Ezra Martin described Ecco as “the best shoe you’ve never heard of.” But as the newly minted chief marketing officer for the brand in the Americas, he is charged with making that change.
“We’ve got less than 2 percent brand awareness in the U.S.,” said Martin, who joined the the Danish shoe and leather company in April. “So what I’m really trying to do — and what the rest of the team here is trying to do — is raise brand awareness.”
As Ecco looks to revamp excitement in North America, Martin has been tasked with overseeing a new marketing strategy to, in his words, make Ecco “the best shoe that you have heard of.”
“We have traditionally done okay in the U.S.,” said Martin, who previously worked at brands like Converse, Nike and Timberland. “And so our global team and board has recently committed to a turnaround of the Americas business.”
In tandem with this turnaround, Ecco named company veteran Deniz Erda as president of Ecco USA in December. Since then, the company brought on Martin along with three other shoe industry veterans to bolster its Americas leadership. TikTok veteran Zeynep Gorman joined Ecco as its e-commerce director for the Americas in March and The Rockport Company former vice president Seth Heckman joined as chief financial officer for Ecco Americas in April. Eastman Footwear Group executive Dan Leonardi joined as head of wholesale for Americas in June.
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To fix brand awareness in the U.S., the team is amplifying Ecco’s unique position as a comfort-focused, high-quality brand that owns its own supply chain and operates a strong B2B leather business in addition to selling its own product. This foundation in quality craftsmanship, Martin said, will define the brand’s lane in the competitive U.S. footwear market.
“We don’t have a logo that we could point to. We don’t have three stripes, we don’t have a Swoosh and we don’t have an On Cloud logo,” Martin said. “It’s innovation and craftsmanship that will start to set us apart, almost acting as our icon.”
In addition to this focus on storytelling, Ecco is also pursuing relevant brand partnerships and collaborations where it makes sense. When it comes to product, Ecco is playing up its position as a cross between a “white sneaker” brand and a “brown shoe” brand for dressier occasions. In the fall, the brand will launch its second collection with designer Natacha Ramsay-Levi globally and later this month will launch its second limited edition shoe collection with Milan-based creative collective RAL7000STUDIO.
“There are not a lot of brands out there in our competitive set who can make an elevated white leather sneaker and also make an ultra casual dress shoe that’s as comfortable as that white leather sneaker,” Martin said.
Ecco is also exploring loyalty and membership programs to help it recognize and reward consumers who consistently shop the brand. As for target consumers, Ecco wants to reach people between the ages of 24 to 45 who have a strong desire for comfort and quality.
“We’re looking for the consumer who is maybe looking to stand out a little bit more and who is looking to wear something that not everybody else is wearing, who maybe appreciates craft and innovation and thus is willing to spend a little bit more for comfort,” Martin said.
On the distribution side, Ecco is pursuing expansion via owned stores and wholesale partnerships. In December, Ecco opened its first store in Manhattan under its new “Alpha” store identity, the highest tier of retail experience for the brand. Ecco currently operates close to 100 owned stores and is in close to 3,000 wholesale doors in North America. The brand is actively looking to add more doors in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta and Miami.
To Martin, the retail expansion and marketing revamp go hand-in-hand.
“If you’ve got all those doors, it’s great,” he said. “But if no one is compelled to walk into those doors, that’s a [big] footprint to try to manage without customers.”
