Enabling the growth of a brand while staying true to its core values is a common problem that start-up companies deal with today. There are many growing pains that occur when up-scaling a business and often businesses fail because they are too focused on going too big too fast. Oregon is home to several corporations that have grown successfully, but also houses companies who realize that nurturing their personal values is the best way to reach their full potential.
Michael Morrow, founder and CEO of Nutcase Helmets, is a prime example of someone who successfully scaled and nurtured their brand into a leading business in a competitive market. All too often, companies forget that the people who buy their products reinforce the brand of the company. Morrow tapped into the culture that he represents in the early 2000s – and launched Nutcase Helmets to the top of the market by always staying true to their consumers.
While the customers reinforce the brand, Morrow began with a unique idea of what he wanted the brand to include. Most importantly, he believed in three main values: activity, expression, and safety. These three values are what make the Nutcase brand so special. While it was somewhat easy to exude these values to customers on a small scale, Morrow understood that it would be a challenge to instill these values in all his distributors around the world. Instead of letting someone else set up distribution centers for his company, Morrow put in endless hours of traveling around the world to each of his distributors to make sure that they understood the values of the brand and believed in what they were selling.
Philip Mascher, the Brand Connector for Nutcase Helmets, played a huge part in the success and growth of the brand. A lot of companies lose that intimate connection that some consumers feel towards a brand because the business focuses solely on expanding and increasing profits. A lot of times this will lead to a loss in customers because they feel as though they were just abandoned by a brand that they once trusted in. Companies are lucky enough to be in an age where they have access to social media which makes it much easier to interact and connect with customers than in the past. Nutcase has used social media very effectively by not only building transparency between the brand and the consumer, but by also asking for opinions and feedback on their products. They even had a competition in which people would submit helmet designs which in turn quadrupled the amount of people that visited their website.
Nutcase has done an excellent job with growing their business all while staying relevant to their consumers. They clearly understand the fact that you can’t have a big business without a loyal fan base, and you can’t have a loyal fan base unless your brand values are very clear and can be seen through every single product you make. It really seems as though Oregon generates some of the most original brands in the country. I don’t think that a company that specializes in designer bike helmets could have started anywhere but in Portland, Oregon, and in itself, that says so much about the people who live here. We strive for originality, we look for what’s cool well before it ever becomes cool – this is what separates Oregonians from everyone else, and this is why this country loves the brands that Oregon fosters.
