Why do these extremely ugly Crocs become so popular again?

This article takes the resurgence of Crocs as a starting point, and introduces the current consumer trend of "ugly and cute style". It analyzes the social reasons for the reversal of Crocs from multiple dimensions, and then uses Crocs' brand marketing strategy as a case to analyze how brands should use "ugliness" to stand out. Finally, it provides practical brand marketing suggestions, which have a certain inspirational effect on current brand marketing. 

The ordinary hole shoes have unexpectedly become popular this summer.

The so-called "hole shoes" are a general term for a type of shoes that are wide and made of rubber. Because the upper has many large holes, they are called "hole shoes".

In April this year, Crocs, the originator of hole shoes, achieved sales of 79.6473 million yuan on Taobao, an increase of 152.45% over the same period last year. On the trendy online shopping platform "Douyin", the sales of several hole shoes exceeded 60,000+.

Correspondingly, as of July 1, the total number of posts about Crocs on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin platforms exceeded 300,000 .

On Xiaohongshu, there is even a mysterious organization called "Join Dongmen", with the topic viewed billions of times .

Why are Crocs suddenly popular again? What marketing implications are there?

1. Why are the “ugly and cute” hole shoes so popular again?

Who will be the top trend in the shoe circle in 2023? It must be Crocs. According to Qiangua data, in the past 90 days on Xiaohongshu, the number of notes related to Crocs exceeded 50,000.

Image source: Qiangua Data

In fact, Crocs were once very popular. Since they first entered the domestic market more than a decade ago, Crocs have been seen everywhere in the streets and alleys.

The debate about its "appearance" has never stopped. Crocs were once described by Time magazine as "lacking aesthetic appeal" and included in the list of "50 worst inventions in the world".

Maybe Crocs are like stinky tofu, they look ugly, but make people exclaim “so delicious” after wearing them.

However, after being popular for a few years, the "monotonous" style of hole shoes began to gradually fade out of the market.

Nowadays, Crocs, an old internet celebrity, have unexpectedly become popular again. When you go shopping or take the subway, you can see them everywhere, just like they were a dozen years ago.

Upon closer examination, it can be said that the resurgence of Crocs was due to the right timing, location and people.

1. Weather (Scene)

First of all, Crocs greatly meet people's current need for comfort. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and home isolation, people no longer need to wear high heels or leather shoes that are uncomfortable for their feet.

Highly comfortable shoes such as Crocs, Daddy Shoes, and Loafers are naturally popular. Compared with ordinary casual shoes, Crocs are made of one-piece rubber and have large air holes on the upper, which is both breathable and convenient.

Whether it is a hot summer or a continuous rainy season, Crocs are not a good choice for going out, especially for some special professions, such as surfing coaches who deal with water all day long and medical staff who often participate in operations.

Crocs are waterproof, easy to clean, do not require shoelaces, and have a wide upper, which meets their needs very well and is therefore popular among these professionals.

2. Location (price)

Another major advantage of Crocs is their low price. After the epidemic, people's consumption has been downgraded.

Compared with the past, more people pursue brand name, even if they eat instant noodles, they have to buy branded noodles. The consumption mentality of more people has changed to "save as much as possible, cost-effectiveness first".

In this context, hole shoes with an average price of 100-300 yuan have dominated the summer for many people.

3. Renhe (Fashion)

The increasing "trendyness" of hole shoes is another important factor in their popularity.

In the past, Crocs were criticized for their style and design, but the emergence of shoe patterns has made up for their monotonous appearance.

Open Taobao on your mobile phone and you can see all kinds of shoe patterns in different styles.

On Xiaohongshu, netizens enthusiastically shared their ideas on shoe patterns and matching them: some with sparkling crystal stones, and some with fluffy sweet dolls...

The popularity of various shoe flowers and shoe buckles has made Crocs a way of expressing personality comparable to mobile phone cases. This just fits the "new consumption concept" of contemporary young people who pursue individuality and pay attention to feelings, so it has been popular.

In recent years, the continuous collaboration of brands has accelerated the popularity of hole shoes.

According to incomplete statistics, Crocs has collaborated with different famous brands and major film, television and animation IPs such as Disney, Pokémon, Harry Potter, 711, KFC, and Pop Mart, and has created many phenomenal co-branded hole shoes.

At the same time, a number of celebrities including Yang Mi, Bai Jingting, and Ouyang Nana wore Crocs, and He Jiong and Huang Lei often appeared in the popular variety show "Longing for Life". The celebrity effect has also accelerated the popularity of Crocs in China to a certain extent.

For various reasons, Crocs have become a new fashion favorite among young people. " Croco" will last forever! It is not just a slogan.

2. Marketing strategy of Crocs, the originator of hole shoes

Black and red is also a kind of red

When it comes to hole shoes, no matter its popularity, decline, or revival, Crocs, the originator of hole shoes, is a name that cannot be avoided.

Crocs is not only popular in China, but also abroad. Of course, the whole process was not smooth sailing.

Below I will take you through the history of Crocs shoes, what did Crocs do right, and what did it do wrong?

The first generation of Crocs was born in 2002 and was jointly designed and created by three "science and engineering men".

The first prototype of Crocs was launched at the Lauderdale Boat Show in the same year. It attracted huge attention as soon as it was released, and more than 200 pairs were sold at a time.

After this sports exhibition, the three founders continued to make breakthroughs and developed the patented material Croslite™, which has not been imitated to this day. Based on the original design, they innovatively added buckles on both sides to create a new brand, Crocs.

