TOMS Expands
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I recently held my last graduate level
class at NYU for the Spring Semester, and the students presented their final
project. It required them to take
every principle that we had covered in class, and apply it to one of their
favorite brands. They basically
had to pick a brand and dissect its marketing plan and brand experience.
The team picked TOMS … good choice. For the TOMS brand, the team had to decipher
the:
- Brand definition
- - Functional and emotional benefits
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- SWOT analysis of the business
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- Perceptual map to get at positioning
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- Concentric circles to understand the competition
at various levels
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- Distribution plan
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- Pricing strategy
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- Touchpoint map
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- Ownable aesthetics
It’s a lot for a project and the team did an amazing
job. I was quite impressed. But as usual when it comes to my
students, I learned a lot in the process.
TOMS has been expanding, and quite logically actually. The brand’s “Buy One Give One”
positioning has allowed it to:
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- Break into distribution outlets never before
seen in footwear, like Whole Foods
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- Leverage price points and product lines to expand original launch (wedges, sparkles, fabrics)
-
- Open new lines of products like sunglasses, eyewear,
and apparel
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- Create an exclusive shopping experience with
company-owned brick & mortar and online stores
I am a big fan of the brand but I hadn’t realized how much
it had expanded. I did know that
TOMS had set the standard for being a “brand with a purpose” … a purpose so
clear, simple, and well defined that it drove all of its actions. Just didn’t realize how much those
actions had grown.
Success breeding success! Thanks to my students for once again teaching me something
new.
What’s your experience? Jim.
Jim Joseph
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- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
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- Author, The
Experience Effect series
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- Professor, NYU
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- Contributor, Entrepreneur