The Statement of a Sock!
Tanvir Siddiqui
Global Head of Brand | FMCG | Consumer Marketing | Brand & Business Growth | Omnichannel, Digital & AI Transformation
Metaphor and feeling: the secret ingredients behind emotional brand-building — and how a pair of compression socks nailed it
Ever built a brand framework (from pyramid to onion to a laundry-list-look-alike box) and felt... nothing?
Guess all marketers have been there. I had my fair share of that, too. Worked through months of workshops, research, boardroom conversations. Helped build pyramids, onions, even a brand "house" with questionable plumbing. Somewhere between the umpteenth stakeholder alignment and the 250+ slides, you realize:
The spark is gone.
Lately, I came across an extremely compelling brand positioning and expression that didn’t come from this year’s Super Bowl ad or a BrandZ list. It came from a pair of compression socks.
When Compression Socks Steal the Spotlight
Not to undermine socks. But let’s be honest: you don’t see any marketing case studies on socks!
Unless it’s "happy socks." Or a Nike prototype knitted by Elon Musk.
JOBST doesn’t just make socks. They make compression garments — for people living with venous and lymphatic conditions. Conditions that don’t just affect how blood moves — but how people move through life.
Not exactly the stuff of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity glory.
Except it was.
Because JOBST’s repositioning — and the campaign that followed, "Unsynchronised" — should be a case study.
They didn’t sell features. They didn’t posture as medical saviours.
They stood beside people who move differently. They named what others politely ignored. And they broke a quiet taboo around mobility, asymmetry, and body image.
The message wasn’t clinical. It was human.
It showed up where it matters: Getting dressed for work. Going out to dance. Deciding to say yes to the walk — instead of sitting it out.
They didn’t cast polished actors or build unreachable fantasies. They found real people, moving through real moments. No pedestals. No pity. Just the quiet, human desire to live fully — even when movement feels unsynchronized.
And then they did something even smarter: they baked the truth into the very design.
They created a custom font.
Irregular Bold.
Each letter breaks symmetry. Some slant. Some lift. Some dip. Some stretch like gravity itself pulling them differently.
A typeface that doesn’t hide irregularity — it embraces it. Not broken. Bold.
Created by Publicis•Poke. Crafted in three weights — just like compression garments come in different intensities. It was awarded a Silver Lion at Cannes 2023 for Craft in Pharma — and shortlisted at D&AD .
More importantly, it worked.
Awareness up 4.7%. Product searches up 85%. (source: Jobst: Defy Gravity - Publicis Groupe)
Proof that even in the so-called "low-interest" categories, emotional truth can build a world — not just a campaign.
Two Things JOBST Got Brilliantly Right
Two beautiful things stand out in the work— and they made all the difference:
First: They created a feeling — and they brought it to life by showing up inside someone’s real, daily moments. In the mirror. In the closet. At the edge of a dance floor.
They didn’t fictionalize it either. The feeling worked because it came from real people, living real stories — not polished fantasies. No pedestals. No pity. Just small, human moments that felt recognizable. Not unreachable ideals, but relatable realities.
Second: They found one powerful metaphor to express it. Not by showing off a multi-layered brand manifesto. Not by cramming 250 slides’ worth of theory into a single campaign.
Just one simple, elegant choice: a custom typeface that carried the whole emotional weight of the brand.
That's the real game: a single-minded message that generates a feeling.
Bingo.
The Hard Lesson: When Strategy Stops Pouring Rain
In my past work on brand repositioning — across both heritage brands and next-generation categories — I learned something the hard way.
We spent months in workshops, alignment calls, research, frameworks. We built pyramids, onions, houses with questionable plumbing. And finally, we had something that looked impressive — all the right boxes ticked.
But when we shared it with an anthropologist — a rather famous one from WPP — he paused, smiled, and said:
"It feels like a cloud of ideas. Not pouring rain."
We realized the problem wasn’t insight. It wasn’t creativity. It was trying to tick every box in the framework, it was trying to say everything — and in doing so, saying nothing people could feel.
So we did something bold.
We stripped strategy back to just three essentials:
Three intersecting insights — and at the center sits what the brand truly stands for. Its raison d’être — brought to life in rituals and real moments.
Not a cloud. But rain — touching real life.
When we shared this new simplicity across Japan to Germany, across layers of leadership, the reaction was always the same:
"I get it."
And when people get it, they create it.
When I saw JOBST’s work, it felt instantly familiar — and powerful. They didn’t just define a brand. They brought it to life, in small, human moments that could be felt — not explained.
When Brands Feel, Not Shout
Great brand building isn’t about looking clever. It's about giving people a reason to say yes in a quiet, ordinary moment.
JOBST didn’t overcomplicate. They picked a real truth, gave it a beating heart, and let it dance.
Because in the end, the brands people remember aren’t layered in noise. They’re sharp enough to be felt — even without thinking.
Simple. Human. Shown where it matters most — in real life.