Cross over brands: North Face, Keen, Adidas, Montrail, Salomon

It's no secret that I am intrigued by what Under Armour has done with its branding and where it has branched out, but last night my wife and I went to a running store in Salt Lake City called Wasatch Running.  It is probably the leader in running along the Wasatch Front.  While in there I asked about a couple of brands and what they thought of them there.  I asked about the Five Fingers and they said it was a good brand but would never run on pavement with them.  I asked about Under Armour and the consensus was that their running shoes just hadn't been around long enough.  What intrigued me most were the cross over brands meaning the trail shoes, the outdoors and the running world colliding.

The North Face.  It's an interesting problem to have.  First of all you have to develop a shoe that has the technology to compete with traditional running shoes and second you have to deomonstrate a knowledge of the outdoors.  In the window of the store was a big North Face poster with a trail runner.  It had the typical TNF feel to it, a stoic picture with someone completing something dificult but it was all in the parameters of running.  TNF definitely has the outdoors thing down but the running acumen is still something that they are accomplishing.  By sponsoring athletes and setting up a trail running campaign TNF is hoping to gain some credibility in the market.  Columbia has tried and is still trying but succeeding to a lesser degree.  TNF is crossing over into the athletic world in their apparel also.  It offers technical shirts for quick wicking with images of people training and running suggesting that they know their stuff.  It'll be fun to see how far they go and if they eventually get all the way into road and distance running shoes.

Keen is a bit different.  They claim to be the Hybrid shoe.  They focus their brand more on the outdoors with trail running being a small part of it. Still they are found in the running store and do have a feel of a cross over brand. On a side not Keen also says it's a hybrid brand because it can be used for a water life/ relaxing life/ technical life... I kind of like it.

Montrail was made for trail running.  If they go into road shoes then they'll start to become a cross over brand.  One reason that Columbia hasn't pushed itself too far into the trail business is because it owns Montrail.  An interesting little brand that was consumed by a bigger brand but left independent.  I wish them luck.

Salomon is a crossover from somewhere else.  They make great trail shoes and can often be found on the feet of avid day hikers.  They've been in the biz for a while but they crossed over from the ski industry hoping that the same people that followed them religiously with their ski eqipment are the same people who trail run and love the outdoors (side note, The North Face is banking on that same type of thing too).  They have hit a homerun and their shoes division is one of their fastest growing divisions.  They have done a good job with the branding.  Keeping it separate from the skis but you know that it's Salomon with the logo. 

Adidas Outdoor Imagery

Adidas fighting itself again.

Adidas.  A conglomerate, a jack of all trades and quite frankly a late bloomer.  Adidas has been playing catch up to Nike for years now.  Nike launched its ACG brand in the early 90's and Adidas was still stuck on lifestyle shoes (though it has been a huge seller for them).  In the early 2000's Adidas got into trail running a bit and put out some good shoes but it never took.  They didn't have the brand for it.  Nike separated themselves with the ACG and allowed for a brand to be developed.  Adidas recently launched Adidas Outdoors.  It is run out of a compeltely different division.  For the US it is ran out of Europe and offers a complete line of technical clothing and footwear.  Adidas has always had running shoes but now the brand is crossing over into the true outdoors.  I thought it was a mistake to name it Adidas Outdoor.  I thought they should have separated it and kept a small part of the logo in it.  As is they now still have to overcome the Adidas stigma of being a lifestyle brand.  They make some great stuff as was seen at the Outdoor Retailer Show but they still have the problem of dealing with themselves.  A new logo and name would have done some good for them.  Still they are crossing over.

I could talk about Under Armour but you might get sick of it.  Nike has obviously done a good job crossing over into: golf, football, baseball, basketball, trail, outdoors, skateboard etc... anyway, the point is that some of these other brands are still crossing over.  We'll see how their branding takes them into new realms.