Reef VP on Reef Hawaiian Pro Strategy

The window at Hi-Tech in

Reef is best known as a surf sandal brand. But the company still has bigger ambitions to expand into multiple categories.

 

And with the brand’s tropical roots, it considers Hawaii one of its strongholds.




 

That’s one reason Reef is investing even more in the upcoming Reef Hawaiian Pro Nov. 12-23, said Vice President of Marketing Kevin Flanagan.

 

Surf n SeaThere’s a lot of attention being paid to retailers, of course, with fresh window displays and exclusive event merchandise for key retailers on the islands. And Reef will host eight retailers at the contest.

 

(Right: Reef windows at Surf n Sea on the North Shore.)

 

To create excitement, drive page views and increase the visibility of the event overall, Reef is hosting the Clash of the Legends during the contest and the first World Miss Reef contest, which will be webcast live.

 

Reef Pro posterIn the Legends contest, former ASP World Champions, Tom Curren, Mark “Occy” Occhilupo, Sunny Garcia, and Tom Carroll will compete in three, 30-minute heats, with the final heat running on the day of the Reef Pro final.

 

Reef’s Global Team Manager Heath Walker said the idea is to “generate more visibility and to rekindle the flame for these legends.”

 

It will also be rich added content for the webcast.

 

Another event sure to generate a lot of page views is the first Miss Reef World competition Nov. 13.

 

Winners from countries around the world will compete for the world title, and the contest will be broadcast live. Because it’s being held early in the waiting period, there will also be lots of content to be shown during down periods of the Reef Pro.

 

To increase the social media element, the general public can compete right now by submitting pictures to the Reef Facebook page. Fans will decide the winner, and can also vote during the World Miss Reef contest.

 

Miss Reef went away for a while as a marketing strategy, and is now back big time. I asked Kevin if the company knew if the return of Miss Reef had positively impacted the company.

 

He said Reef has heard a lot of positive anecdotal information and the team believes it has been very effective. Reef sales have increased during this period. But, he said it’s hard to know if that’s because of Miss Reef or because of better product, a strong sales staff or other efforts.

 

While still mainly focused on rear ends, the campaign has been modernized, Kevin said, and this year’s calendar shoot on location in Panama, which showcased Miss Reef, product and athletes together, has been well received, he said.

 

Interestingly, Panama actually helped subsidize the calendar expenses, and now other Latin America countries are bidding to host future calendar shoots.

 

 

 

 

 

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