Gumball Poodle

Creating clarity through our Brand Being™ process for an eccentric e-commerce brand.

Black background with white wavy lines and the text 'GUMBALL POOLE' in bold white capital letters

Gumball Poodle is a novelty sock brand that specializes in making a statement.

They are taking t-shirts to your feet. Inspired by eccentric subcultures, Gumball Poodle offers a diverse range of styles and designs. From tasteful topics, like sex, to universal sensations, like farting, they're always coming up with colorful statements that will keep you on your toes and have you coming back for more.

Laptop displaying an online sock store homepage with colorful graphics, a large sock image with text, and product styles below, set against a blue dotted background.

The owner of Gumball Poodle came to us feeling like the gatekeeper for the brand's success. She needed a way to help people understand the knowledge she has in her head, the passion that lives in her heart, and the why behind the brands creation.

Hoot Design Company brand work for Gumball Poodle — colorful rainbow-striped socks wrapped in a black label with Gumball Poodle branding on a gray surface with green edge
Hoot Design Company brand work for Gumball Poodle — close-up of a sock package with colorful patterned sock visible, against a divided pink and gray background
Hoot Design Company brand work for Gumball Poodle — Dad sock with text on a two-tone orange and gray background

This is a common problem that owners run into, and it’s why we created our Brand Guide process, which includes:

  • Brand Heart

  • Positioning

  • Personality

  • Team Rollout

A colorful newsletter page with topics related to April Fools' humor, moon imagery, and sock humor, including sections titled "Why Farting Matters," "Bring on that April Fools' Day Energy," and sock jokes. It features illustrations of the moon, a group of people on a canoe, a TV with flying socks, and various sock designs.
Close-up of a hand holding a smartphone displaying a colorful newsletter about reasons why farting matters, with a large red moon and a boat with people on it in the background.

During the project, we got to the heart of why Gumball Poodle was started in the first place, defined its purpose, established a set of values the team could rally around, and casted a vision for where the brand is going.

We also defined Gumball Poodle's market position, zeroed in on their audience and ideal customer, crafted a unique Brand Tension Point, established voice traits, and developed a full visual suite for the brand's evolution.

At the end of it all, we facilitated a smooth rollout to the broader Gumball Poodle team that created alignment amongst everyone who touches the brand.

A colorful illustration of a landscape with mountains, trees, and a river, overlaid by a sticker of a black and white sock with text that reads 'Sounds like shit to me'.
A vintage-style illustration of astronauts planting a flag on the moon with a large red moon in the background and the words 'GUM BALL POODLE' in bold white letters over the moon.

Hear from the owner of Gumball Poodle how the Brand Being™ process transformed her business:

The Brand Being™ process is robust and it’s designed to create clarity. Are you ready to create a playbook with key principles for your brand and how it’s used in the world?

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