FOCUS: BRAND SCALING RISKS | AUDIENCE: INVESTORS IN SLUGGISH BRANDS
BY: SHOBHA PONNAPPA | BRAND BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIST | 45 YEARS | 125+ CLIENTS
I helped a Latin American athletic shoe brand regain momentum via a digital-first culture when hiring and scaling.
This direct-to-consumer athletic shoe brand from Latin America had become a digital success story, known for limited-edition drops, athlete collaborations, and a strong community across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets. After securing major funding, the founders set out to double headcount in just 12 months to accelerate product launches, expand into North America and Europe, and operate a 24/7 e-commerce platform.
The hiring push delivered in numbers … experienced professionals from global sportswear brands, regional e-commerce leaders, and creative agencies joined the team. But there was no time to codify the brand’s digital-first culture. Onboarding focused on tools and processes, leaving little room to convey the deeper ethos that had made early campaigns resonate with both serious runners and style-conscious buyers.
The problem wasn’t the talent … it was the cultural gap. New hires arrived with varied interpretations of performance, style, and community, leading to inconsistent brand voice and priorities. Product pages, email campaigns, and social content alternated between elite athletic performance language and casual streetwear tone, creating confusion.
Without a shared cultural framework, internal teams pursued different audience segments without alignment. Long-time followers noticed the shift, and community engagement began to dip. Social interactions slowed, conversions fell, and repeat purchase rates softened.
The breakthrough came from reframing growth from “headcount-first” to “culture-first.” I worked with leadership to articulate a clear set of cultural anchors designed for a digital-native athletic shoe brand … from the tone of community interactions, to the rituals surrounding product drops, to the athlete-first philosophy behind design.
We positioned culture as a competitive advantage, not a by-product of hiring. This meant that no matter how fast the team expanded, the brand’s voice and spirit would remain intact.
I embedded these cultural anchors into three critical areas: hiring, onboarding, and daily content planning. Recruitment processes included cultural fit criteria alongside skills assessment. Onboarding introduced new hires to the brand’s founding story, community values, and customer engagement style.
Content calendars were restructured to ensure cross-team alignment, with brand voice checkpoints before launch. Every product drop was treated as a cultural event … not just a sales moment … ensuring consistency across social, email, and web.
Here are 10 strategic ideas developed (and several executed) to support the new brand direction:
Product Drop Rituals: Live-streamed unveilings with athlete hosts to retain exclusivity and energy.
Behind-the-Design Stories: Short videos featuring designers explaining performance and style decisions.
Community Run Challenges: Monthly online challenges connecting customers across markets.
Athlete Diaries: Blogs and vlogs from sponsored athletes about their training and shoe experience.
Culture Onboarding Videos: Internal-only videos teaching brand tone, customer care style, and cultural history.
Limited Edition Countdown Pages: Dedicated microsites building anticipation with interactive features.
Customer Spotlight Features: Highlighting real customers’ running journeys on social and email.
Performance Myths Busted: Educational posts separating fact from fiction in sportswear.
Design Feedback Polls: Inviting community votes on colourways and patterns pre-launch.
Bilingual Brand Voice Guides: Ensuring Spanish and Portuguese messaging consistency.
Engagement on core social channels surged by over 40%, reversing a year-long decline.
Repeat purchase rates climbed by 18%, driven by stronger community connection and consistent messaging.
Cultural alignment scores in internal surveys rose sharply, with new hires integrating faster and more effectively.
Investor confidence was restored, leading to renewed funding discussions and green lights for international expansion.
CONFIDENTIALITY CAVEAT: This case study represents a confidential engagement. For privacy, specific brand identifiers, campaign names, and project phases have been withheld. It has been shared with permission while preserving client discretion.
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