[00:00:00] Mia Fileman
Are you tired of empty promises and stolen ideas? Me too. Got. Marketing is a podcast for marketers and small brands who want real talk and clever strategies without the bs. Running an online business is hard, but everything gets easier when your marketing starts performing. I am Mia FileMan, your straight shooting campaign loving friend here to talk marketing, running a business, pop culture, and everything in between.
Let's dive in.
Hello friend. Welcome back to another Marketing moment. This is a Quick Fire got marketing episode under 10 minutes where we talk about really just one thing. Today's marketing moment is about repositioning bets, the footwear brand, and I'm joined by one of your favorite guests. Lily Brown, campaign. Del [00:01:00] Mars Community Manager.
Lillie Brown
Oh my God, how lovely to be referred to as a fan favorite. What a treat.
Mia
You are. You are. All right.
Lillie
Before we jump into this, Mia, for listeners who might not fully understand the term, what is brand repositioning and how does it work in practice?
Mia
So brand positioning is such a misunderstood term because people think that like I'm in charge of my brand's positioning, but actually positioning exists in the minds of the customers.
And really if we strip back all the marketing jargon, it is how your brand is perceived by the audience. And there's a couple of different attributes that we commonly attribute to brand positioning. Is it a luxury brand versus a budget brand? Is it a quality brand versus a utility brand? Is it a cheeky, fun, irreverent brand, or is it a, you know, corporate professional stuffy brand? And some of these are positive and some of these are negatives. And at the end of the day, what we do as brand custodians is [00:02:00] we try to influence that brand positioning so that we can have the brand positioning that gives us the opportunity to carve out the biggest audience. So say for example, you are a peanut butter brand and the market is flooded with budget peanut butter, like craft.
Then you wanna try to carve out a positioning as a really premium, a very, very high quality natural peanut butter, so that you can charge substantially more for your peanut butter. But also you are not trying to compete with everyone else in the category. You set yourself apart. So that's the role of positioning is how can I carve out a little bit of this pie just for me, because everyone else is going and fighting over this section of this category.
Lillie
Okay. This week I came across some interesting news, which of course Mia, I promptly shared with you that bets the shoe brand is undergoing a major repositioning. So Bets is a legacy brand. It's a 130 [00:03:00] 3-year-old brand female founder. It's still family owned in Australia and it is now under the new leadership of Jessica Hatis.
She was the founder of Frank Body, founder of Willow and Blake, and she's now come on board as shareholder and chief, CMO of bets. So the brand really could have gone the way of Wittner, and you've discussed this a lot in the past year, Wittner essentially fading into irrelevance when really at one point it was almost a cult shoe brand in Australia, and now it's gone to God.
Bets is not going the same way. So they've completely overhauled their brand identity and their business model. They're now exclusively focusing on women's footwear. School is officially out, so for eons, they had a school shoe range. Whenever I thought of bets, school shoes was the first image that came to mind.
And for me, as somebody that takes fashion seriously, I love style. I know you do. Would you be considering buying a pair of shoes from a brand that also sells school shoes?
Mia
No. So really what's going on [00:04:00] here is that bets Whitner nine West. They are shopping center brands and shopping center brands did have to appeal to everyone because you had.
Moms with kids of school aged children going in there, women looking for shoes for the event that's tomorrow that I haven't planned for. Men looking for business shoes, looking for sneakers. So shopping centers were for everyone. And so shopping center brands, which you and I have discussed before, like Michael Hill, they as a result became for everything.
But no one is going to a shopping center anymore, right? The foot traffic. Is disastrous. And so if you are relying on foot traffic to your shopping center, then this is a really old strategy.
So what bets are doing is, okay, this idea of appealing to everybody. Is not gonna work because [00:05:00] there's gonna be people that come to our website to shop for a specific purpose.
And as a result, we need to double down on a new brand positioning. And now that Wittner has exited the female fashion market, there's an opportunity for bets to be the go-to affordable, elevated. Fashion focused women's brand. Getting rid of men's, getting rid of kids, and accepting that most of their business now needs to come from e-commerce and online because it's not gonna come from foot traffic.
Lillie
Yeah, completely.
