Hoka captures new whitespace by leveraging insights to launch The Transport

The below transcript represents highlights from a recent conversation between Dan Leahy, CEO of MakerSights, and Hy Rosario

On the different stages and stakeholders involved in the product development process

Dan Leahy: So could you talk a little bit about the different stages of the product development process from start to finish. I know you're pretty intimately involved in all of them. 

Hy Rosario: Yeah. I'd love to start with talking about what we as product people do. So this is not just product management, which is what I'm a part of, but also designers and developers and engineers. You know, our job really is to not just look into the future but also to try to see what's around the corner because it's those things around the corner that are the most intriguing to our brand. I think our partnership with MakerSights has been so invaluable because we've been able to look around the corner and gain insights to reduce our risk.

We do that through all kinds of phases, like the early phase of thinking about some new concept. Then we go into the briefing stage where we hopefully have some insights to bring to the table to help the design and development teams put their arms around that concept and start ideating on actual shoes.Then we take that into our marketing teams because, you know, they also need to be sold on the idea and why it's important for the brand to do this. And lastly, I like to say it's like the last five feet of retail, which is getting our sales reps to be equally passionate and knowledgeable so that they can land the product with the ultimate gatekeeper who's the buyer of a retail store.

So every person along that food chain, if you will, has to have the baton. And, you know, we in product are responsible to make sure that the baton pass goes very smoothly.

On the challenges of expanding your brand into new product territories

Dan Leahy: Well, let's talk about that baton pass a little bit more because the degree of difficulty is even higher for folks like yourself who are pushing the envelope, who are being bold. Talk a little bit about the sort of added challenges of that process when what you're going after is something that you haven't done before and that the market hasn't even seen before. 

Hy Rosario: Yeah. I think this is the part that is really fun because when you are looking around the corner, most likely it's an area that may or may not be adjacent to your business. So I think the first thing you have to do is make sure that there's some adjacency to the business you're in so that that leap you're making isn't such a chasm that the project stalls. So we work really hard to make sure that we can succeed with this thing that's coming around the corner and to do it in a way that is powerful for the brand and the consumer as well.

Getting your downstream partners onboard

Dan Leahy: So, I imagine product teams are quick to get excited about some of this newness. Maybe talk a little bit about the process of getting some of those downstream team members on board for something that's a little bit more risky, a little bit less certain.

‍Hy Rosario: Yeah. So the way to do that, at least from how we've done it recently is to really bring the consumer into the conversation. And so having insights like the ones we've been able to capture through MakerSights have been extremely powerful in giving us knowledge about where the consumer is. Building confidence within the team that this is the right thing that we're doing. It allows us to flawlessly go to market with less bumps in the way.

On how MakerSights fit into Hoka's product development process

Dan Leahy: Well you've now been working with MakerSights for four or five years? Could you share a little bit about where MakerSights fits into your process from early creation to getting those downstream stakeholders on board? 

‍Hy Rosario: Yeah. We've used MakerSights in many aspects of the product creation cycle. We’ve used it to gut check some of those things that are coming around the corner. We've used it for testing our products against competitor products. We do simple things like checking color. Also, we sometimes are able to test things like is the product competing in a manner that we had hoped for? So there's lots of different ways that we've applied MakerSights, inclusive of things like gaining general consumer insights.

On how MakerSights helps align Global and Regional teams on choosing the right products to launch

Dan Leahy:  You’re a truly global brand at this point in time. With that comes navigating global consistency and regional specificity. Can you share a little bit about how you've used the insights you're gleaning on MakerSights to help navigate that tension that exists?

‍Hy Rosario: Well that's one of the things I love about MakerSights is that we are now able to do testing in different countries so that we can start to gauge whether the hunches we have are also globally relevant and not just a gut instinct about the US marketplace. And the fluidity of that testing across different markets has been amazing

MakerSights has the capability to do the translations for us, and then all the results get translated back so that when we're looking at the data it’s consistent and easily deciphered for decision making. For the last few tests that we've done in five or six markets, we handpicked those regions or those countries that we really want to zero in on with this product.

On how Hoka influences retail partners with MakerSights data

Dan Leahy: And you're not just stopping with the regional representatives on the Hoka side as well, you mentioned the final gatekeeper in this process being the retail buyers. Can you share a little bit about how the insights are helping you drive that part of the process and making that drive to completion?

‍Hy Rosario: Yeah, I think there's so much that retailers want to know, but the amount of time they have with us, with our sales teams is finite. So we really try to give them the distilled version, if you will, of the key learnings. You know, this product, we created it because it does X better. And here's the research that shows that in this market.

So we're actually able to give that kind of detail in a very digestible format. You know, there's no spreadsheets, no bar charts, it's just a very top line sort of pitch that seems to resonate with our retail partners.