They went on to make anappearance on Shark Tank, winning an investment from Daymond John, who put $200,000 into the company for 17.5 percent equity. These employees can then take their knowledge of the company culture and back up the values that customers see in the real word. Product, price, place, and promotion. Some of that money went to purchasing the first product run, some of it went to building a website. BRIAN KENNY: Aha. This simple fact was the inspiration behind Bombas Socks, a startup that equips the buy-one-donate-one business model and pairs it with the perfectly designed athletic sock. Theyre not leading with the purpose, theyre leading with the product, but the purpose is still such an important part of what theyre doing, but they dont thump their chest about it. 1. Two coworkers David and Randy decide to start a sock company called Bombas after viewing this Facebook post: Socks are #1 requested item in homeless shelters. Im your host, Brian Kenny, and youve been listening to Cold Call, an official podcast of Harvard Business School, brought to you by the HBR Presents network. When you know you have a product that fits the markets needs, its important to stick with it. The company is fairly young (2013), but it encapsulates so well. While the company is expanding, they plan to stay laser focused on comfort-based basics for the next several years, building on their mission and bottom line. Partnerships help Bombas reach a wider audience and amplify their message their image as a socially conscious company. By the end of 2013, Bombas had reached $400,000 in sales. ELIZABETH KEENAN: So, that moment, I think spoke to them and made them realize we may be onto something here. And so it was clear that there was a gap and a need in that space. Bombas pride themselves in having engineered the perfect pair of socks with comfort at the top of their mind. It was a nightmare. Heath says. Bywalking the walk, so to speak, theyre proving to customers that they truly believe in their social mission beyond just its marketing value. Keown further emphasizes that the success of Bombas' brand purpose and culture are founded not merely by the opinion of decision-makers in a boardroom, but rather that the brand's culture-wide approach of 'Hey, this is what we all believe as a collective community' is what really connects Bombas' internal True Believers with the fans who buy its socks. Founder/CEO of We First, & author of new book at LeadWithWe.com, Purpose At Work: How Bombas Gains Competitive. What are some of the important ways your marketing has evolved as the business has grown? That would include things like moisture wicking properties, padded heels, seamless toe, arch support, and so on. How did they turn an idea into a multimillion dollar social enterprise? So Im looking at the pro-social consumer, but also now pro-social companies and the actions they take to attract those consumers. Furthermore, Bombas has always made certain that clients are satisfied with the goods. There is the performance sock market, which involves athletes, runners hikers, and thats the market where theyre selling for upwards of $20 a pair. Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. While the majority of homeless men, women, and children are living in or around metropolitan areas, working with partners across the U.S. gives Bombas a way to make an impact country-wide. The process was so exciting. In fact, that was around the time that they had finally donated their one millionth pair of socks. Four years ago, David Heath and Randy Goldberg learned what the most frequently requested item was at homeless shelters: socks. Without a company culture that actively and publicly demonstrates the companys professed values, their message would feel disingenuous. He became incredibly depressed, as most people would, then turned to alcohol and eventually drugs, Bombas cofounder says. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Thank you for having me. In fact, you think corporations are causing most of the problems in the world today. And to do that, they had to make a product that people would keep coming back to. Our mission is the main driver of our success today.. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Were most of them here? It's a different emphasis at different times of year, Heath says. To drive purchases, the brand's marketing campaigns focus on the positive impact and quality of their product. My name is Brian Kenny, and youre listening to Cold Call on the HBR Presents Network. The pandemic only enhanced the need. A company doing exemplary work marrying purpose and product is Bombas. In the past year, Bombas donated more than 40 million pairs of socks and shows no sign of slowing down. From there they were able to create a product that met the needs of the homeless community and turn it into a viable business plan. Were now at more than 25M pairs donated and this video is still one of our best-performing pieces of creative. I have three pairs and Im constantly washing them because I want them available. Recently, Bombas added pima cotton T-shirts that they describe as, the first shirt that you want to wear out of the wash. Next on the list is underwear, which is the second most requested item at homeless shelters; T-shirts are third, Heath shares. Do whatever you can to make your brand and product as simple as possible to help the consumer understand what your mission is, Heath recommends. BRIAN KENNY: Yeah. The Bombas marketing strategy is simple, building a great community that knows they are making a difference, selling premium quality clothing that people would die for, and solving major problems. Heath had the idea in February, 2011 but Bombas didnt open publicly until August, 2013. In the beginning, David would go out and listen to peoples stories, which invoked a sense of empathy inside him. And so a lot of organizations and other companies, brands were turning to them and saying, hey, we have inventory that we want to now donate because of whats going on, but we dont know how to do it. Excited, they get to work to design a high-quality product with a consumer-focused approach and best quality cotton. Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. BRIAN KENNY: They feel good. The 4 P's of marketing are price, promotion, place, and productthe four key factors every marketer should use to guide their campaign strategy. When a new team member joins Bombas, they become a part of the family, or hive, as the company would say. #BeeBetter by @taza, A photo posted by BOMBAS (@bombassocks) on Sep 9, 2015 at 1:34pm PDT, TriplePundit said it well, recent research indicates that 80 percent of consumers are willing to buy a product from an unknown brand if it has strong social and environmental commitments, conscious consumerism is on the rise and this means that Bombas marketing strategy is likely to pay off.. And so theres partners and this seems to be a theme throughout all of the relationships they have with their giving partners is that these partners often become collaborators in helping them better understand the space that theyre trying to serve. To authentically act on purpose he recommends that founders and employees get close to the issue they are addressing. Initially the company had to figure out how to price its product. What do you think about startups utilizing the Toms one-for-one business model for new ventures? You and your peers hold the keys to 29 billion in purchase power and 333 billion in influence. Data science enables marketers with insights that lead to improved efficiency and a deeper understanding of the consumer journey, resulting in higher returns and profitability. Is ita concept that can continue to see success if done correctly or is it tired and overdone? And so that allowed us to get back to this conversation about ways of increasing willingness to pay in this space. "It is especially so during times of rapid change in the world whichrequires employees and leaders within an organization to adapt and contribute in meaningful wayswhile still remaining true to who they are as a brand. bombas.com Top Marketing Channels. "2020 for Bombas was the year of what we call 'Brand Culture Thinking,'" says Keown. "Brand Culture allows organizations like Bombas to more easily align who they are with what they do," says Keown. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Absolutely. Read insights from 1,218 consumers around the world to learn what subscribers really want from an SMS experience. Having employees that are truly engaged with the mission will add credibility to your brand. They also needed to determine what role that mission should play in their marketing. So initially all of their ads pretty much were product focused, given that they had needed people to become aware of the fact that they had socks and thats what they were selling. Partners dont always seek purpose. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Thank you. El informe de Mercado Bombas de profundidad proporciona informacin de expertos sobre el estado del mercado, los prximos pronsticos, las oportunidades de desarrollo y los actores clave en funcin de medidas de investigacin integrales. So, this has been a great conversation, Liz. Simple, concise and clear. They arent the most inexpensive product to buy. And they reached out and they called Hannahs Socks and asked, Do you want some socks? And they said, Wait a minute, youre just offering us socks for free? And they said, Yes. And so, that was one of their first giving partners, but it wasnt just a giving partner, it became a collaborator and they ended up sharing knowledge, important knowledge about the space of homelessness and the need for items like socks and what aspects and features of those socks would be important. Today on Cold Call, weve invited Professor Elizabeth Keenan to discuss her case entitled, Bee-ing Better at Bombas. BRIAN KENNY: Weve had a lot of cases on the show in the past about companies that have adopted a purpose. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Exactly. To meet their ambition, Goldberg and Heath foundedBombas, an eCommerce apparel company that uses theone-for-one business modelmade famous by TOMS Shoes. What kind of an impact does that have on them and how do they pivot in that space? Heath learned about how important socks were to homeless people in 2011. And I asked that of several students. The two strategies they use to increase their average cart value to boost revenue. And traditionally we do that by increasing quality. ", Bombas' Brand Culture Leads to Brand Love. Our guide covers the 4 P's of marketing and gives a breakdown of each step involved. But these firms are different because they were founded for the purpose and its intrinsic to their DNA, right? And through that research, they also came across the understanding that there was room for innovation in socks. They wanted to sell socks with those properties. According toTriplePundit,research indicates that 80 percent of consumers are willing to buy a product from an unknown brand if it has strong social and environmental commitments, conscious consumerism is on the riseand this means [sic] that Bombas marketing strategy is likely to pay off.. But whats nice about both of the items that theyve added to sales is that the number two most requested item in homeless shelters is underwear, and the number three is T-shirts. Now it seems to be that having a social purpose, whether its part of a buy one, give one model or other is becoming table stakes these days. But maybe you can start for people who arent familiar with Bombas, now they know they sell socks, but how was the company created and why did they land on socks as the central product? By making their employees a priority, Bombas is fostering an internal community of like-minded individuals, as well. After 30 days of the campaign, they reached $150,000. BRIAN KENNY: So ,lets talk a little bit about the fact that theyve now started to look at branching into other product offerings. Now, the case actually just debuted recently for the first time in class. And so dramatic increases in price for that type of product, they felt would work better than if they were working in a space where the base price of that product had started quite high already. I know Ive talked to several people. ELIZABETH KEENAN: That is one way for growth, but it could be a risky approach for any company. We started getting people posting online, saying, Bombas is stealing our money. To ensure that Bombas customers are satisfied with their purchase, its socks come with a 100% Happiness Guarantee which assures customers that the Bombas Customer Happiness Team will be happy to assist them with any issues or questions. Huyett:We've focused as we talked about earlier on both product and mission. You have high expectations of the role that business should play in the world, but by a margin of five to one, you just dont trust them to do it. ELIZABETH KEENAN: Thats a really good question. Do you think that the mission, and this would go beyond Bombas, but any firm that is focused on a purpose in this way, and that is built around a purpose, does that give them an edge in terms of attracting talent? Working in collaboration with Tinuiti, Bombas transformed their email strategy from "batch and blast" to sophisticated one-to-one marketing that effectively showcases the brand's extensive line of socks and unique charitable mission. Well, not quite. But maybe you can talk a little bit about why quality mattered in this case. Their exact sequence of emails that they use get more customers to buy their socks. Their one-for-one model is only as successful as it has been for Bombas because their customers continue to spread the message to their networks. If you have any suggestions or just want to say hello, we want to hear from you. And what we did is we took a look at firms that are both trying to do well and do good at the same time. BRIAN KENNY: Elizabeth Keenan, thank you so much for joining me on Cold Call. When you're a one person show in the early days with no cash or resources, and the only time you have to work on it is from 6:00 P.M. until midnight and on weekends, you have to grind it out, the cofounder says.