This from the CEO today on the Crocs Facebook page:

Over the past week, we’ve seen a powerful demonstration of the loyalty and passion Crocs and our products inspire among hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

The latest evidence is this article in Newsweek¹s July 27th issue. Columnist Steve Tuttle, who last summer wrote a satirical piece attacking the Crocs phenomenon, now has issued “a formal retraction of my stinging manifesto.” He reports his original article drew a response he described as intense:

“…thousands of comments, a handful of death threats and several proposals of marriage, some even from women…”

This follows an overwhelming response to an article on our company in the Washington Post and subsequent coverage on the Today Show, CBS Evening News and other national media outlets.  Last week¹s Post article on Crocs has drawn 326 comments to date. By comparison, a story on the Sotomayer (new Supreme Court judge nominee) confirmation hearings has drawn 90 comments so far.  I’ve already commented on the Post story and the overwhelmingly positive response received from loyal Crocs supporters on our blog.

The media spotlight on Crocs last week, plus the outpouring of customer support, has driven many people to take a fresh look at our company and the wide variety of comfortable, affordable footwear styles we offer.  As a result, we experienced record web traffic at the end of last week.

Consumers around the world recognize a product that makes them feel good when they see it.  Evidently, many react strongly when someone tries to tell them what not to wear.  Crocs customers like to think for themselves, and they vote with their feet.  Call it the beginning of a “Feel Good” revolution.

And look – even the first lady Michelle Obama wears Crocs!

Hamish McDonald

As the children take the catwalk on Crocs Spring Summer photo shoot. I have noticed what other aspiring photographers of children need to do to capture their star child poser.

DO: Feed them!
A hungry child cry’s a lot. What is unusual is it was 9:30am, so breakfast can’t have been long ago.

DONT: Feed them too much sugar.
A simple can of soda, followed by a granola bar can stop the crying. However, it can also make them uncontrollable. A child jacked up on sugar doesn’t like to pose but rather run around chasing other children who have eaten too much sugar.

DO: Bring their Moms.
You try and get a 3 year old to take off the cotton candy colored kids Waves!

DONT: Expect a child and dog to pose.
Especially if the kids have eaten too much sugar {see above}.

 Richard Geddies

We are on location in sunny south Florida, and it’s a balmy 75 degrees. Today is pre-production, meaning we are looking at wardrobe options and visiting locations.
Most of the ducks are lining up except for the fact we don’t have any shoes to photograph yet!
Cross your fingers that the Fedex driver doesn’t get distracted by a game of shuffle board with Mr and Mrs Goldstein…

Wish us luck,

Rich Lebowitz

TimeZoneOners now have a quirky reason to look forward to stepping into the office. Thursday is now Crocs day. It’s a small part of our Up Close philosophy. TimeZoneOne not only creates love of a brand through fantastic graphics and copy, our Up Close advertising creates loyalty and a physical relationship by allowing the customer to see, touch, hold, taste, feel and own. So the question is will having our own individual relationships with the product we are creating advertising for make us even more understanding of that physical relationship the customer has with the product that we create? It may have some effect; we will have fun in our Crocs on Thursdays regardless. We are an Up Close agency our advertising gets up close to the customer, it’s effective. We know this because Crocs and TimeZoneOne’s marketing strategy increased crocs sales by 180% above target and won us an Effie.

I have asked a few zoners to comment on their crocs.  Kim owns 3 pairs of beaches and a pair of Athens. ‘Best jandals I’ve ever owned. I like to wear crocs’n'socks in the winter, a real fashion statement’.

Rose is also wearing her crocs today. ‘ They’re just so comfy and versatile; I can’t bring myself to stop wearing them. I don’t need to worry if they get wet, I can wear them after swimming, when I’m cycling, and they make great driving shoes. These Alice’s are great with jeans and skirts, and can be worn winter or summer.’  

Tim is wearing his Hi-Crusiers today ‘Hi-Crusiers, Santa Cruz, and Sobeks. Crocs like all good things take time to appreciate. Crocs aren’t about their look (at the moment); they are about their inner beauty – comfort being the key. It took time, but this zoner can say he wears his Crocs more often than he would like to admit! 

And  me – I’m wearing my new YOUbycrocs Mykonos. I like them they are summery and girly, a great transition into summer. YOUbycrocs are my favorite Crocs. The spring/summer range is on sale at the moment and I’m planning on buying another pair.

