🤘🤘 The Rise of Canada Goose: How a Family Business Became a Global Icon Worth $1B

Howdy!

In this week’s newsletter, I am looking into:

• How Canada Goose went from a small family business to $1B global icon

• Mark Zuckerberg addressing Apple’s Vision Pro entry to the AR/VR space

• Apollo vs ZoomInfo: Daniel Cmejla’s doing public beef trolling the right way

Lezzgo!

Dejan - @dgajsek

The Expensive Parka

Would you pay $1,500 for a winter jacket?

Me neither, there’s so much peanut butter, protein shakes, and concert tickets you can buy instead.

And tbh, I would have a hard time choosing the right color and style which costs almost the same as a sleeve tattoo (at least that one is hard to lose).

But that’s why we’re not an ideal customer profile for a Canadian famous luxury jacket brand - Canada Goose.

What started in 1957 as a family business by Sam Tick - a Polish immigrant turned into a billion-dollar global icon.

How?

Read on…

Manufacturing Quality

Until the 1970s, Canada Goose - then known as Metro Sports Ltd, outfitted working-class Canadians with wool vests, raincoats and snowmobile suits — something that can withstand the winters beside the sugar power of maple and Timmy’s double-double.

His successor, David Reiss married Sam Tick’s daughter and took over the company. He grew the business and invented a unique way to manufacture these puffy jackets with a patented down-filling machine.

The production increased and the soon-to-be Canada Goose became a supplier for other major winter apparel manufacturers like L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer and

Really F**king Good Product

Initially, Canada Goose was all about quality. A super warm parka filled with Canadian Goose Huterite down feathers and Western Coyote fur was good enough for Antarctic explorers and survivalists.

Their iconic “Big Red” expedition parka is as classic as McDondal’s Big Mac.

The icon was a great PR and marketing piece - a testament to performance and a great negotiating factor for teens who asked their parents to buy them.

Now if you pair that with celebrity endorsements - you have a winner.

But there’s one more major factor that is on Canada Goose's side…

Gucci and Louis Vuitton also sell freaking expensive apparel, but they can’t keep you warm during ridiculously cold Canadian winters.

Practical while expensive!

Making it Cool

Alright, it works and the product is 😌👌 - how do you make it cool? If you read the last newsletter about Stanley’s Mug craze, similar lessons apply here.

The most effective tool - associate it with the icons and make it scarce.

Just like you see Monster bottles with UFC fighters, and Red Bull apparel with extreme athletes, Canada Goose put their products on display on Holywood meat wagons — whenever famous actors filmed in cold-weather film productions Canada Goose put a parka on them.

But it’s important who to place it on.

Brad Pitt and George Clooney are getting paid millions for making Nespresso look cool and premium (even though we all know that a single origin from a roaster taste 1000x better).

Instead of Danny DeVito, Jude Dench, and Steve Buscemi (no hard feelings - they are great actors) Canada Goose partnered with the likes of:

• Kate Upton - US model and actress

• Tom Hardy - US actor (Venom)

• Elisabeth Olsen - US actress (remember Full House 👴)

• Emma Stone - US actress

• Daniel Craig - US actor (the last James Bond)

• Daniel Radcliff - the OG Harry Potter

• Drake - Canadian rapper

• Eva Longoria - US Actress (Desperate Housewives)

• David Beckham - UK/US soccer player

• Ed Westwick - UK Actor and Musician (Gossip Girl)

Lately, they associated themselves with other global brands such as NBA and October’s Very Own (OVO).

Adjusting to the Market Demands and Trends

Having one excellent product is one thing, but you’d get left behind if you don’t stay close to the market and listen to your customers.

If that were the case, my mom would still be spreading margarine on the toast thinking it’s heart-healthy and lower cholesterol… 🙄 

CG managed to stay on top of that for over 60 years while preserving their roots.

CG parkas went from puffy heating body emballage to more versatile and functional jackets - while still holding the magical emblem showcasing to bystanders that you’re into quality and are willing to invest in it.

Bulky winter troll → Urban chic fashionista.

CG also faced criticism for using animal products (fur and down comes from them).

While they claimed these materials were gathered sustainably they answered the demands and switched to synthetics.

The TL;DR of Canada Goose

Zuck’s Addressing the Elephant in the Room

Let’s be honesty, the AI has decimated market interest for AR/VR. The opportunities and use cases with AI are that much more apparent that the public shifted its focus there.

But if there’s one company that can brute-force interest, it’s Apple.

Apple’s Vision Pro - an AR/VR goggle they are calling it first spatial computer hit the market on Feb 2, 2024. The headset has been met with mixed reviews - some calling it the new future, and some a very expensive experiment ($3,500 if you want it).

Sales numbers looked a bit slow but at the time of writing Vision Pro is sold out and shipping time for buyers might be five to seven weeks long.

The most interesting review award goes to Casey Neistat which I’d recommend seeing it:

Apple, being one of the most recognized brands with massive reach through tech influencers garnered massive social media attention and freshened up interest in AR/VR which is great for the industry.

This momentary spike in trends couldn’t be missed, so Meta decided to join the wave by putting their shogun, Mark Zuckerberg in the spotlight and addressing the new competitor in the room.

Here’s the full video on Zuck’s IG account:

https://www.instagram.com/zuck/reel/C3TkhmivNzt/?hl=en 

He is addressing it from the perspective of their own most popular headset - Quest 3 calling out:

• better quality pass-through

• better value

• 7x more affordable

• comfortable

• tetherless

• better field-of-view

• better content library

Now, Quest 3 is a different device than Vision Pro and if you know Apple, they don’t compete in established categories — they carved their own segment.

But, I do like the quick reaction from Meta especially since the AR/VR market is still a bit niche market.

What do you think?

Good call or does Meta appear paranoid and scared about the new challenger?

Troll Wars - Apollo.io’s response to ZoomInfo

Aight, Zuck’s video is amazing. The person with high stakes, and high risk, addressed the competitor directly and brought up the value props for his own product.

While the cool factor between Meta and Apple skews towards Apple, I love the approach to defending your product line.

But there’s one more gutsy move from Daniel Cmejla - a VP of Community at Apollo.io.

Appolo is on a talent hiring spree and growing like mushrooms in Slovenia after the rainy season (ask my mom).

Danny is clear but brutal when it comes to calling out the incumbent in the field - ZoomInfo.

Here’s a response to ZoomInfo’s pricing strategy on LinkedIn.

Amazing right? It’s not boring and dry as most of B2B LinkedIn influencers that aren’t using “the dry ChatGPT response”, it’s relevant, clear, and direct.

• It’s good the hook

• It’s got the callout

• It’s got short punchy lines

• Conversational tone

• It’s not shying away and starting some beef

Mmmm - delicious!

Look, the dude knows what he is doing. Danny’s background is in politics - running a campaign for Bernie Sanders and convincing people with words.

This works and I’m all for it.

Join Healthy Competition

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If you’re looking for a tight-knit group of tech professionals, eager to help, share, and support each other - go check it out at healthycompetition.co

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Have a great week!

Dejan

Lay it On Me

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