Do you remember when Crocs were the most uncool brand around? Dare we say… cringe? How did they become the Gen Z uniform of choice, complete with Balenciaga collaborations? For years, Crocs were the shoe everyone recognised, but nobody wanted to admit they owned, even just for gardening.

Terence Reilly is the marketing brain behind the Crocs comeback. His playbook: spend big on social media, lean into authentic fandom instead of forced celebrity deals, and treat brands like living, reactive things.

Crocs became a genuine cultural obsession, the kind of products people line up for, trade online, and film themselves unboxing.

At Adllins Media, we’re fascinated by marketers who turn “boring” or “uncool” into “must-have”. So let’s break down how Reilly did it, and what his approach can teach any brand trying to break into the cultural zeitgeist.

Who is Terence Reilly?

Terence Reilly is a marketing executive who has built a reputation for reviving brands that most people had written off. He joined Crocs as Chief Marketing Officer in 2013, faced with an almost impossible brief: make bulky foam shoes cool.

After some time away revitalising other brands and products, Terence returned to Crocs to ramp up the brand’s partnerships and social media presence.

His advice for executives trying to jolt a sleepy or small brand is refreshingly blunt: spend 50 per cent of your time and almost all your marketing money on social media. As he told the New York Post (2025):

Social media in general is just an amazing opportunity for any brand of any size. That’s where consumers are.

How did Reilly make an ‘ugly’ shoe cool? 

When Reilly arrived at Crocs, the problem wasn’t that people didn’t know the brand. Everyone knew Crocs. The problem was that nobody wanted to be associated with them.

“We didn’t have an awareness problem… we needed to make Crocs cool,” Reilly explained.

For years, the team chased celebrities and influencers, hoping a big name would make Crocs desirable. It didn’t work. They got a lot of nos, showing you can’t buy cool, until Post Malone blessed them with a marketer’s dream: the organic endorsement.

What was the Post Malone moment, and why did it matter? 

Everything shifted in 2016, when Reilly spotted Post Malone wearing Crocs backstage. The rapper wasn’t paid to wear them. He just liked them and was already known among his fans for wearing the ugly but comfy shoe.

By 2018, Crocs and Post Malone had launched an official collaboration, and it sold out rapidly. The difference between this and the years of rejection was authenticity. Fans could see a genuine partnership, and they rewarded it.

The brand now partners with dozens of names and franchises, including Disney, Nerf, NASCAR, SpongeBob, Star Wars, and Pringles. Luxury labels like Balenciaga even joined in, at one point charging nearly $1,000 for a pair.

Collaborations turned the Crocs clog into a canvas for personalisation, eventually leading to Jibbitz, the brands’ line of shoe charms, which spurned further collaboration and licensing deals.

Still, Reilly stays grounded about where the real magic lives. Pop culture contributes, but it all comes back to product.

What can marketers learn from Terence Reilly? 

Reilly’s success across two very different products points to a few repeatable principles.

• Go social-first, and mean it. Reilly advises spending time on social media. For small and mid-sized brands especially, that’s where attention and purchase decisions live.
• Choose authentic fandom over forced deals. The Post Malone partnership worked because it was real. Look for people who already love your product before you reach for a paid endorsement.
• Use limited-edition drops to create urgency. Scarcity and surprise keep fans engaged and hunting for the next release.
• Chase cultural relevance, not just reach. Being part of the conversation matters more than shouting the loudest.

The through-line is simple: treat your brand like a person who shows up, reacts and actually cares, not a logo that broadcasts.

Make your own luck 

When asked how much of his success came down to luck, Reilly wasn’t having it.

“You make your own luck,” he said.

“There’s always going to be an element of luck to anything, but you have to make it. You’ve got to go out and swing, and we swing.”

That’s the real takeaway: Crocs didn’t go viral by accident. Someone kept swinging, testing partnerships, backing social media and jumping on cultural moments the second they appeared.

You don’t need a shoe with holes in it to apply the same thinking. If you’re ready to build a brand people can’t stop talking about, that’s exactly the kind of work we love at Adllins Media. Want to take a swing?

Reach out to our team.