My 3 year old is also wearing her Crocs today she looooves her ‘tiger shoes’ (Disney tigger pelican) and without fail will run around the house every time she puts them on roaring like a tiger. Sounds cute and it is, but it makes life interesting in the morning when I’m late for work. The fact that she gets so much enjoyment from an item of clothing is pretty cool though.

 So there you have it Crocs day is off to a good start.

 Maybe if the bestman at this wedding had been wearing Crocs his friend’s marriage would have had positive beginning as well. Something for Rose to think about.

Enjoy.

 

 

   Maria            

They (we) constantly bust their (our) brains over which road is the road less traveled and why. Oftentimes, what makes madmen and women so damn mad is that while the crossroad torments us, there’s no other place we’d rather be.

The reason why is because we know that creation for us, is far more progressive than duplication. We know that while experience is massively important, it rarely tells us what to do. We should only give experience an extremely limited tip of the hat so that it merely informs us as to what to watch out for. To the creativity minded, which is apparent in all functioning facets of TimeZoneOne, merely existing on experience is like driving on tracks down the same road-over and over and over and over again. You’ll get there, you’ll be safe. You’ll be sound. And you’ll be bored.

Which brings me to something not at all boring: Madmen.

Madmen is a true crossroads drama in that its purpose is to entertain, delight, and inform the world of our business through fresh faces, fashion and film. It dares to be different. It dares to sidestep the status quo. It depicts those creative spirits who, with confidence, bravado, cigarettes, booze, and unbridled creativity in a world of unbridled new media (television, at the time) took the roads less traveled and won-big.

This show is a very well done reflection of real Madmen and Madwomen. Madness with real names-George Lois, Jerry Della Famina, Mary Wells, Sir Frank Lowe, and the Cohen Brothers of advertising, Saatchi and his younger brother Saatchi. The maddest of the mad men who set out to break the rules for these crazy, rule breaking bastards was Bill Bernbach.

The attached clip is a bit of work he lead that, like Robert Johnson, changed the way we do things today.

You”ll see the Levy’s Rye Bread work in this clip.

The line he created is “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s”.

Bernbach was Jewish. He made himself a sandwich of corn beef on two slices of Levy’s and wrote the line, “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s…because no Jew would ever eat this shit”.

He said the most creative thing we can do is tell the truth about what you’re trying to sell. If you can’t tell the truth, at least tell a half truth.

See you tomorrow.

Lor Goldstein

Last week Tim, Murray and myself, had a rapid fire visit to Boulder, Colorado. The home of Crocs , the Dushanbe Teahouse and the characters’ house from the “Mork & Mindy ” television show. This was my first visit inside the US of A and it blew all my misconceptions of the place away.

I spent a good amount of the time suffering from insomnia and lack of appetite, but my personal highlights from the Crocs bootcamp were:

“Its Toasted” – Tim “happy chappy” Chapman coined the phrase as part of the new TZ1 language for decision making.

Being The First “Adman” through US customs.

Rick Rolling (gangster style) through Boulder in the “Loredo” listening to the non stop 80′s channel.

Adventures to the Firewood Lot with the “trusty” navigator Navman.

Sharing a room with messy Murray in the semi-murderous underground bunker.

Embracing the most organic city in North America by eating goats cheese and the huge variety of mushrooms , at least once a day to smell my best.

Being interviewed by Barns and noble about our knowledge of books, and Tim stealing the show.

Celebrating my 26th birthday with the Crocs brithday bear.

Seeing the US B-team and meeting the friendly felluhs at Crocs.

-King cobra snaking off.

The Olympics are almost here and loyal New Zealanders are getting behind our athletes with support and encouragement. Even one of our very own clients, Crocs, has become part of the New Zealand Olympic culture by adorning the feet of our athletes. So on this theme I’d like to share a fresh example of viral e-mail that I received on Friday, brought to you by Olympics NZ and Samsung. The clever concept behind this e-mail is that it appears to be a realistic NZ news site where, by answering a few key questions before sending it to your friends, you can personalize the video (sorry Hamish being on holiday put you closer to the scene of the crime than the rest of the business team). Oh…. and for our American viewers, the word ‘Togs’ is New Zealand slang for swimwear. Check it out using the link below.

http://www.nzsportsnews.co.nz/vid.php?id=5089

Alaina

Love them or loathe them, Crocs are a fashion feat.

Check out this TV3 news item for the full story.

Richard