Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

When John O'Donnell founded Johnnie-O in 2005, his goal was to create a brand that combined East Coast prep with West Coast surf culture. 20 years later, you'll find their surfer logo in golf pro-shops and menswear stores across the country.

Today, John joins us to share his incredible journey from being a walk-on on the UCLA golf team to founding one of America's most iconic golf brands.

We get into the origins of Johnnie-O, discuss the source of their customer loyalty, and talk about their impressive growth over the last two decades.

Highlights:
  • The opportunity John saw in 2005 (2:05)
  • John's midwest roots (4:46)
  • UCLA Golf team (5:50)
  • Johnnie-O's differentiation (6:45)
  • The origins of Johnnie-O (8:17)
  • Distribution (9:28)
  • Inflection point for the brand (10:28)
  • Marketing evolution (11:37)
  • Scale of growth (13:57)
  • Breaking into women's wear (16:30)
  • Avenues for growth (17:35)
  • Tariffs (18:30)
  • Outlook for Johnnie-O (20:27)
  • Competitive Landscape (22:15)
  • Lessons learned (23:13)


 

Links:
Johnnie-O LinkedIn
Johnnie-O Website
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Twitter
ICR Website

 

Feedback:
If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, joe@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com