On Bombas, Brand Culture, And Creating True Believers: How To - Forbes ELIZABETH KEENAN: Bombas was founded in 2013 with a dedication to two goals. At that point, there were 14,000 people that had complained to customer service. And a number of the students in the class that I had learned about this aspect of their business, because they read the case though, they had also already owned Bombas socks. In the venture world thats like a bad word. BRIAN KENNY: Right. The emails were well-received (boasting an enormous open rate of 60 to 80 percent), and strengthened a connection between the brand and its followers. Theyve learned about the socks, but theres also a whole bunch of other items that they are now recognizing are critically important to homeless people. help with returns or exchanges, and listen to feedback to inform better company strategy. Keown further emphasizes that the success of Bombas' brand purpose and culture are founded not merely by the opinion of decision-makers in a boardroom, but rather that the brand's culture-wide approach of 'Hey, this is what we all believe as a collective community' is what really connects Bombas' internal True Believers with the fans who buy its socks. With a mission-based brand, you need to make sure that customers are engaged with the company values as well as the actual product being purchased. I don't believe you can build a successful brand on a mission alone. They use these posts to engage with customers who share in their dedication to a social cause, as well as reinforce the feeling of charity that is tied to making a purchase through their service. Does that not create a whole new set of challenges for them to face as they move into other product lines? Get Scrappy: Smarter Digital Marketing for Businesses Big and Small. However, they also wanted very much to donate socks with those same properties. BRIAN KENNY: All right. Since 2013, Bombas has donated more than 9 million pairs of socks and worked with 1,200 partners to spread awareness of their cause. Its important to Bombas that theyre helping their community regardless of its direct involvement with their brand mission. Socks are a small item but can have a big impact on someone's life.. BRIAN KENNY: Weve had a lot of cases on the show in the past about companies that have adopted a purpose. Eight years later, Bombas had established itself mostly through online marketing as a preeminent . While the company is expanding, they plan to stay laser focused on comfort-based basics for the next several years, building on their mission and bottom line. Shane Pittson, vice president of growth at Quip, says that launching as a D2C allowed the oral hygiene provider better "data and perspectives" for conversations . Getting this buy-in from team members is important for a mission-based company like Bombas because they act as evangelists for the brand.