Return
In tech, the story usually goes that the struggling brand invites back the genius founder to rediscover magic. In consumer, the story appears to be inviting back the founding shoe?
You’ll be forgiven if you missed it, but Allbirds last week re-released its original wool sneaker with a new take on its original release video.
And all we could think about what how long ago it was that the originals were released.
It’s unclear whether this is what Allbirds was going for, but it seems potentially problematic for one reason: the brand is relying on the nostalgia of its existing customer base to save it.
Perhaps the idea here is to rekindle a spark with consumers who liked the brand but mostly forgot about it. Maybe that works. Maybe that audience is large enough to grab hold of some traction. But Allbirds, despite reaching an enviable scale for a DTC brand, is still vastly unknown overall.
Does a quirky video that feels mostly like an inside joke for long-departed customers help change that?