DAVID BOHAN was named Brooks Running Company president of Europe, the Middle East & Africa in January. Bohan, who has held previous roles as president and COO as well as exec VP, has been with the U.S.-based shoe and apparel company since '01. He spoke to SBD Global about the brand's recent EMEA headquarters move to Amsterdam, product distribution and growing the brand in a foreign market.
On moving the company’s EMEA headquarters to Amsterdam...
David Bohan: It’s part of expanding the global brand for Brooks. We have been in Europe for a little bit over a decade. We started with our first subsidiary back in 2002 in Germany. We’ve built the business from our previous headquarters in Münster, Germany. As we’ve seen the business grow over the last few years, we realized that what we’ve done in the U.S., in terms of scaling our business, is what we need to do here in Europe. What we really wanted to do is build a global pan-European team here as well. With our operations in Germany, the U.K., France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and many other countries, we noticed that we needed to really have a strong team here in Europe to lead that. Münster is a beautiful city, it’s a great place, but trying to attract global talent, it just didn’t have the infrastructure. We decided that the best thing for Brooks was to look for a new home. We decided that Amsterdam would be a great location for us to continue to expand the brand.
On the challenges of growing a brand in a foreign market...
Bohan: We as a team here have done a great job over the last 12-plus years in regards to building the brand. The running market here in Europe is very strong. It’s a great place to grow a running brand. We have the same challenges across the globe as we do here in Europe. There’s a lot of competition relative to the sporting goods world, but there’s a lot of choice out there. Our challenge that we’re really going to be focusing on is connecting with the runner and increasing the brand awareness. Once we’re able to get runners in our shoes and apparel, we’re building up a strong fan base. Increasing our brand awareness is our No. 1 challenge.
On sponsorships...
Bohan: We participate in all the major marathons, Rome, London, Berlin, Paris, with exhibitions and experiences with the Run Happy spirit with running communities near these events. We’re the official sponsor for the Strongman races throughout Europe. They are a very difficult obstacle course that is incredibly popular in Europe. So we partnered with them. We’ve partnered with the Rock ‘n’ Roll organization. We’ve done the Rock ‘n’ Roll Dublin and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Liverpool. We’re also sponsoring athletes in Europe, building up the running community and continuing to look for more and more athletes that meet our criteria as a Brooks athlete.
On the brand’s social media presence...
Bohan: We’re in the process of upgrading our website. We have a good opportunity there to tell our brand story. It’s our business card online. As the runners are doing more and more research, relative to product, this will give them a better picture of who we are while they are exploring new options. It will also help our retail distribution throughout Europe as well. As consumers have the ability to find more and more information, I think they’re going to retail locations more prepared and understanding and knowing more and more about the product before they walk into the door. They get confirmation and more information when they’re in there. We’re upgrading our website and will be launching that in January of 2015. Along with that, we’ll also be continuing to give more attention to the social media side; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. We’re going to be investing more into those areas as we look at 2015 and 2016 as well.
On product distribution...
Bohan: We currently do not have any of our own Brooks retail. In Europe we have a similar model to what we have in the United States. We focus a lot on the specialty running accounts throughout all of Europe. For instance, in Germany, Runner’s Point and Intersport. In the U.K., Runners Need and Sweatshop are key locations where runners are going to shop, so we have great partnerships with them in key markets. It’s more about working with our retail partners. We have no plans to open up our own retail.
On the competition...
Bohan: It’s very similar to the U.S. in terms of global competitors. You have Asics, Nike, Adidas, Saucony, Mizuno. The same key players that are in the U.S. are here as well. The apparel market, I would say is different. You have a lot of other high-performance, high-quality apparel brands, ones included in the U.S., plus a lot more over in Europe as well. So the apparel market is very full in terms of competition with great products. There’s good competition on both sides. No one’s going to lie down and give us the business of course.
Hangin' With runs each Friday in SBD Global.