Ripple Festival ad
You already know. Ripple Festival isn't a typical business event, but what you might not realize is how it feels to be there Two days of big ideas, fresh perspectives, and conversations that stick with you long after the two days. The return on investment is clarity, momentum, and connections that drive meaningful results in your business.[00:06:00]
Ripple is for forward-leaning, future thinking, small business owners who want profit and. Purpose. We've carefully curated every speaker, every panel, every performance. So you leave inspired and equipped. Come and join us at Ripple Festival on the 12th and 13th of November. We'd love to see you there, and you can grab your ticket at Ripple Festival au.
Lillie
What struck me by this rebrand is how deeply considered it has been. So many brands will just rebrand for the sake of it. Slap a new logo and visual identity. Wham bam. Thank you, ma'am. And think that that's gonna solve all of their problems, when actually we've gotta do the deeper work, the repositioning, evaluating our brand.
Where is it sitting in the market? And yeah, historically bets has served everyone that worked really well for a time in the mid two thousands, but it has not been working for a really long time now. So we either need to evolve and do something [00:07:00] different or go the same way as we. So the new brand created by Will and Blake is super premium and deeply considered.
The new logo is the letter B for bets several times over and the designers have spoken about it and said that this is really symbolizing the family gathered around the table where every decision is made, which is a really nice nod to the fact that they're still an intergenerational family business.
And the typography is gorgeous. It's really minimal, but it's also luxe and aligns with luxury fashion. This is something that we were discussing when we unpacked the Michael Hill campaign a few months ago. They're trying to position themselves as a luxury jewelry brand, but nothing is actually giving luxury.
So bets have taken the time to create a really thoughtful brand identity that does feel luxurious. The typography is gorgeous. The packaging is amazing. They've got this beautiful paper, oxblood colored bag with the logo on it in a tonal shade as well. It's really glam and it feels like a [00:08:00] bag that you could be proud of as you're leaving the shopping center.
This is a bougie bag. And I think that something a lot of people skip over that when they rebrand is that it's not just a cosmetic upgrade. We've gotta do the insides as well. And I think that's why this rebrand has seemed really comprehensive and the new direction is really strong because it has been so deeply considered.
It's not just an afterthought.
Mia
Yes, being a bit skeptical, uh, as I am, it's also quite an affordable brand, and we are in that cost of living crisis and I ain't spending $250 on a pair of shoes that I'm gonna wear to an event once. But the logo and the branding and the packaging was all just a, it was giving budget brand, now it's not.
Right. And so it's kind of like a Ferrera Roche. It. It's a nice chocolate, but the packaging is really lux [00:09:00] and so there's a part of me that's like. Making us feel like we are getting a really elevated product. But it has just had a bit of a facelift. Right?
Lillie
Absolutely. But I think it has been executed well.
Yeah, because you don't feel like you're getting shafted. It doesn't feel like the same old bets from the two thousands. No. It feels like a more elevated experience. And I read an article that interviewed Jessica in the Australian Financial Review and she said that if you try to appeal to everybody, you end up appealing to nobody.
It's hard to be seen as an on-trend fashion forward brand when you're also producing kids' school shoes. That's confusing to the customer. So I think one of the things that was really interesting to me about this rebrand was how much they paired back. They got rid of so much of their range to solely focus on women's footwear.
And I think as well what you were talking about, about Bets being a shopping center brand, yes, it's had this glow up, but people in this economy are trying to decide between whether they go out for dinner or buy a new pair of shoes. [00:10:00] Brands are fighting for every single dollar, and this is a beautiful way of prioritizing the main customer market that they wanna give attention to.
And looking forward, I think the challenge for bets with this rebrand and repositioning as it continues to roll out, is going to be attracting new customers who feel very aligned to the new direction of bets, but also not neglecting their existing customers who may have been shopping with the brand for decades, because we don't want them to feel alienated or like an afterthought as part of this process.
Obviously if you were shopping for kids or men's shoes, you're gonna feel alienated. That's not here for you at bets anymore. But really bringing it back to this core audience segment of premium women's shoes without the premium price tag is gonna be interesting to watch. So all of the new branding has been rolled out, and then from 2026, all of the stores in shopping centers are going to be getting a rebrand to reflect that as well.
Mia
Yeah, it really comes down to the fact that if I walk into spend less shoes, I know that I am. [00:11:00] Buying a budget shoe, and I don't feel great about that purchase. It's not like, oh, I'm so in love with my Spendless shoes. It's like they ticked a box. I needed a nude shoe for this particular outfit, but I don't walk around going, this is my brand new, awesome pair of shoes.
