• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, August 14, 2024

Allbirds, a footwear brand that galloped to success with comfy all-wool construction and impressive sustainability goals, is in a race to regain relevance. To combat plunging sales, the company is introducing “Allbirds by Nature,” a campaign to reignite interest in the once-hot footwear brand. It’s also launching Tree Glider, a go-anywhere shoe the company says is its most versatile yet. Kelly Olmstead, chief marketing officer, tells Retail Insider about the strategy to get Allbirds back on its front foot.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Retail Insider: You’ve been CMO for less than a year, joining at a rough time. Sales keep sliding, there was an ill-fated foray into running shoes, and investors have lost confidence. What’s that been like?

Kelly Olmstead: I came in as a consultant as part of its reset. I had no ambition of staying, but they just sucked me in. It's a great company and culture. I want to help get back to what made us so successful.

Retail Insider: Has there been any point when you thought, “OK, this is too hard. I give up”?

Olmstead: It's a challenge. People who know us love us, but not many people know us. We hover around 15% to 17% awareness, which is surprising because we had such a meteoric rise out of the gates. The big challenge is to move that awareness needle. We're not the new kid anymore.

Retail Insider: What will do that?

Olmstead: A great product, great stories and great experiences. On the marketing side, it's about those stories. Product takes longer. Working with our agency, Sid Lee USA, we’ve immersed ourselves in what made the brand special. The idea behind “Allbirds by Nature” is to assert who we are in a confident, distinct, ownable and defendable way.

Retail Insider: Allbirds launched in 2016, and by 2019, got named “the most comfortable shoe in the world” by Time. What made the brand so successful?

Olmstead: The team could do something in a way that no one else was, making better things in a better way. I was working at Adidas then, and Allbirds shook us up. Consumers don't want to compromise. And it's not only about sustainability. It also means that they expect the ultimate in comfort and design.

For a while, we focused a lot on sustainability, which is at our core. We do walk the talk. But we’re bigger than that. Allbirds is about living in service of nature, and this is about the wealth of inspiration, beauty and design that nature can inform.

When we started building this campaign, crafting a future vision for the brand, we loved that we couldn't find similar ideas anywhere. We were looking for swipes. We were looking for things to say, “This is our North Star.” We couldn't find exactly what we wanted, what was in our mind's eye, and that's a good sign. It means we're headed for a white space.

Retail Insider: Is the goal to recapture people who used to be fans and got tired of your look? To find new audiences? Both?

Olmstead: Both. One of the reasons I joined is that we have a Net Promoter Score of over 90. That means once someone has tried Allbirds, they understand how truly comfortable and distinctive the product is. We have to reconnect with that original base. And we also need to sell new products to new people. That's what Tree Glider is about.

Retail Insider: What’s unique about Tree Glider?

Olmstead: It reflects what consumers are demanding today. When COVID happened, everyone understood the power of movement and being outside and what that does to your mental and physical state. This shoe embodies how the modern movement has continued to evolve.

Obviously, sneakers should be comfortable. The difference is that there is a very refined, sophisticated visual language that Allbirds is known for. We don’t put our logo all over the shoe, and it’s not got this huge tech look. We see an opportunity for our clean, reductive aesthetic. We like to say it is the right amount of nothing.

Retail Insider: Can you explain the role of retail in telling the Allbirds story? I didn’t fully comprehend your sustainability commitment until I shopped in a store.

Olmstead: It's like inviting someone over to your house. You know you can't hide. Stores are where we need to do the most compelling, immersive brand storytelling. And we know that more than 50% of the people walking into our stores are new. We have to share the latest shoes but also tell a modern, foundational story about the brand -- why we exist, and what makes us special. Otherwise, we're just competing at other people's games.

We’ve got more than 30 doors across the U.S., and we need to ensure that our No.1 store, our dot-com, also reflects who we are.

Retail Insider: Who are your prime competitors? Every company makes comfortable shoes. Nike is having some troubles, but Skechers is doing so well. Hoka is hot, and so is On.

Olmstead: It depends. Consumers wear performance running shoes for every day, so we’re largely up against brands like Hoka and Lululemon. But I don't think we're competing with them, exactly. Our shoes, truly, are remarkably comfortable. There's a white space opportunity for us to signal a very considered choice, something that feels good physically and mentally.

Retail Insider: Anything different in your media approach?

Olmstead: This will be our biggest launch in at least two years, and we’re back on TV for the first time in a year. We’ve got an exceptional performance marketing team, but we’re starting to invest in the brand's long-term health again.

Retail Insider: What about influencers? Once upon a time, Silicon Valley people wore Allbirds. Now, the world doesn’t think those guys are cool anymore. And from Adidas, you know the power of athletes. Yet you’re partnering with Melissa Wood Tepperberg, a lifestyle influencer. Why?

Olmstead: If an influencer doesn’t align with your brand, it’s inauthentic, like you're just renting cool. We've been cautious with our partnerships. Melissa embodies our story, finding time to move and appreciating what you can do in the moment, whether you’re dropping off your kids or running to a different meeting. She reflects the modern way of wellness. We're all trying to get our 10,000 steps. Our shoe lets you to do that and still look put together.