Workshopping whitespaces
Charting a path towards a 2030 vision for a beloved local brand
With a rich history of innovation and dedication to outfitting those pursuing an active lifestyle since 1928, Brooks spent the last two decades focused solely one one thing: running. After a record breaking 2021 in which the company reached $1 billion in revenue, Brooks set its sights on larger, more ambitious growth opportunities– new demographics, emerging channels, and key global markets.
While Brooks had defined their 2030 vision for the brand and identified high level growth targets, they needed to align the leadership team around key strategic goals needed to realize the long-term vision. With the 2030 vision in mind, the Brooks team approached iF to help frame and facilitate the March senior leadership team Offsite.
“Even though this was our first in-person workshopping session with the entire leadership team since the pandemic began, the Intentional Futures team was able to expertly facilitate a productive, thought-provoking, and actionable session.” -Tom Ross, CFO, Brooks
iF designed the March Offsite to create space for experiential and collaborative brainstorming, with the goal of helping the leadership team think more broadly and imaginatively about how to improve and diversify the business over the next 5-10 years in pursuit of its 2030 vision.
Over the course of two days, iF guided the Brooks team through interactive sessions at their headquarters in Seattle.
Day 1: Expand the Core
The goal of the first day was to chart the path towards Brooks’ 2030 vision by exploring and aligning on “areas of play” to further exploit the core business in the performance running footwear & apparel category.
The series of activities built upon a SWOT analysis conducted at the beginning of the workshop, and delved further into Brooks’ current areas of excellence and risk.
Day 2: Beyond the Core
The second day was all about identifying and exploring potential “areas of play” that would stretch the business into emerging whitespaces in performance running and running-adjacent spaces.
After identifying four personas of “future runners”, the team brainstormed what whitespaces Brooks was most poised to enter in the next 5-10 years. Participants were encouraged to prioritize those ideas they felt had the most potential.
After the workshop, iF delivered Brooks with an encompassing offsite recap deck that summarized the key ideas and takeaways that surfaced from the activities, brainstorms, and discussions of the two days.
By the end of iF’s engagement with Brooks, the path towards the 2030 vision was clarified with priority areas of exploration. With an eye on the future, the Brooks leadership team was equipped with the ideas necessary to grow their business for the next year and beyond.
