Amber Tarshis, chief marketing officer of Toms, is on a mission to reestablish the iconic brand for a new generation.
Founded in 2006, the shoe brand celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, which Tarshis – a graduate of Puma, Victoria’s Secret, Pac Sun and Guess Jeans – says comes with a lot of responsibility. Her approach is to honor the company’s legacy while looking forward to the future.
“It’s how we reestablish Toms as the most emotionally relevant and resonant brand in everyday footwear,” says Tarshis. “It’s a brand with so much history and so much emotional connectivity.”
The brand – which had its heyday in the early 2000s – is jumping into the zeitgeist of the retro popularity of the era that is trending right now. “It’s such a beloved brand. I always talk about Toms as being a brand that is sleeping and that it just needs to be woken up. We have our moment right now.”
Toms is popping up in some of the nostalgic content people are sharing online. Tarshis says the key to the future success of the brand is tapping those consumers who feel nostalgic about the brand, while also reaching younger audiences to make it relevant to a new generation tomorrow.
“Many people think that there’s a Tom at Toms and there isn’t,” explains Tarshis. “The name Toms actually comes from the phrase ‘creating better tomorrows’ and this idea of leaving the world a little better than you found it. That is extremely relevant with this young generation. A brand that projects optimism and is connected to a brighter future is something that can really resonate and connect with this generation.”
Brand Innovators caught up with Tarshis from her office in Los Angeles to discuss how the brand is showing up in culture, creating messaging that sounds like a consumer’s best friend and driving relevance for the next generation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What is your vision and how does that show up in the work that you’re doing?
Our brand pillars are joy, confidence and purpose. We are a brand that has always been rooted in positivity and optimism. People are craving that more than ever. We continue to project that joy and positivity in our marketing as an impact-led brand. We’re always thinking about how we can convey that your purchase works on multiple levels. It’s not just that you’re buying a cute shoe, but that by buying it, you’re also helping to make a difference in the world.
Tell me the ways you’re showing up in culture.
It is probably one of the most topical questions for our team right now. We are being much more intentional about participating in culture, not chasing it, but really actively participating in it. You’ll see us partnering more with creators who embody our values and our aesthetic. We’re showing up in these cultural moments that feel very additive and native to the platforms where we’re talking to customers. Our goal is to be part of everybody’s daily life. We just want to fit in naturally there. We’ve introduced energy drops, which are new product introductions that are being produced from concept and design ideation and brought to market in a very accelerated time frame. We can be closer to delivering on those cultural moments when they happen, not coming out with a shoe 18 months later and passing the moment.
Our first energy collection of the year was the Cerulean Blue drop. WGSN, Pinterest and the fashion runways were signaling that bright blue would be one of the hot colors of the year. That color also aligns with the blue of our iconic Toms blue flag and the word cerulean connects directly to “The Devil Wears Prada,” which happens to be celebrating its 20th anniversary with a sequel that’s coming out in May. Our teaser campaign was driving this connection back to the famous scene about cerulean. The drop sold out before it was actually ever officially launched to the public on our early access day.
What is your approach to social?
We want consumers to feel like we’re their hype girl. We’re finding joyful moments on the internet where we can show up with enthusiasm. For example, when Flavor Flav said he was going to support the women’s gold medal-winning hockey team with a celebration in Vegas, we were the first footwear company to offer pairs to the team.
The Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special debuted on Disney+ and we teased out a special Hannah fantasy shoe. (We weren’t actually producing that shoe but just to wish her a happy birthday). When punch monkey was in the zeitgeist, we did a fantasy punch monkey set. We’re asking the public is this something we should make? It is really about having that two-way dialog, hopping into the comments, watching where the conversations are going, finding where we can naturally fit into that conversation.
Tell me about how your background at other brands shapes what you’re doing today at Toms.
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of fashion, entertainment and creator culture. I was the head of marketing at Puma, the SVP of marketing at Victoria’s Secret, the CMO of Guess Jeans and PacSun – all hyper relevant and youth lifestyle fashion brands exceptional at connecting with culture. I also ran brand management at Warner Brothers for global movie franchises and was most recently the CMO at a leading creator company that worked with various YouTubers and TikTokers. All of those experiences have really taught me that the most effective brands behave like entertainment. They don’t just push products, they are great at creating stories, experiences and cultural moments and inviting the public to engage with them in these different ways.
Can you talk about how Toms is activating in experiential?
Experiences are going to be the next big investment area for the brand last year. We did experiential takeovers of trendy La La Land coffee shops in Los Angeles. We essentially turned them into quasi Toms showrooms. We had a Toms cup of joy latte. We were giving out free sunglasses. We basically could not go and get your favorite cup of matcha or coffee without having to fight your way past us.
It is really hard to reach the customer today. The media landscape is very fragmented and experiential is one of the answers for how you break through. You basically have to put yourself in the way of your consumer where they are already spending their time where their happy place is. For some that will be Coachella, for some that will be Stagecoach, for some that’ll be their favorite coffee shop. We’re strategizing around matcha and something possibly related to tennis. How do we bring that to life through an unexpected destination?
Are there any marketing challenges keeping you up at night?
Aren’t there always? I’m not going to say AI, although that is probably keeping me up at night too. We are trying to figure out our place in AI and where it fits within our narrative. We’re a brand that’s deeply rooted in authenticity and real connection. It’s a balancing act between maintaining authenticity but also figuring out to use AI to fuel our vision further. That’s a tightrope we’re walking right now.
The biggest thing keeping me up at night is capturing attention. How do we cut through? We’re operating in a world today where consumers are bombarded with content. The bar for relevance is really high. We’re constantly asking ourselves if we’re creating something that earns its place in someone’s day. We have to show up in a way that makes them welcome us into their homes, onto their phones, into their lives.
I often think about our brand voice as having a conversation with your best friend. You’re always going to take a text message or a phone call from your best friend. You’re always going to find time for your best friend. Our aim is to really be that bright spot in their day for them to welcome us in rather than just more junk in their inbox or on their feed.
Where is the opportunity for the brand?
There’s a large number of consumers who grew up with the brand 10 and 20 years ago. We definitely want to reconnect with those customers and tap into that nostalgia in a really relevant way. The bigger opportunity is connecting with younger generations who maybe were too young to really have an emotional connection to the old times. The opportunity is tapping into retro trends that are reimagined for today for new audiences reminding them that Toms was an authentic participant of those trends. If we can do that, then we’ve paved a beautiful path for the next 20 years. We can’t just be nostalgic with those who already love us and know our history. We really have to drive that relevance with the next generation too.
