Marketer Profile: Reef

On a 60-degree day in December, employees of surf apparel brand Reef strolled into their Carlsbad, CA, offices in hats and scarves, toting space heaters to fend off what they consider a cold front. Decked out in the brand's T-shirts, hoodies and footwear, the Reefers, as they call themselves, feel at home among the palm trees and surfboards that decorate the company's headquarters. Conference rooms are named after famous surf destinations, action-sports channel Fuel TV plays in the lobby, and ping-pong tables and video games await when they are in need of some down time."Ninety percent of the people that work here belong to our market. We sell what we are, we're not making things up, it's very instinctual," says Marcelo Bengoechea, Reef's creative director. "We don't have to depend on anybody else to tell us what to do because we know.""It's basically our directive to take what inspires us and inspire the surfer," adds Trevor Wessman-Lavelle, in-store marketing manager. Although true surfers are Reef's core demo, the company's new mission statement is "To inspire the surfer in all of us," broadening its reach beyond those who live in coastal communities."We believe that it doesn't matter where you live geographically, you still have a surfer inside of you," says Bengoechea. "A surfer doesn't mean that you are able to surf literally but is a person that searches for individualism and searches for some kind of freedom and searches for adventure. It doesn't have to relate to standing on a surfboard; you can relate that to anything you do."Reef has almost always used P-O-P to communicate this philosophy in-store, but Wessman-Lavelle says 2007 was the first year the company had a full-fledged P-O-P rollout, for its guys' apparel line. Not a bad first try considering one of the fixtures won a Platinum Award in the Design of the Times competition at last year's In-Store Marketing Expo. This year, Reef has put all of its energy behind the launch of the girls' line, supported by a brand new set of fixtures and making Reef a true, head-to-toe lifestyle brand.Building a LifestyleTwo Argentinean brothers started Reef in 1984, creating the sandals that have since made the brand world famous. In 2004, the company launched the full guys' apparel line, and the new girls' line hit stores this January. Reef is now owned by VF Corp., which manages a host of lifestyle brands including The North Face, Vans and Nautica."It's not necessarily just about the product, but about the lifestyle that's portrayed through the product and through the brand, which is definitely where Reef and companies like Vans come into play," Wessman-Lavelle says of VF's philosophy. "They're definitely leading the charge in making sure that they're on the forefront of leading fashion-oriented, lifestyle brands."Reef turned some of its departments over to VF with the acquisition, leaving sales, design/development, production/planning and marketing in Carlsbad. Along with Wessman-Lavelle and Bengoechea, the marketing department is led by Kevin Flanagan, VP of marketing; PJ Connell, director, guys' marketing; and Lindy Williams, director, girls' marketing. Even though Reef is part of a larger company, Flanagan says all marketing initiatives for the brand come from his department. "VF has been able to add a little bit of science to the art. In other words, we excel at the art part of marketing, the creative, as you can see with our P-O-P and our displays," he says. "Where they contribute is being able to help us do some research that otherwise we wouldn't normally do -- understanding the consumer, how they shop, what they're looking for from a macro level."Much of the team worked in the surf apparel industry prior to joining Reef, whether in marketing, events or, in Wessman-Lavelle's case, at a surf shop. He joined the company's sales department in 2002 and was put in charge of all in-store marketing activity three years later. Now, he says marketing "essentially leads the charge," working closely with sales and the product team to determine Reef's creative and strategic direction."We have various stories we want to tell, and I work with sales as far as what we want to push. I work with art to develop the art for it and simultaneously my vendors to develop the concepts and pieces that we'll apply it to," he says.Pushing P-O-PWhen Wessman-Lavelle took over -- or rather, became -- the P-O-P department, he saw Reef's trade show exhibits as a good place to start. "You put so much time and effort and obviously money into your trade exhibits in summing up the brand," he says, "you wrap it up into that piece and you have the tangible elements of your brand DNA right there. We pull those out and apply them to the in-store, making sure that we are providing something that can cover all of the distribution channels that our fixtures go out to."Although the company's