Body Glove: Helping Consumers Do What They Love!

How did Body Glove® become one of the most recognizable outdoor sports brands in the world?
Well, the story begins in Missouri, where twin brothers, Bob and Bill Meistrell, taught
themselves
to swim in a pond on their family farm. Their interest in water led them to California where they
opened the Dive N’ Surf sports shop in Redondo Beach with $1,800 they borrowed from their
mother. They grew the business with a simple philosophy of quality products, great customer
service, and a fair price. The real secret to their success, though, may have been their personal
approach to business and life. Billy Meistrell, son and nephew of the founders, explains, “I
constantly heard my dad and uncle say, ‘Do what you love and love what you do!’”
THE BODY GLOVE BRAND
The combination of their approach to business and being pioneers in diving and surfing was a
powerful business model for the Meistrell brothers. According to Billy, “their work was their
playground, and with that came so much passion and creativity that they developed many new
products which gave everybody a much richer lifestyle in the water.” One of their first
innovations, for example, was the result of using the insulation from the back of a refrigerator,
neoprene, to create the first practical wetsuit, which they called the Dive N’ Surf Thermocline.
The name, however, was difficult to explain so they began discussing potential new brand
names. An observation that the wetsuit “fit like a glove” led to the now famous name Body
Glove!
The brothers realized there was a lot of potential in their idea and decided they needed help.
They turned to their CPA, Russ Lesser, who eventually became president of Body Glove. One of
the first things that Lesser did was recommend that they get into the wholesale business. He
helped arrange the purchase of a factory and the business started to grow. “We started
manufacturing wetsuits,” explains Lesser, “and that helped create the whole surf lifestyle.” The
popularity of the brand soon allowed Body Glove to pursue licensing agreements for many other
products, including bathing suits. “That’s when Body Glove really took off,” says Lesser, “the
new bathing suits hit every fashion magazine in the world.”.” “Now we have a whole variety of
watersports products. We have wet suits, we have boogie boards, we have surfboards, we have
fins, masks, and snorkels, and we have all sorts of apparel,” he adds. Annual sales in the United
States soon approached $200 million.
Taking Body Glove to global markets was the next step and they needed a partner that could
facilitate the growth. “We were approached by Marquee Brands who wanted to expand into the
licensing business,” says Lesser, and eventually Marquee acquired a majority position in the
company. “I think it’s a good match because they have the capital to expand and to market and
they also have contacts around the world,” he continues.
Today, Body Glove represents a classic success story. “Two young men with no money and no
family connections created a company with millions of dollars of sales revenue and also created
thousands of jobs,” observes Lesser. The brand has a global following and the iconic Body
Glove Hand Logo is one of the most recognized in sporting goods and watersports.
In addition, the company continues its heritage as the third generations of the Meistrell families
continue their involvement in the management of the brand, particularly the marketing activities.
MARKETING AT BODY GLOVE
The marketing function at Body Glove includes a senior executive at Marquee Brands, a
marketing director, a brand director, and a team of marketing staff. Together they create annual
marketing plans designed to grow the brand. According to Jenna Meistrell, brand director at
Body Glove, “Every year we sit with our internal team and develop a marketing plan for the
following year.” “We set direction for the business by looking at all of our various product
categories in different markets and figure out which categories need support,” she adds. Each
plan uses a combination of traditional and contemporary marketing tools.
“Traditional marketing will always be important to us,” says Jenna. “We maintain print
advertisements in Surfer magazine, Wake magazine, and Outside, Elle, and Vogue,” she
continues. Body Glove also uses outof-home advertising such as advertising in Times Square and
billboards near popular outdoor sports locations. The advertising always communicates a
message that builds on the Body Glove heritage. Jenna explains, “Every year we try to do a new
campaign and this year our campaign is ‘Do What You Love.’
The campaign is important to us because we almost use it as our mission statement. It’s the
foundation of the company, ensuring that our consumers are outside doing what they love and it
is a great marketing campaign because it applies easily to all of our product categories.”
