YourRevOrg: How Cole Haan’s product and marketing teams work together to drive growth

In an industry where fast fashion dominates the landscape and trend cycles are a moving target, staying in business for almost 100 years means you’re doing something right. For American footwear and accessories brand Cole Haan, it seems rolling with the punches is at least one avenue to longevity.

“The key word is versatility, trying to really adapt the brand. Cultural relevance plays a big part of that,” said Cole Haan’s CMO Krissie Millan. Acquired by Nike in 1988 to help diversify its business, the brand was sold to private equity firm Apax Partners in 2012, and has gradually evolved from a 1920s brown shoe seller to a burgeoning lifestyle brand (one which almost went public but scrapped plans for an IPO in 2021).

Finding a muse

Millan says that since she joined the brand, it has embarked on refreshing its “key tenets.” A major part of this is building out “muses,” which she describes as holistic customer profiles based on more than what basic demographic information can provide.

The next step is making sure everyone is aligned around the same goal: the target consumer. Millan says that knowing what the consumers desire means being “plugged in.” At Cole Haan this takes shape in a consumer insights group that not only conducts surveys, but engages in “social listening” and utilizing “external partners who are plugged into culture.”

Millan says it’s important to visually tip your hat to a brand’s heritage and create a sense of familiarity between the designs. The next step is to make all of that relevant to today’s consumer.

“If you continue to deliver on that promise from a product side and the brand side, then I think that delivers longevity,” she said.

Relationships matter

As Cole Haan’s centenary year approaches, it seems interdepartmental synergies, or broad alignment strategies, are a key part of the special sauce (and you’ll know that alignment is a topic we’ve dedicated a heavy word count to here at Revenue Brew). For Cole Haan, the relationship between the product and marketing arms is a vital one. Millan says there are a few pillars to consider when it comes to team collaboration, with a pivotal one simply being timelines.

“With product, you always have to plan 12 to 18 months ahead. On the marketing side, we try as much as we can to plan out closer, so that you get more relevance from what’s going on in the market, get insights from consumers and whatnot,” said Millan.

Orgs trying to stay in tune with each other during the business cycle is easier said than done. Whether it’s sales and finance, or product and marketing, there is no magic bullet to getting on the same page (not even AI can do that for you).

Meeting in the middle

Though Cole Haan’s marketing and product teams may work on different schedules, they both collaborate from the start to lead a cohesive strategy.

“Our go-to-market process starts literally with both product and marketing together,” Millan said. “When we build out concepting 18 months before a product even gets launched, there’s already a lot of integration from the concepting stage that happens on ‘What is the big idea?”’

Millan says this type of collaboration is rare and that not all companies would set out with such an “intentional approach,” adding that it’s easy to just “go in silos.”

Cole Haan’s chief creative officer Scott Patt says the teams are “inextricably linked” at the start of a season, and it’s clear the teamwork goes beyond just understanding the customer; collections are crafted with themes and stories around the pieces. He said the teams build a marketing story which “dovetails” with the product element.

“By the time we get to the sales meeting, we virtually know the story we’re going to tell and how it starts to come to life,” Patt said.

Patt says by the time they’re ready to partner with an agency, the entire package is ready “in a bow.” 

Sneaker mania

According to Patt, Cole Haan’s sneaker segment has become its largest growing category since debuting back in 2016; around 35% of products sold are sneakers. “When you think about Cole Haan in 2000, sneakers were not going to the office,” said Patt. Cole Haan’s embrace of the hybrid footwear and sneaker categories has no doubt been aided by the casualization trend that took hold during Covid-19.

“We all experienced Covid and the dramatic casualization of culture as we’re sitting in meetings in our underwear at home,” he said. “That really was the moment where things amplified so fast, where we looked at the importance of sneakers and it just took on a completely different meaning.”

According to data from market research company Circana, Cole Haan’s sneaker offerings have been able to break through the competitive landscape and resonate with customers. The brand’s men’s sneakers ranked ninth among 412 brands in dollar volume for the three-month period ending in January (women’s sneakers also ranked ninth, among 517 brands).

Despite this success, Cole Haan is not without competitors in the premium space, and Patt points out that “sneakers are a massive specialization.” The good news, for them, is that the brand has strategized to set itself apart by leaning into both heritage and adaptability.

“That comfort through innovation plus style is a very ownable position in terms of what we do in our space as compared to other brands,” Patt said. 

The brand’s sneaker collection ranges from traditional sporty styles like its GrandPro range of lightweight and comfortable sneakers, to its dressy OriginalGrand styles, which combine the look of a classic oxford with the durability and comfort of a sneaker.

“Everyone knows that Cole Haan makes really great dress shoes, but at the same time, you want to make sure we make it relevant to today’s consumer where there’s a casualization that’s happening,” Millan said.

The road ahead

Organizational alignment does not necessarily mean using the same data, platforms, metrics, or even a common language for KPIs (though it certainly can, and often does). From a 20,000-foot view, alignment can simply mean having a common goal, one that’s fully defined and with transparent processes.

It might also mean coalescing around a predetermined end point (a launch or a rebrand, for example), or simply keeping your core customer at the center of your strategy. For Cole Haan, that’s just staying close to its heritage.

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