P-O-P budget has decreased in recent years, Reefers know that having a strong in-store presence is vital to the brand's success. "I think if you were to rate it, [P-O-P] is one of the top two things to help communicate your brand to the consumer," says guys' marketing director Connell, with print ads being the other. Wessman-Lavelle agrees. "You should have already created a reason for that consumer to be in the store looking for your product, so it's the opportunity to seize that moment," he says. "It's the last stand that a brand can take to inspire the consumer relationship to the product and subsequently the purchase of the product."Reef's P-O-P offerings range from permanent floor fixtures, which can take more than a year to develop, to universal hardware, window kits and other in-store signage that tie into the brand's sponsored athletes and shorter-term promotions. Anywhere from one to four in-store campaigns are created per year, depending on the company's priorities and marketing initiatives.Reef recently teamed up with The Carlson Group, Portland, OR, to create many of its fixtures, including those for the girls' apparel launch as well as new branded slatwall pegs. "They have been integral in our transition from a point-of-purchase standpoint," Wessman-Lavelle says. The Carlson Group also produced the Design of the Times award-winning guys' apparel fixture. In addition, Reef has worked with 10 Designs, Huntington Beach, CA; Carr Graphics, Costa Mesa, CA; Colored Ink, Escondido, CA; Khoury Graphics, Costa Mesa, CA; Moebius Color, San Diego; Onyx Worldwide, Sausalito, CA; and Rapid Displays, Chicago and Union City, CA, to create its variety of in-store materials.Formal research on the success of last year's in-store campaign has not been conducted, but based on "basic qualitative analysis" of the sandal fixtures over the years, "we strongly believe that it is the most cost-effective fixture by turn ratio that is out at the market right now," Wessman-Lavelle says. "That has to do with the strength of the product, the strength of the brand and then the strength of our fixturing and its ability to not only hold the product but maintain its placement on the retail floor."Creating permanent fixtures is somewhat of a balancing act, making pieces that are chic but not so trendy that they will be out of style in a year. "Sometimes the P-O-P will stay on the floor for a couple of years, and we move past that in our communication, so we always have to keep an eye on designing P-O-P that will withstand several seasons despite changes in our communications," says creative director Bengoechea.To bolster short-term promotions, Reef relies on soft P-O-P such as modular branding kits that can be applied to windows or within the store. Last spring, the brand launched its first in-store media campaign for the "Mixed Tape" DVD release, a movie about surfer Bobby Martinez. A teaser loop played in stores and was supported by a window kit and glorifier with a water feature for his Dram sandal, highlighting that the shoe has a canteen built into its heel.Core as KingWhen choosing which retailers to sell into, Reef opts for quality over quantity (although being sold in more than 70 countries and 7,500 U.S. stores is no small feat). Mall stores like PacSun and Zumiez, regional chains Eastern Mountain Sports and Sports Chalet, and Nordstrom all carry Reef products, but going bigger runs the risk of turning off the brand's core consumer. "We have a very strategic distribution plan and that falls under that 'core as king' tenant. Even though there are so many surfers and surf aspirants that support this industry, the core of the market is still very small but very influential," Wessman-Lavelle says. "It is ultra important to maintain a viable connection with that crew."Another key part of the mix is independent surf shops, like the one where Wessman-Lavelle got his start in the industry. "If you were to actually see where our income is coming from, the vast majority is in that core chain of distribution that includes your sole proprietorships in coastal communities, as well as your smaller regional surf and action sports-specific chains." Selling to such a wide variety of retailers also creates challenges from a P-O-P standpoint. Some stores like PacSun don't take any in-store materials and Nordstrom creates its own Reef-dedicated displays, while others take apparel fixtures and dedicate full slatwalls to Reef sandals. "We sell to stores that are as small as 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, and we sell to national and regional chains in which quite a few of them take our fixtures, so we want to be able to maximize the continuity between the brand's identity, the brand's vision and the point-of-purchase," Wessman-Lavelle says.Reef does not require retailers to use its fixtures, but those that do are closely monitored by