Let’s talk about ugly things.
The Proboscis monkey.
Jabba the Hutt.
The Corona Beerus.
And Crocs shoes…
The heck… they are ugly indeed.
So ugly that they struggled with sales in the 2010s.
People didn’t want to wear them—even though most people have ugly feet.
But Crocs were even uglier.
Here are some unsolicited reviews they got:
[The Croc] looks like a plastic hoof. How can you take that seriously? – Tim Gunn
A person wearing Crocs is signaling that ‘anything goes.’ – Rob Corddry
Then Andrew Rees took the CEO seat in 2017.
What did he do?
Redesign the shoes?
Rebrand them?
Nope.
He embraced the ugliness.
They showed it off. Proudly.
And used it as a signature selling point.
They turned all the hate, mocking, and contempt into attention.
People started noticing them, their message, and their sassiness.
To be fair, the company was clever to lock in partnerships with Post Malone, Drew Barrymore, and Justin Bieber.
It’s also worth mentioning their social media marketing.
But we can take some valuable lessons from this case:
- Embrace your flaws.
- Be bold with your message.
- Look for valuable partners.
In the end, it’s better to be uniquely ugly than a pretty standard with less personality than a tile.