As Cole Haan prepares for its 100th anniversary in 2028, it is also adjusting its marketing and product strategies to suit today's hybrid, more flexible workforce.
Cole Haan was founded in 1928 as a men's dress shoe company, but the brand is looking to become a lifestyle brand for the post-pandemic era. In 2021, Cole Haan expanded into performance golf and tennis shoes. Today, the company continues to offer footwear and accessories across a variety of categories (from dressy to casual to outdoor) and for any occasion (from office meetings to retreats to dinners).
Going forward, Cole Haan wants to be a “9 to 5 and 5 to 9” brand, Cole Haan brand president David Maddox told Modern Retail. “Wardrobes are changing from uniforms to individual pieces that can be mixed and matched for different occasions,” he said. “People don't have clear boundaries between different items in their wardrobe, so we knew the same needed to happen with shoes.”
In tandem with this strategy, Cole Haan is embracing marketing channels common to today's consumers – social media like TikTok and Instagram – as well as more traditional formats like TV. It's using all of these formats in a new campaign for products it launched this month: a women's shoe collection called “The 1928,” which includes pumps, flats and boots, and a line of supportive Oxford dress shoes for men.
Cole Haan was once an independent company, but became a subsidiary of Nike in 1988 when the brand was acquired for $95 million. Nike then sold Cole Haan to private equity firm Apax Partners Worldwide LLP for $570 million in 2012. Cole Haan had planned to go public in 2021, but has since withdrawn plans for an IPO. At the time, Cole Haan said it had revenue of $686.6 million for the year ended June 1, 2019, up 14.1% from the previous year.
Cole Haan has continued to grow since then: in November, it opened its 500th store at the Rivat Centre in Beijing, China. Cole Haan is now sold in more than 100 countries, up from 13 in 2013, with showrooms in New York, Toronto, London, Hong Kong, Dubai and Tokyo.
As for how Cole Haan will approach new products and marketing in the year ahead, Maddox, the brand's president, said:
Understanding Cole Haan's Core Customer
Our customers, as we characterize them, are exceptionally successful. They are usually young professionals who are finishing their 20s, coming up the ladder, and are on their way to middle, if not managerial, positions, starting businesses, or starting to seriously invest in themselves and their wardrobe. That insight led us to think about the structure of our product creation in terms of how they live their lives. That's why we cover everything from special occasions to dresses, casual, outdoor, and sports. They invite us into the most important parts of their lives: an unexpected night with friends, an important presentation at work, a wedding, or any other destination.
How has Cole Haan changed since the pandemic?
We knew we needed to develop products that could be worn all day, depending on the demands of our customers' day. The pandemic forced new ways of working, first from home and now hybrid, and we understand that people's lives are in flux. We're taking that insight into how we look at our products, engineer them, design them, and think about our different categories and zones. Everything we do is driven by understanding the benefit we want to give our customers, whether that's cushioning underfoot or a timeless style that will match many of our customers' wardrobes.
Cole Haan's Marketing Mix Update
We're doing some addressable TV because we know that customers watch and shop at the same time. And video as a component is becoming a more important part of what we do. But those social points are where we meet our customers. It's TikTok, it's Instagram, of course. But we're reaching our customers where and when they're looking for information…
We don't see a clear line between brand marketing and performance marketing. We see it as a customer journey where one leads to the other. We get (customers) when they show interest and demand for the category, not the brand, and make sure we're there at that point. And because we index highly in major cities, we think about targeting people that way through media.
Getting ready for the holidays
From a shopping standpoint, we're there when our customers are shopping, and we're there for them in the lead up to Black Friday and beyond. We have a pretty coordinated strategy meeting about all of that, but we're also thinking about how we continue to reimagine traditions through the holidays. The holidays are a great time for special occasions, dressing up, going to parties, and frankly that's where we shine… And then, of course, as the holidays come to an end and people start wanting to head to warmer climates, we have our products ready for that. We usually roll out in the early spring and we're focused on some new products, so that we can be in advance of our customers starting to pack up for the holidays.
