Hunter Boot: From mudwalk to catwalk

Jim Seuss, the CEO of Hunter Boot, realised that the toughest test of his company’s product wasn’t the fields of Glastonbury, it would be the streets of Mayfair: the market for luxury interpretations of workwear is already well provided for. But with new investors on board, he needed to move the business from famous green welly to a full lifestyle brand showing at London Fashion Week in under a year.

He asked us to identify the brand’s values and interpret them for a modern luxury-loving audience.

It’s not what’s in the fabric of the boot. It’s what’s in the fabric of the brand

Brand strategy can be developed outside-in or inside-out: either by understanding what the market wants or by understanding what the company has always been about. Sometimes, you do both.

We used quadrant analysis to plot the brands in the market and were able to identify a gap along one particular axis (‘at home’ vs ‘abroad’).

When we looked ‘inside’ the brand, at its history, we spotted certain recurring narratives around the kind of people who first used it.

Glastonbury to Mayfair in 3 steps

We developed a creative positioning that reconciled these opportunities, showing how the Hunter range is designed, just as the iconic boot always was, for pioneers.

This naturally gave us the brand narrative and tone of voice.
We then worked with the Creative Director to describe the brand’s DNA, create a short brand film, and codify the brand personality.

Better than we can say it

Hunter launched a very well-received full lifestyle range of clothing at London Fashion Week, Feb 2014.

Last night’s show will seal [Hunter’s] cult status…the quintessentially British brand… The collection was inspired by extremes of exploration…and by the pioneering spirit of the era in which Hunter was first established.

Creative Director, Alasdhair Willis

Press coverage

Guardian, Feb 15 2014
Telegraph, Feb 15 2014