Repositioning the UK’s No.1 Outdoor Sock Brand was No Walk in the Park!

The Bridgedale® brief was our first major undertaking of a strategic rebranding project. Not sleeping much was also a major factor – fun, exciting but terrifying in equal measure.

We repositioned the brand with a new logo, strapline (Enduring Comfort), branded experience, product packaging, FSDUs (free standing display units), POS (point of sale), advertising and literature for both consumer and trade – retaining and growing their market share in the UK and European markets as well as the US. In North America sales increased by 60% in the ski sector and sales across the entire range rose 30% year on year post launch.

Initially, we undertook qualitative research to inform and underpin our thinking:

Online consumer surveys with the likes of Trail, Country Walking and The Great Outdoors consumer publications
Retailer & distributor visits in the UK and Europe (Netherlands and Germany)
Exploring the fells of the Lake District brainstorming and engaging with consumers on the way
Exit polls on the high street
Pre-launch testing on the high street at Cotswold Outdoor, London store

Our findings reinforced the WoolFusion® technical story (mixing high quality wool with high performance microfibres to deliver comfort and durability) – and that consumers were ‘not inclined’ to ask for technical assistance on sock sales – hence the packaging had to do all the work.

Consumers wanted to understand the purpose, touch and feel of the socks, retailers needed a robust pack design that would not deteriorate at the first moment of contact. Additionally, maximising ‘peg space’ on slatwall displays was critical – as more peg space = max sales opportunity.

Our silver bullet really was the packing and we utilised a spot silver on the sock packaging with a gloss laminate – which made them ‘ZING’ under the often-dim store lighting. This was backed up by a trial wall at Cotswold Outdoor in London, Piccadilly.

We were kindly given access to their sock wall – where we re-racked the product – Bridgedale existing brand vs competitor vs Bridgedale new brand vs competitor.

The results were astounding – over a busy morning and lunchtime over 70% of all packs chosen in-store that day were the new Bridgedale brand.

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