A different outdoors brand: Ruffwear

I am admittedly bias to this type of product.  I have a dog that I absolutely love and she is my adventure buddy.  Through all of our adventures I came to the conclusion that she needed some equipment too.  I started doing some research on what was the best brand for dogs and Ruffwear took the cake.  Ruffwear is a company that focuses completely on products for dogs.  It's an interesting game plan they have put together, lets take a look at it deeper.

Whether they like it or not, outdoors people love their dogs (I think they would all admit it).  They are also the owner of dogs that like them love the outdoors.  Sure there are breeds that are not "sport" dogs such as Danes, Mastifs, Chiuahuas, Greyhounds and Whipits.  The dogs you do see with their owners actively participating in the outdoors are Labs, Retrievers, Collies, Australian Shepards, Spaniels, Short Hairs, Weims and others.  Interestingly enough these dogs were all bred with one idea in mind.  They were dogs that had a purpose.  Hunting and herding, these dogs were high energy and "tough".  Consequently for someone who likes the outdoors these "tough" dogs are the weapon of choice and can run a lot, stand up to a lot and in the end love getting dirty.

Ruffwear has capitalized on the market that outdoor people are going to be outdoors with their dogs.  Their products range from durable frisbees to Vibram soled booties for your dog.  We own a life jacket for our little girl that allows us to take her boating and swimming in back country lakes and we don't have to worry about her getting pooped and drowning.  Ruffwear has done a great job with making quality and useful products.  It all begins with utility and they haven't missed much at all.  The company has also put a premium on their branding and established the name Ruffwear as the leader in products for active dogs.  Their branding is a fun yet sleek brand with bright colors and a Mountain Hardware meets Nickelodeon feel to it.  The products have been so well thought out that many other knock off brands are copying them in both look and feel. 

Even hunters have bought into the utility of the products and it's  not rare to see a short hair in a corn field hunting pheasants with some Ruffwear booties on.  While the initial focus wasn't to the hunting community it just made sense that hunters use the products because their dogs are usually the hardest working dogs bar none.  In a single day hunting pheasants a dog can run up to 20+ miles.  That's a lot of wear and tear on paw and the body.  A collapsable watering dish in the middle of the day makes sense too.  All in all the brand has done a good job integrating utility with a distinguished look and quality manufacturing.

Much like the other outdoor brands Ruffwear doesn't really need to advertise, the truth is that there is much more of pull marketing scheme than a push.  People are demanding the product and Ruffwear is filling the void.  As an overall presentation on the website it leaves a lot out and doesn't create an overall experience that makes you want to purchase the products for your dog.  It's not content rich but does show some good images.  In today's market the website is your brand and how you present it along with the overall experience is unquestionably one of the biggest drivers.  The presentation also works with CRM and retention.  By adding more to website preferably in scientific studies or even just opinion based studies the company could get even a larger following.

 
In the end I think the brand will continue to grow and with more feedback on the experience and a great product they probably won't see too much of a decline in sales.  I know when I visit the site, I want more and I want to be excited to buy the product.  Fortunately for me I have some products, a pack and life jacket and I know the quality and utility.  I'll buy the product but not because of the marketing.  The brand is good, but the marketing could be better.  I do like it and think it will be okay in the future.

Update: 1/26/11  I spent a bunch of time at the Ruffwear booth.  The folks there in Bend Oregon are doing a pretty good job.  The booth was pretty good and was true to the brand, the products themselves are very niched (obviously, they are for dogs).  We had a chance to talk to a couple of the guys there.  Greg F. was really helpful and we even got to put some booties on our dog Layla.  (See video).  I enjoyed the atmosphere.  Take a look.