regional sales reps. "Our reps in this industry have very strong relationships with their retailers and participate heavily in their in-store merchandising," says girls' marketing director Williams. "They're very much involved at the nitty-gritty level in making sure that our presence at retail is top notch."With stiff competition from brands like Billabong, Quiksilver and Volcom, acquiring and maintaining retail space -- whether on Reef's fixtures or in a dedicated section within the store -- is of primary concern. "We always have to keep in mind that real estate is ultra competitive," says Wessman-Lavelle. "We have to fight for every square foot that's out there and it's not just through strength of product but through the fixture piece itself and the other soft P-O-P items."Pressure to maintain a strong in-store presence also comes from consumers. Whereas surf shops used to be what Wessman-Lavelle calls a "fireworks display" of merchandise and fixtures, today's shoppers expect a much cleaner, more organized retail experience. "The consumer is becoming much more savvy, is much more keen to not only the product but how it is merchandised," he says. "Now we're seeing stores that are much more clean, and they're providing their own schematics and requesting the graphics and branding from the accounts."Girl FocusThis January marked the official launch of Reef's girls' apparel line, which includes surfwear like board shorts and rash guards as well as more fashion-focused pieces. All of 2008's P-O-P budget was dedicated to this launch and includes brand new apparel and sandal fixtures, which feature easily updatable magnetic graphics and a flower in a vase for an extra touch of style. "We really wanted to come at the retailer with something that was a little bit more upscale and had an element of surprise, which we think the vase with the flower is something unique," Williams says. "The overall aesthetic of it is a little bit more sophisticated, so we wanted that to be our take at the in-store level."Having new fixtures to support the line was a key consideration when introducing it to retailers. "All the retailers, all the buyers, they shop by category, they shop by color, they shop by trends, so the merchandising portion is crucial," Williams says. "How it's laid out on the floor, how it's going to look with other brands, everything has to be very on-trend." With most of its competitors focusing on young teens, Reef caters to a slightly older demographic of 16- to 24-year-olds. Other brands are trying to target this audience as well, but Williams believes Reef has the advantage because it has already cornered this age group with the guys' line. "It's going to be an easier sell for us to convince those girls that we're not trying to be anything, that's what we are, that's what we've always been," she says. The girls' line will be sold mostly in existing accounts, with a few new swimwear retailers, including Everything But Water and California-based Diane's, added to the mix. New merchandise will be introduced for each season."As far as what it means for the brand, [this launch] is huge," Williams says. "It just completes the whole package. We're really, truly a head-to-toe lifestyle brand."Giving BackWith a product line so closely tied to outdoor activities, Reefers have a keen interest in protecting the environment. The Reef Redemption Program launched in 2007 because, according to Flanagan, "it's the right thing to do." He adds, "The founders of the company were very philanthropic and it's in line with our corporate culture, so that makes it easy. On top of that, it's something that the consumers expect."The program has three parts: a product line made of renewable, recycled and/or organic materials; financial contributions from the items' sales to humanitarian and environmental causes; and in-house efforts by Reef employees, which includes their own volunteer activities and simply going to work in their eco-friendly headquarters. All lights are low-wattage fluorescent or halogen bulbs, some of which are motion sensitive; the carpet padding is biodegradable; and the building's custodians use only "green" cleaning supplies.Wessman-Lavelle says he also tries to carry this philosophy into Reef's P-O-P. The guys' apparel fixtures were pared down to two materials, metal and wood, and all catalogs are printed with soy-based inks on Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper."We know that we create waste, and we know that we can't be 100% 'redemptive,' as we call it," Flanagan says. "We know that we're going to adversely affect the planet in certain ways, but, where we can affect it in positive ways, we're trying to take those steps. The philosophy is that maybe at the beginning it's 5% of our line and 5% of our P-O-P, and then the next year it's 10%, and then it's 30, 40, so the idea is to be able to grow it each year."