Challenge: Given constantly shifting fashion trends, Sperry wanted to invigorate the brand’s historic boat shoe and ensure its continued relevance.

Objective: To reposition the Sperry brand in the footwear marketplace.

Solution: Through exploratory qualitative research, shoe buyers were exposed to image boards and other creative concepts to help understand “brand attachment” among current and former buyers, and brand elasticity to determine how far it could go in design efforts and communications.

Result: Plan-it identified strategies to extend Sperry’s positive “original boat shoe” heritage/image to the broader casual shoe category and provided recommendations for targeting opportunities and product line extensions. Since that time, Sperry has shifted its product mix from 65% boat shoes to one-third by 2020 and is on track to meet this goal. The initial result of this shift was a 1% increase in sales.