have internet sales because there are people out there who won’t go shopping anymore but just order. Our challenge is to balance what we do about internet sales, what we do with the Oakley retail stores and what we do with our independent stores.
Who do you consider your competitors in the
women’s eyewear segment?
Well when I do research on that what I really look to is male brands trying to address females. You have brands like Chanel, Gucci and Prada that are competitors to a certain degree because they are in the market but they are not a competitor that we are addressing. There are brands like Smith, Spy, Bollé and also Nike that are starting
to address women. But what I found about all of these brands is that they are no real competitors to us because they are not really addressing women, they are just dabbling. They might have two styles or a different colour for the women’s product. We were the first active company that offered sports performance and lifestyle eyewear to really address women with women-specific products outside of the fashion products from fashion companies. When you talk to women, technology and functionality might not be first priority but that point of view is starting to change, and performance features are becoming more important. Fashionable eyewear really has become a “must have” to be stylish but today, women want that big lens and a functional glass. And they want what is the trend.
Talking about competitors like Chanel and
Prada, Oakley has just merged with the Italian
Luxottica Group with luxury brands like Chanel,
Prada, Ralph Lauren, as well as Arnette. In
what way will this purchase change the way
Oakley is going to do business in the future?
Oakley [has] become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxottica. The combination has the potential to help make the Oakley brand, our portfolio of brands (Dragon, ESS, Fox, Mosley Tribes, Oliver Peoples and Paul Smith), and our multi-brand retail concepts (Bright Eyes, The Optical Shop of Aspen and Sunglass Icon) even stronger. Oakley is a global leader in performance optics including premium sunglasses, goggles, and prescription eyewear focused on sport, technology and active lifestyle whereas Luxottica is focused on sunglasses and prescription eyewear in the fashion, luxury and general lifestyle segments. Oakley has been focused on building brands including [the development of] the Oakley brand into a broader performance and lifestyle brand offering products in many product categories such as apparel, footwear, and accessories. Luxottica has been focused on building a strong and expansive global retail network.
Together we have the combined opportunity for a stronger complementary relationship. This partnership will create more stability and increase the likelihood that consumers get to see and experience Oakley’s commitment to performance, quality and outstanding design.
You are talking about Luxottica’s expansive
global retail network. What’s the influence of
the merger on existing Oakley retailers?
We currently represent about 20% of Sunglass Hut’s sales and have grown that business this year, but our wholesale business has been growing even faster. However, they aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, Luxottica’s business has followed exactly the same pattern and has been helping its wholesale partners grow at [an] even faster rate than its own retail. O Stores will continue to be an important part of Oakley’s
growth and branding strategy. Sunglass Icon’s current re-branding effort and growth plan will continue with ongoing differentiation through its mall-based locations. Optical Shop of Aspen will continue to expand our premium RX platform at the same pace we planned at the start of the year.
What is expected to change or happen on
the European market with respect to Oakley
now belonging to the Europe-based Luxottica
Group?
Given that it’s a very different market from the US - more fragmented, fewer large retail chains - distribution can be challenging. Luxottica’s European existing retail and wholesale presence represents a great opportunity for greater Oakley brand exposure, visibility and the ability to tell our technology story. We will continue to focus our efforts on growing our wholesale business with our retail partners.
What kind of feedback do you get from the
European market concerning Uniquely Oakley
and the product?
I don’t think there is a big difference because when you do know Oakley in Europe you know it from sports, just like in the States. The challenge in Europe for us is that this huge market is dominated by the fashion brands when it comes to eyewear. We are just starting to approach women in Europe with a different perspective. If you come into the market and you want to be a fashion brand for women and you are up against Chanel or Prada – forget it. I have spent a lot of time working with sales and meeting key accounts in Europe, and when I talk to them about this positioning around our women athletes, they were getting all excited. At the moment they are surrounded by fashion brands and with the Oakley women’s eyewear they are able to offer something different for their stores that is going [to] go well with their consumers. Our potential customer does not
necessarily only want to wear Chanel without function but she wants everything from quality to technology, from style to fashion.
But you also opened a few more O Stores in
Europe recently …
Yes, because with the O Stores we get the people in the Oakley environment because there we know that our brand is represented the way it should be. We have so many stories to tell [and] it’s hard to tell them all so the ideal place for your consumer is an O Store. But what’s true to my heart because I grew up in sales is working with the independent chains embedding our business because we are offering something to their business to grow and we have a consumer that we are addressing and who they can profit from. Also, everybody, especially women, has their own shopping habit so we have to accommodate all the different needs, behaviours and lifestyles.
In what way do you expect Oakley to profit from
Luxottica concerning the women’s segment?
Luxottica’s expertise in the women’s business, including access, information, and early trend identification from some of the best designers in the world such as Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany, Burberry, Dolce and Gabbana, and Prada can serve as a great benefit to Oakley’s women’s eyewear programme. Having only entered the women’s eyewear business a little more than a year ago, Oakley has an amazing opportunity to continue to learn, refine and optimise our women’s eyewear programme while solidly establishing a new active/sport-inspired lifestyle niche.
You mentioned that quality and clarity aspects
are not as important to women but it is what
Oakley stands for. How do you get that across
to women?
It’s a process of education and demonstration so we tell them about the ‘Oakley Woman‘ and about what she stands for first. Fortunately, the whole UV scale and eye protection issue is getting more and more attention worldwide so it’s inherently becoming more and more important to our consumers. Some women definitely know about the importance of technology and quality but some don’t really realise what they are actually putting their eyes through. A lot of fashion eyewear can give you a headache and if you show them why (distorted/blurred vision) they understand.
How do you educate your distributors and
retailers in promoting your women’s line?
Talking to our retailers, be it in the US or in Europe, is our first-thing mission. Actually, a lot of retailers know us for our technology and quality so it’s almost easier to tell the retailer that the new women’s eyewear also has this technology and quality. Now we are showing the retailers that we have a product for women which they can communicate and sell.
What’s new for 2007/08 product-wise?
We are going to have a colour refresh, a whole new injection of colours on every model of our women’s line. For our women’s goggle Stockholm we are going to have a whole new range of straps which are very beautifully designed.
OUR CHALLENGE IS TO BALANCE WHAT WE DO ABOUT INTERNET SALES,
WHAT WE DO WITH THE OAKLEY RETAIL STORES AND WHAT WE DO WITH OUR
