Heydude CMO on adopting Crocs’ marketing playbook to increase sales

Bought by Crocs four years ago for $2.5 billion, casual shoe brand Heydude has struggled to find its footing amid lackluster sales. But under new Chief Marketing Officer Paul Nugent, who joined the company last year, Heydude is seeing some traction by adopting some of the successful practices from Crocs’ marketing playbook. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, check us out on Spotify and hear us on Amazon Music/Audible. This is our RSS feed. Tell a friend! “Crocs is our big sister, they’re a phenomenal brand,” said Nugent, speaking on a recent episode of the Marketer’s Brief podcast. “When they purchased the brand, they really allowed Heydude to take on the marketing playbook to engage with consumers in really cool and interesting ways.” Last month, Crocs reported record 2024 results, including a 4% rise in revenue to $4.1 billion; Heydude brand revenue fell 13.2% to $824 million and executives talked about “reigniting” the brand, which was founded in Italy in 2008. Heydude saw fourth-quarter sales from Gen Z women grow thanks to influencers and new styles such as the Wendy Slipper, executives recently said. Though Heydude is copying some of Crocs’ strategies, it is a “very different brand,” Nugent said, noting that a primary challenge right now is building awareness. The brand is trying to do that with new marketing, including a campaign with Sydney Sweeney and an ongoing collaboration with singer Jelly Roll. “We’ve started to build a brand personality,” Nugent said. “We have to tell people a bit more about what this brand represents, the personality, the fun, and our approach to life.” With Sweeney, Heydude created a “Fashion Crisis Hotline” campaign that included a giant real telephone at Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The activation attracted customers who posted about it organically on social media, and the real hotline received 300 calls in the first 30 minutes, Nugent said. “We don’t like to think of ourselves as being pigeonholed in any box,” Nugent said. “We can go anywhere, and the Fashion Crisis Hotline was really showing what’s possible from a style perspective.” Nugent also discussed how Heydude and Crocs are handling the 20% tariffs on goods from China. “Heydude has built its business on being an accessible, affordable brand, and that’s really important to us and to our consumers,” he said. “That will be something that we’re looking to continue to strive to achieve regardless of the macroeconomic situations.” Also read: How brands are responding to the economic downturn

Heydude CMO on adopting Crocs’ marketing playbook to increase sales

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