From 2006 to 2010, Crocs' sales achieved explosive growth. The brand was successfully listed only four years after its establishment, and its market value once reached 6 billion US dollars at its peak.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. In the days after its listing, Crocs blindly expanded its product line but neglected the research and upgrade of its hole shoes, which damaged the brand’s influence. In one year, the loss reached $185 million, and it was not until 2017 that it regained its strength.

From the trough to the revival, what did Crocs do right? The answer is: "Black and red are also red."

It turns out that ever since Crocs came into the market, complaints about the appearance of the hole shoes have never stopped.

According to a poll conducted by CivicScience, 46% of respondents thought Crocs were ugly, while only 8% thought they were “not ugly at all.” Tim Gunn, a fashion icon, even said, “I hate Crocs!”

Faced with external criticism, the Crocs team decided to go with the flow and launch a new brand slogan: "Ugly can also be beautiful."

In 2017, Crocs launched a creative marketing campaign that expressed this fearless attitude:

“Even if you are hated, you must maintain your own personality”; “Although we are ugly, we are the only beauty in the world even if we are bullied by the world.”

The campaign was very successful. It not only touched a large number of consumers, but also attracted the resonance of celebrities from all walks of life, who all acted as spokespersons for the brand.

"First Lady" Michelle Obama and her daughter went shopping wearing Crocs, prompting fans to follow suit;

Prince William in the UK was holding his one-year-old son, Prince George, dressed up as the Crocs family;

In addition to his cooking shows, the most impressive thing about world-famous chef Mario Batali is his iconic orange Crocs.

Of course, "celebrity endorsements" is only one of the reasons why Crocs returned to the top. Crocs also did one thing right back then, which was to adapt to the times and engage in joint ventures.

By collaborating with different trendy brands, IPs, and fashion bloggers, an image of "wearing Crocs is actually cool" has been created, which has completely overturned people's past perception that Crocs are ugly.

Crocs also collaborated with the currently popular "Barbie"

It is the strategy of celebrity endorsements and brand collaborations that has ushered in Crocs' second spring. In 2022, Crocs' annual revenue reached US$3.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 53.7%, setting a record high.

The success of Crocs fully demonstrates that " ugliness" can sometimes be an advantage in selling products. If used properly, it can bring huge traffic and revenue to the brand. So, how should brands use "ugly things" for marketing?

3. Ugly and cute style is popular

How can a brand stand out by being ugly? The case of Crocs illustrates a truth, that is, being ugly does not mean that it will not be liked by everyone. As the saying goes, "good-looking skins are all the same, but interesting souls are rare."

Sometimes, the uglier something is, the more unique it is. It can attract more attention and make use of the contrast to stand out!

So, in today's world where the "ugly and cute" style is popular, how can brands take advantage of this trend to market? I have summarized three principles for your reference.

1. Curiosity

Everyone has a sense of curiosity. When designing a product, a brand must first consider whether the product can arouse the curiosity of customers. After all, sometimes the level of curiosity will directly affect the customer's desire to buy.

Take the cultural and creative ice cream at the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum as an example. It has a cute expression and slightly rough workmanship. At first glance, it looks like a vase with eyes, nose and mouth. A closer look reveals that it is a hollow human face in the shape of a basin.

Because of its ugly appearance, this cultural and creative ice cream has become popular, attracting tourists to check in and taste it. After hearing that the ice cream tastes good, more people come here to visit.

They want to taste it themselves to see whether this ugly ice cream that looks like an emoticon is as delicious as the rumors on the Internet say.

In this case, the brand stood out for its ugliness, which aroused users' curiosity. But what really kept users was still the quality and taste of the product.

2. Break the routine

In an era when public aesthetics are becoming more and more unified and homogenized, some "anti-mainstream" products can actually catch people's eyes and make them want to take a second look.

For example, the winning works of Taobao's ugly things competition, such as the green horse headgear, the little frog doll, the brain flower hat, the ugly clay human face case and other products, all break the convention and are unique in design.

Because of their highly recognizable appearance, these products are quickly remembered by people, and even secondary works such as "emoticons" have emerged.

3. Joint marketing

In the Internet age, "even good wine needs a bush", and passively waiting for customers to come to you is obviously not enough. Brands also need to take the initiative and expand their brand reputation through marketing.

Compared to redesigning a product, the advantage of co-branded marketing is that the brand does not need to "create". As long as it finds a good partner, it is possible to create a phenomenal communication.

Therefore, many smart brands are leveraging the marketing potential of “ugly IPs”. As long as it is a good IP, there is no need to worry about traffic.

For example, Luckin Coffee also collaborated with Sad Frog on the Chinese Valentine's Day in 22nd year, playing with homophonic puns to form a Frog-Luckin CP.

The trendy pink and green material, the unique magic of the sad frog, and the eye-catching weirdness and cuteness made it unique in the Qixi Festival marketing and became a hot seller.

Final Thoughts

Back to Crocs, why do these seemingly plain-looking shoes become a popular fashion choice among young people? In addition to their convenience and practicality, the popularity of Crocs is more attributed to their ability to meet the needs of contemporary young people to express their individuality.

Therefore, the popularity of hole shoes teaches us an important marketing strategy: be people-oriented, examine products and brands from the perspective of consumers, truly understand their needs, and establish emotional resonance with them.

Only in this way can the brand stand out from the fierce competition and become a favorite and trusted choice of young people.
Author: Yan Tao San Shou; WeChat public account: Yan Tao San Shou;