And I feel like with the way that bets has really beautifully repositioned this brand. I would walk out going, oh, I did get a good deal on a really fashionable pair of shoes just around this out. The smartest thing about all of this that we haven't spoken about is that bets engaged Jessica Hadis. That is that we cannot downplay this.
So we've got these legacy brands like Bets and Wittner who think they fucking know everything. Because they've built million dollar companies. Jess Huis, who is [00:12:00] still the co-founder of Frank Body and the co-founder of Willow and Blake and has worked on the Booth brand and has worked on all sorts of incredible brands, has a very entrepreneurial mindset and she's of that new generation of business owners who are culturally fluent.
This is exactly the comment that I left on her LinkedIn when she announced this, and I was like, this is the genius. That bets humbled themselves to reach out to somebody who is not the managing director of a mass market brand, but somebody who is able to create really awesome trending brands that people wanna get behind and engaging her to be their CMO and giving her a stake in equity.
This is how they're gonna future proof their brand.
Lillie
I could not agree more. It was such a smart decision, and it's one that we don't see often because these bigger brands tend to keep everything [00:13:00] in-house when actually getting outside of your own sphere is really important. Particularly if you are having these issues that have been persisting for a long time, like declining sales, less customer engagement, and so on for bets.
The sales had been slowly declining for quite a number of years. If they hadn't brought Jess on board, the brand could have ended. So this is really smart. Being able to actually look outside of your own scope and your own biases is super important. Not just for big brands, but for small business owners too.
Mia, we are constantly having conversations with people inside Marketing Circle and outside of it who aren't clear on what they want to be offering, or they feel too close to their business and they just can't see through to actually get that bigger picture thinking.
Mia
Yeah. You see this in categories like.
Fast moving consumer goods. So if you wanna go and work for L'Oreal, they're gonna be looking for people who have got consumer good experience and specifically fast moving consumer goods. They're gonna be like, oh, [00:14:00] okay, you worked either for another makeup brand or a skincare brand, or potentially a food brand.
We would consider because we want people with grocery experience, but then they just surround themselves. With people who've got all the same freaking background that you know, know how to work in the multinational, slow moving, boring, unimaginative marketing teams. Meanwhile, there's the just hugs of the world that are like stealing market share from massive players.
And actually these brands like L'Oreal, they need to look at. The kind of brands that Willow and Blake are working on because they are nipping at their heels big time.
Lillie
And I think as well, one of the elements that influences this is just how much bureaucracy there is in these larger organizations and marketing teams.
Mia
Yep.
Lillie
There are layers and layers of approvals and that really slows things down. It also [00:15:00] becomes an echo chamber. Yeah. Right. If the entire team is made up of people with similar experiences in similar brands doing similar work, how the hell are we meant to get these really out of the box creative ideas that are going to genuinely reinvigorate a brand?
Mia
They rely on their creative agencies to do it. But anyway, that's a whole other conversation for another day that we should totally get into because, and then they over rely on their creative partners. As opposed to in-house, some of those skills. But yeah, let's get into that.
Lillie
Definitely another time. Yeah, that's a whole other conversation.
Let's park that for the next episode. But I'm really excited to see how this repositioning rolls out for bets in the next 12 months. And I hope that there's some uptake for it because everything I've seen so far has been really brilliant. So hopefully they can keep that momentum.
Mia
Yeah, I think it's a master stroke.
Lily. Well, that's a wrap for today and we are gonna talk seriously about more semi-permanent co-hosting of the Gut Marketing Podcast because every time I talk to you. It just [00:16:00] feels so natural. It just flows so well. So yeah. All right.
Outro
We'll catch you next week. I've started a substack as the ideal companion to the podcast.
It's packed with extra insights, visuals, and nuggets that didn't make it into the episodes. Plus, you can revisit past editions anytime. If you want more or just prefer to read, you'll love it. Plus it's a place for us to connect. Want the backstage pass to Got Marketing? Subscribe [email protected].
Thank you. You listened right up until the end, so why not hit that subscribe button? And keep the good marketing rolling. Podcast reviews are like warm hugs and they're also the best way to support a small business. You can connect with me, Mia FileMan on Instagram or LinkedIn, and feel free to send me a message.
I'm super [00:17:00] friendly.
