Content Marketing at Sperry: Repositioning an Iconic Brand to Target ‘Intrepid’ Millennials

Sperry was an iconic American brand. Paul A. Sperry, founder of the Sperry boat shoe, was a World War I naval officer and boater who often risked injury while walking on the slippery deck of his boat in 1935. The design for his shoe was inspired by his cocker spaniel, Prince. While watching Prince run across the ice on a winter’s day in Connecticut, he noticed the dog’s ability to maintain traction on the slippery surface. The pattern of grooves or cracks on the dog’s feet gave him the idea for a leather upper-shoe with a herringbone pattern of grooves on the sole. The cutting of grooves in the sole of the Top-Sider was done by implementing a process of splitting the sole, invented and patented in the 1920s by John Sipe. This process was instrumental in maximizing the traction and performance of the Authentic Original Sperry Top-Sider introduced in 1935...