When I was in college, the Havaianas case was always a reference in communication, in the excellent work of positioning, building and brand experience, with campaigns beautifully created by Almap and Marcelo Serpa, under an artistic inspiration that made a branding structure so strong, capable of maintaining, for decades, a lovebrand position 70 (SEVENTY) points above its competitor.
Back then, during its repositioning, it had a clear business mission: to gain aspiration and with it greater brand extension capacity. It did this with what I call grassroots influencer marketing (soap opera celebrities surprising people by wearing Havaianas at home) and gradually gained strength and scale, changing the entire product journey, its distribution chain, creative process, packaging and form of display, all to represent the intention of desire.
And if before the brand was tied to social aspiration, today it connects to behavioral aspiration: "I am who I am, regardless of what I wear and when I wear it." And it launches, for example, havaianas friendly in companies, provoking people to look less at what I wear and more at what I am.
I was amazed to see the concern for building the brand in parallel with the awareness that it is necessary to have a product that delivers, that is concerned with being socially and environmentally responsible, to realize that the shopping experience is an independent pillar of differentiation and that you can't just use communication to build it. Quite a challenge for a brand that doesn't even seem to need to do anything to continue its leadership.
- Your brand may be beautiful, but the product has to deliver.
- Rebirth of the physical experience: see the new concept store.
- Sustainability not as an area, but as the way the business operates.
- The exhaustive work of marketing in thinking about how not to be de-selected, which generates anticipatory actions and thus more knowledge of the consumer.
- The balance in having a marketing that does think about performance and agility, without losing the value of its construction.
- Identify that the micro influencer has an impact on niches that can be worked on concurrently, keeping your brand alive and relevant.
I believe that the lessons Havaianas has shown today determine why it is still a beloved, innovative brand with a long life for business results:
- How are digital native companies building a valuable brand? We see digital brands with huge product and CX teams, looking at mini journeys, focused on growth, but who is the great guardian of building the relationship with the brand throughout the journey? It's worth remembering that a product without a connection becomes a commodity, even if it is "new".
- How do you build a brand in a context where relationships are moving faster and faster?
- How do you balance a clear need for performance and brand building?
- Why do investments in innovation still focus so much on the product and so little on the experience of accessing the product?
Scenes from the next chapters of the stories we marketers will leave to tell.
