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February 2005 Brand Strategy: Stick with It
The secret of taking Vans Inc. from an $88 million company to one that sold for $396 million within a decade meant finding a corporate strategy and sticking to it, Gary Schoenfeld, MBA ’88, told a packed View from the Top audience in September. “We decided we were no longer a domestic shoe manufacturer, but rather a youth lifestyle brand. We got very clear that our customers were 12- to 18-year-olds who embraced a Southern California lifestyle,” said Schoenfeld, a onetime private equity investor, who as Vans’ CEO engineered the company’s turnaround. “Our strategy was so clear to everyone that when a supermarket chain wanted to partner with us in a multimillion-dollar promotion, our head of marketing knew immediately to turn it down because it wasn’t part of our strategy.” Communication and people skills are also part of the secret to success. “I attribute a fair amount of my success to my ability to deal with people, and I attribute a lot of that skill to what I learned here at Stanford,” Schoenfeld said, urging students to use their years at the Business School to stretch themselves intellectually. “Don’t focus all your attention |
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