- Solo Stove, the creator of a smokeless fire pit, is again sparking discussions within the marketing arena, though probably not for reasons the corporate had hoped.
- The Solo Brands-owned product first grabbed headlines in November after naming Snoop Dogg its official “smokesman.” The campaign followed a cryptic post from the cannabis-friendly rapper teasing that he was “giving up smoke” — though not smoking — leading to speculation that his pledge was a marketing stunt.
- The bait-and-switch strategy initially appeared successful, with Solo Stove generating earned media and receiving a bump in social engagement. However, the pricey celebrity ambassador play didn’t deliver the expected sales lift, an indication that the marketer missed the mark with its core customer base of out of doors enthusiasts.
Solo Stove closed out 2023 with a campaign that ticked lots of the boxes for marketing success. The Snoop Dogg-led effort piqued consumers’ interest with a mysterious social media post, leading to a great deal of online chatter and speculation. The eventual reveal that the rapper’s vow to “give up smoke” was actually in reference to his outdoor fire pit preferences and never his well-known love of pot drummed up additional media attention and felt prefer it could pave the best way for a vacation sales boost. The campaign, which was developed with The Martin Agency, also represented Solo Stove’s first national marketing push, raising the stakes.
A number of weeks into 2024, it’s clear the creative ploy fizzled. Solo Brands, which markets other outdoor lifestyle products like Oru Kayak, Isle and Icy Breeze, began the brand new 12 months with former CEO John Merris agreeing to “mutually separate” from the corporate, according to a financial plan. Christopher Metz, most recently chief executive of Vista Outdoor, was appointed Solo Brands president, CEO and director of the board on Jan. 15.
In a press release detailing the corporate’s updated 2023 financials, Solo Brands said that full-year revenue is predicted to land within the range of $490 million to $500 million versus prior guidance of $520 million to $540 million. Executives didn’t mince words regarding the Snoop Dogg partnership’s impact on performance.
“While our unique marketing campaigns raised brand awareness of Solo Stove to an expanded and latest audience of consumers, it didn’t lead to the sales lift that we had planned, which, combined with the increased marketing investments, negatively impacted our EBITDA,” said CFO Andrea Tarbox in a press release. “We consider there may be a big opportunity for us to construct awareness and that these latest campaigns will expand our reach and profit our brands over the long run.”
The reversal in fortunes has produced loads of research in regards to the state of creativity in marketing and ensuring an envoy is the best match for a product. Solo Brands, which went public in 2021 and has focused on direct-to-consumer offerings, seemed to be doing well in the primary half of 2023, expanding its wholesale footprint to a lot of retailers, just for a marketing misstep to undercut a few of those gains.
At the tip of the day, the corporate can have simply missed the mark with its core customer base within the chase for brand spanking new buyers, aligning around a celeb whose brand profile is robust but doesn’t carry a transparent connection to the outside. In terms of why the Snoop Dogg campaign didn’t resonate, it could be instructive to revisit how Solo Brands has positioned its marketing up to now.
“We consider that we’ve got been successful in marketing our products by associating our brand and products with outdoor activities to be experienced with family and friends,” the corporate wrote in its 2022 annual report.
“To sustain long-term growth, we must not only proceed to successfully promote our products to consumers who discover with or aspire to these activities, in addition to to individuals who value the differentiated function, prime quality, and specialized design of our products, but in addition promote latest products with which we may not have experience and attract more customers to our existing products,” the report continues. “If we fail to successfully market and sell our products to our existing customers or expand our customer base, our sales could decline or we could also be unable to grow our business.”
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