Shinola, a Detroit-based luxury brand, is re-centering its brand identity around watches and American manufacturing. This involves refining their messaging after past FTC rulings, and creating authentic content directly from their factories to showcase craftsmanship and connect with consumers interested in how products are made. This episode offers valuable insights for brands looking to strengthen their origin story and product focus.
Key takeaways
Re-establish your hero product: Shinola is narrowing its focus to watches, even after diversifying, to own a distinct category in consumers' minds and increase market competitiveness.
Show, don't just tell, your brand story: Shinola found raw factory footage resonated most with customers curious about the manufacturing process; use authentic content to build trust and engagement.
Navigate 'Made In' claims transparently: After FTC challenges, Shinola adopted 'Built in Detroit with Swiss and imported parts.' Be honest and clear about your supply chain to maintain credibility.
Leverage behind-the-scenes content: Simple, unpolished videos, like a GoPro recording from a worker's perspective, can be highly engaging and educate customers on craftsmanship and production.
Continuously refine brand messaging: Be prepared to adapt taglines and narratives to align with regulatory requirements and consumer perception while staying true to brand values.
Detroit-based luxury design brand Shinola sells everything from jewelry to bikes to journals. In 2019, it even opened a hotel in downtown Detroit. But the is currently laser-focused on refining the answer to the question, “What’s the first thing you think of when you think of Shinola?” And it wants that to be watches.
“We lost that [focus on watches] for a little while,” said Kevin Wertz, CMO at Bedrock, the platform company that owns Shinola. Bedrock also owns the outerwear brand Filson.
Shinola, founded in 2011, quickly gained a following because it was bringing manufacturing jobs back to Detroit. In 2012, the brand opened a 12,000-square-foot watch factory in the city. Over the next few years, it used its expertise in design and craftsmanship to expand into new categories.
But in 2016, Shinola ran into a hurdle when the FTC ruled that the company could not use the tagline “Built in Detroit.” Even though Shinola has a watch factory in the U.S., its watches — like all watch brands — largely rely on imported parts. Now, Shinola’s watches say “Built in Detroit with Swiss and imported parts.”
"We’re going back to the idea that we are designing and assembling watches in downtown Detroit,” Wertz said.
Despite this, Shinola has found that the best way to tell its story is to do more showing, rather than telling. Wertz said the content that has performed the best for Shinola is raw photos and videos from its factories showing how its watches are made. "People say, 'I don't know what watches being made actually looks like,’” he said, regarding the interest.
Wertz joined the Modern Retail podcast this week to talk about how Shinola is refining its brand story.
Frequently asked about this episode
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Re-establish your hero product: Shinola is narrowing its focus to watches, even after diversifying, to own a distinct category in consumers' minds and increase market competitiveness.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Show, don't just tell, your brand story: Shinola found raw factory footage resonated most with customers curious about the manufacturing process; use authentic content to build trust and engagement.
What does this episode say about supply chain & operations?
Navigate 'Made In' claims transparently: After FTC challenges, Shinola adopted 'Built in Detroit with Swiss and imported parts.' Be honest and clear about your supply chain to maintain credibility.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Leverage behind-the-scenes content: Simple, unpolished videos, like a GoPro recording from a worker's perspective, can be highly engaging and educate customers on craftsmanship and production.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Continuously refine brand messaging: Be prepared to adapt taglines and narratives to align with regulatory requirements and consumer perception while staying true to brand values.