Other marketing tools also play an important role in Body Glove’s marketing plans. Distribution
channels, for example, are being expanded. There are now more than 200 Body Glove stores in
Southeast Asia, and a new partnership in Europe will provide distribution in more than 1,000
specialty and department stores. In addition, Body Glove has always had a team of sponsored
athletes from the surfing, diving, and wakeboarding communities who serve as brand
ambassadors. The company even produced three feature-length films—the Drop Zone series -
which follow the company’s sponsored athletes on watersports adventures. And of course there
are a variety of sales promotion tools such as foam hands with the Body Glove logo, license plate
frames, and bumper stickers. When Billy Meistrell drives a Body Glove vehicle, people stop him
and ask for stickers!
SOCIAL MEDIA AT BODY GLOVE
To reach the growing market of Body Glove consumers around the globe, social media is playing
an increasing role in the company’s marketing. Nick Meistrell, director of marketing at Body
Glove, explains: “We all know that content is king in this age, through digital and through social,
you have to be generating some valuable content to be relevant among consumers and people
that are attracted to your brand.” There are a lot of social media options available today and Nick
tries to use many of them. “I look at a 360-degree approach, I want to hit consumers through
every possible outlet,” he says. What are some of the popular options today? Nick offers his
perspective:
∙ Facebook. We look at Facebook as a platform to launch new products and really drive some
clickthrough to our website and our e-commerce page. It can give consumers an experience and
communicate the lifestyle, not just push product.
∙ Twitter. Twitter used to be a platform for us to tell consumers about new things we are doing.
Today, however, it has become a customer service tool. Twitter is the foundation for our
customer service function and is used more than the customer service link on our website. We
get customer service inquiries on Twitter every day!
∙ LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great platform for us to look for new talent when we are hiring. It is
also a good way to talk about all the great stuff we are doing at Body Glove and to interact with
other
businesses and like-minded businesspeople.
∙ YouTube. YouTube is a huge platform for our brand. Content is king and we feel it is a great
outlet to show our content. We have a great subscription base that is constantly hungry for new
content. We also look at it as the new platform for commercials. So, instead of buying traditional
commercials for television, we are buying our commercial space on YouTube to strategically
target the right consumer.
∙ Instagram. Instagram is also a huge part of our marketing program. In this digital age you must
generate organic, relevant content. Instagram is a great platform to show new content from
photos
and videos.
∙ Pinterest. We have so many unique products under our umbrella that can appeal to many types
of consumers and Pinterest is a great place to post and see them. People love sharing moods and
feelings about those products on Pinterest.
Each platform is unique and can accomplish different marketing objectives. Each platform is
evolving and changing quickly, also. As Nick observes, “You have to stay cutting edge and stay
up-to-date on all the relevant things that are happening out there.”
One important aspect of social media is that it is increasingly accessed from mobile devices. “At
the end of the day, 67 percent of our consumers now get their information online, mainly through
a mobile device,” Nick explains. Another aspect of social media that is changing is the ability to
assess its effectiveness. “We find that it’s really relevant to use the analytics built into each
platform because each platform offers its own unique tools. When we are measuring our digital
activity we look at impressions, we look at click-through rates, we look at cost per impression,
and we look at revenue generated through our e-commerce platform.”
THE FUTURE
Body Glove continues its support of conservation efforts that help preserve the environment,
such as its participation in the Earth’s Oceans Foundation. In addition, Body Glove has a variety
of exciting new initiatives under way. In terms of new products, Body Glove recently introduced
Body Glove Airstream Earbuds, Body Glove shoes for men and women, and an inflatable stand
up paddleboard. The company also began a “Create Happiness” campaign to support a yoga and
fitness initiative, and it announced a partnership with FlowRider to promote surf simulation
machines.
The team at Body Glove is very excited about the future. Billy smiles as he reflects, “There is no
company that has put more people in the water and made so many families have a fun lifestyle
than Body Glove!” So, the next time you are in or near the water, watch for Body Glove to help
you “do what you love”!
Questions
1 How does Body Glove’s heritage and philosophy contribute to its success?
2 Which of the criteria help explain why changing the brand name to Body Glove was a good
decision?
3 Describe Body Glove’s use of traditional marketing tools.
4 What social media platforms does Body Glove use to communicate with its customers today?
5 Why are social media and mobile marketing an increasingly important part of Body Glove’s
marketing plan?