Ownership was contemplating scuttling both brands in order to cut their losses, but engaged Compass + Nail to devise an alternative solution. CompassIQ revealed two viable customer bases that ultimately were buyers of both brands. The endeavor then became how best to consolidate two unhealthy businesses into a single healthy business.
Ode to the Daily Climbers
GORE-TEX has historically been a fabrics supplier, an “ingredient” brand, but the parent company also owned and operated a bicycle clothing brand and a running brand as a means to feature its most innovative fabric technologies. Unfortunately neither of these businesses were profitable, and, all told, suffered from unwieldy global distribution channel management.
Our Partnership
Focus
Compass + Nail devised an approach based on unearthing a unique customer we nicknamed “the daily climber.” These daily climbers were obsessed with being the best they could be as parents, co-workers, citizens, etc., with endurance sports as their physical outlet. Connecting to this daily climber served as a means to launch a consolidated brand called Gorewear, first in the US and then abroad.
Demonstrated Impact
The result was the reversal of a stagnant brand losing seven figures annually over the previous five years, to profitability and doubling revenue, all in less than two years. Year one included research, strategy, planning, and implementation of a completely new business model and brand. Year two was establishing the discipline and practices internally managing to the Brand Compass.