Pearl Izumi ad campaign: If the shoe fits, blare it

Targeting product at serious runners is 'uncola' strategy

Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 11, 2007 at midnight

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"Ever notice how it's always runners who find dead bodies?"

With ads like that, Pearl Izumi's "We are Not Joggers" campaign isn't winning over the masses. And that's the point.

The Broomfield-based company has been a leader in the bicycling-apparel market for more than 50 years, but about four years ago, Pearl Izumi decided to expand into the $4.9 billion running-shoe market.

For years, Pearl Izumi's ads highlighted technical aspects such as the shoes' seamless uppers, but that alone wasn't enough to bring attention to a tiny company selling alongside powerhouses such as Nike, Brooks and Asics.

Hence, an ad campaign that sports lines such as: "jogging . . . has as much in common with running as bowling."

"We knew we might have an alienating effect with some people," said Geoff Shaffer, Pearl Izumi's marketing director. "There are plenty of other brands out there that mean everything to everyone."

The ads - which consisted of only a handful of buys in specialty magazines Runner's World and Running Times and a few targeted online placements - certainly got a response.

Debates on running Web sites, advertising blogs and hundreds of letters to Pearl Izumi alternately decried the campaign as elitist or praised it as inspirational.

"It's something of an 'uncola' way of positioning the brand," said Stan Slater, a marketing professor at Colorado State University's business school. "Making clear what you aren't also makes clear what you are."

Most important, customers are noticing as well. Fitness-apparel sales, which include all Pearl Izumi products, are the one bright spot for parent company Nautilus Inc. Apparel sales increased 5 percent to $14.5 million for the quarter ended June 30, while Vancouver, Wash.-based Nautilus' overall sales fell 15 percent to $117 million on sluggish demand for Bowflex strength- training machines.

"There's an acceptability of Pearl Izumi shoes now, when you bring them out to the customer, whereas, a few years ago, people usually said, 'What is this?' " said Johnny Halberstadt, co-owner of shoe retailer Boulder Running Co.

Pearl Izumi's shoes, which start around $95, are sold only in specialty running stores and are targeted at elite runners. Its ad campaign comes at a time when Reebok is taking a different approach with its "Run Easy" campaign, featuring amateur and professional athletes "running at the speed of chat."

Pearl Izumi's Shaffer said that while the ad campaign might have seemed to be speaking to a select few, its intent was to celebrate the evolutionary heritage of running.

"We wanted to 're-wild' running," he said. "There's this very innate, very human aspect to running. We were built to run."

Miami-based advertising firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which recently opened an outpost in Boulder, created the ads. But in an ironic twist, Crispin had to recuse itself from further work after winning the Nike running account earlier this year.

Pearl Izumi USA

• Headquarters: Broomfield • Business: Cycling, running and outdoor sports apparel • Employees: About 100

Runner's World Forum comments on the Pearl Izumi ad campaign

• "Here is the ad copy I read in the latest issue of Running Times (back cover). A bit disheartening for those of us who are trying to run farther, but must find a place to start. I firmly believe running in any capacity is noteworthy - showing progress, strength and a place for people of common interest to unite. Maybe I'm wrong. What is this ad truly saying?"

- GoENGO

"Have to agree with it.

Not to offend (which I'm sure I will), I don't consider 30-plus-minute 5Ks and 2:20-plus half marys and so forth running. I consider it jogging.

I guess I can place myself in the top half."

- BHMM

"I saw one of the Pearl Izumi ads in the stadium at the finish of the Bolder Boulder and loved it, especially after having to weave my way past walkers and trotters (don't want to offend any joggers), just to run my not-so-impressive 50-minute 10K.

To all the people faster than me, I am sure I was a jogger, but I felt like a runner and had to laugh when I saw the huge "Joggers are runners who have been domesticated - run like an animal" banner ad.

Maybe it should have said, "Joggers are runners who have lost their sense of humor. Lighten up."

- bldrsprts

davisj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2514

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