Brooks Kicks Out Customers

You mean you aren't allowed to purchase/wear Brooks attire anymore? Or you just don't get it free/discounted?

They were selling things at or below cost to Brooks I.D. members. They don't have to replace them to make money, even if those customers never buy another product, Brooks still comes out ahead.

What was the idea behind the ID thing in the first place?

This is not quite accurate. Many members of the not-so-intelligently expanded program are being offered a lesser experience, details of which are yet to be fully explained.

It has caused some hurt feelings, primarily due to poor communication from the company.

Brooks ID aka ignores dreams wrote:

Brooks changes ID Series and kicks 700 customers to the curb.

Will losing 700 customers hurt Brooks?

Or can they Inspire Daily to replace them?

Write them a letter and thank them...thank them for allowing you to realize that you aren't "elite" after all. Thank them for allowing you to realize that just because you got a free singlet, a pair of shorts, an ID Tshirt, and a sweet discount, that you really shouldn't have been telling anyone and everyone who would listen that you were an elite sponsored athlete. Truth hurts sometimes Sally, put your big girl panties on and grow up.

Brooks ID aka ignores dreams wrote:

Brooks changes ID Series and kicks 700 customers to the curb.

Will losing 700 customers hurt Brooks?

Or can they Inspire Daily to replace them?

I think their annual revenue is over half a billion. 700 x a few dollars is not gonna hurt them too bad. Stop being a cheapass.

They moved 700 or so people to a new tier of the Brooks ID program that is called the Fanatics. Details on the fanatics group are not completely clear yet. One thing that is clear is that the benefits of being in that program are lower than the Brooks ID program.

It is also not clear what the division of the levels is based on. There are a lot of 3 plus hour guys marathoners in the PACE program and a number of sub 2:30 guys in the fanatics program.

In my opinion it was handled poorly by Brooks and there are a lot of very annoyed former Brooks IDers right now.

It is pretty unclear of what the standards are as the above poster noted as there are slower folks in the PACE program that are slower than the new Fanatics program. My guess is they didn't want to boot some folks that had been there for a while or maybe some folks that order a ton of gear, or coach HS kids and have a lot of influence.

Either way, change happens and if other companies like New Balance or Saucony were to create a similar program, it would probably boost overall sales.

polevaultpower wrote:

They were selling things at or below cost to Brooks I.D. members. They don't have to replace them to make money, even if those customers never buy another product, Brooks still comes out ahead.

Wrong, they were actually selling products above wholesale cost to ID members.

Using rough examples, a $100 pair of shoes costs a running store about $50 (can even be less based on volume and preorder discounts). Brooks was selling that same shoe to ID members for $60. Sure there's a bit of overhead for their online purchasing site, but it's not $10 per shoe. And because Brooks ID members tend to buy more gear than the normal runner because 1) they feel obligated to, and 2) there is a 40% discount off of retail prices, I bet Brooks makes a fair bit of money on the program.

The switch to the fanatics program was not well thought-out, but it's better than kicking members out completely.

Brook's "problem" is that they signed a small number of pretty faces fresh out of college (salary, yes?)... thus having to kick 700 ID members to the curb to even it out. Was that really a smart marketing choice for Brooks (700 promoters vs. 5-10 tracksters)? At least the Hanson's are holding on, for now, and Brooks needs them.

Has anyone received an email about being put into a new program? I was in the ID program and don't think I am being put into another program for next year, so I bought 3 pairs of shoes this month before my discount ran out.

Angela Bizzarri is worth 10x all the people they let go. She is gorgeous, smart and FAST.I was a brooks ID person and I'm not upset, I got discounted stuff for no reason. Do I win all the races in my area? Yes. Does anyone in this city care about what shoes I'm wearing? Nope. Me wearing brooks wasn't helping them at all, but they helped me be sub elite for a couple years, so Im thankful.http://www.brooksrunning.com/Athletes-Events/athletes_events_landing,default,pg.html

the truth is wrote:

Brook's "problem" is that they signed a small number of pretty faces fresh out of college (salary, yes?)... thus having to kick 700 ID members to the curb to even it out. Was that really a smart marketing choice for Brooks (700 promoters vs. 5-10 tracksters)? At least the Hanson's are holding on, for now, and Brooks needs them.

You should be happy a program like this was created in the first place. You should be telling Brooks thanks for the ID program, and thanks for continuing some sort of program in the future, even if its different than the ID program.

Maybe you could be a part of another Brooks program in the future. Instead you are acting like a child.

The Brooks ID project was really quite ingenious. They had over 2000+ members all that felt obligated to buy Brooks products. As mentioned above, they maybe took a little hit selling at a 40% mark down, but were still making a tidy profit to a large number of people that would have not have purchased Brooks products.

I think maintaining slower members in the Brooks ID program instead of their Fanatics program once again falls to marketing. I imagine the 3+ hour marathoner that was kept in the ID program has a blog or some such thing that is followed by some number of people. Although slower in time this person generates a lot more free marketing than the 2:30 marathoner who just runs all the time. So the way I see it, the ID program generated a small profit from sales and a large amount of free marketing. It does seem that the better the blogger you are the more sponsorships will come your way.

Anyone know if there is a cutoff in terms of how fast people are that were able to stay in the program?

laughingostrich wrote:

Has anyone received an email about being put into a new program? I was in the ID program and don't think I am being put into another program for next year, so I bought 3 pairs of shoes this month before my discount ran out.

it looks like anyone can sign up.

Are there benefits to being in Fanatics?

laughingostrich wrote:

Anyone know if there is a cutoff in terms of how fast people are that were able to stay in the program?

I have been in Brooks ID for the past 3 years and received a fanatics letter. I have a 2:32 PR but have only run 2:41 and 1:13 in the past year. I know of at least one guy who is a sub 2:30 marathoner who also got a fanatics letter.

I'll give it a try. If shoes are still 40% off I'll be happy.

It has been mentioned several times on this thread but it looks like things like high school coaching, blogging and other types of exposure matter more than winning local fun runs when Brooks decided who they want in the PACE group.

There was no set standard of times. I was dropped, I'm not fast, but I'm faster than 99 percent of the runners in the series. Also did a lot of extra, including being involved in the local running community in a huge way. Someone who has a blog who runs 12 minute mile pace doesn't generate anything compared to the local standout who makes the front page of the paper. Brooks was not losing money. Like others said, the discount was still profitable to the company. Be thankful for them allowing me to be in the series in the first place? They are going to lose more business than the 700 they kicked out. Those 700 are pissed that they were given no opportunity to make an argument of why they deserve to stay on. They were randomly chosen. On the forum for their site, almost every single person posting that they were put in Fanatics is mad. The customers that Brooks is trying to target in this area have no idea who is on the Hanson Brooks Team. But they do know who won the local Turkey Trot and what he wore.