We had the privilege of being the first to try on a pair of Caymans – proto-Crocs, as it were – and then to launch them in Germany. After being a great hit in the United States, the colourful rubber sandals initially got off to rather a sluggish start in Germany. German retailers were not at all convinced that they’d be able to sell such totally new sandals.
We therefore launched a B2B PR campaign, with Crocs CEO Ron Snyder coming to a press conference in Germany and talking about the brand’s global success. All the fashion and footwear media presented the phenomenon on at least one page, convincing retailers that the new sandals might be worth a try. To promote their sales, we also placed photographs of Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson and other world stars in the German media, wearing Crocs. This created its own momentum, when the popular press began to celebrate the new trendy sandals, Harald Schmidt made fun of them, and we produced a “Making of Crocs” together with Galileo.
Quite soon Germany was divided about Crocs, and people either loved or hated them. But it was no longer possible to ignore them. For the next three years we functioned as the European lead agency, and we are proud to say that there still hasn’t been a footwear brand anywhere in the world that became a global player within such a short period of time.