C.P. Company: reconnecting loyalty with heritage and community
C.P. Company is a premium streetwear brand with a 50-year legacy in functional fashion. Known as the "godfather of sportswear," the brand attracts a fiercely loyal community around its iconic designs.
The Challenge
In 2022, C.P. Company launched a loyalty program called The Brotherhood to deepen customer relationships. However, the program quickly ran into trouble: Surface problem Low awareness. Most customers didn’t know the program existed, and those who did rarely interacted with it. Deeper issue As the brand shifted toward mass retail, it lost its intimate connection with long-time enthusiasts. The loyalty program tried to appeal to everyone instead of focusing on true fans, creating a generic experience that failed to leverage C.P. Company’s rich heritage.
The Approach
We utilized a four-week agile sprint to diagnose the problem and develop a data-backed solution, combining quantitative heuristic evaluations with qualitative user interviews. 1. Identifying core usability barriers Before talking to users, we conducted a systematic heuristic evaluation to identify immediate usability roadblocks. We found: Unclear value proposition The name “The Brotherhood” and its surrounding copy didn’t clearly communicate that it was a loyalty program. Cognitive overload Users had to memorize details from previous tiers rather than seeing side-by-side comparisons, making navigation difficult. Ambiguous CTAs Labels like “Read More” opened unexpected FAQ overlays rather than explaining program benefits. 2. Uncovering the real problem through user research We conducted user interviews to validate our findings. The data was clear: 64% of participants were entirely unaware of the loyalty program. More importantly, the interviews revealed a deep desire for connection. Participants didn’t just want a transactional points system; they wanted exclusive benefits and a sense of community. As one user noted, “I treat those stores as an extension of my friendship network.” 3. Strategic pivot and ideation To contextualize our findings, we interviewed a retention marketing expert from HelloFresh. Their insight became our guiding principle: “It can’t be for everyone... It should be more for the real fans out there.” This validated our strategic pivot. We shifted the project’s focus away from just fixing UI features to completely rebuilding brand intimacy based on four core pillars: Community, Connection, Engagement, and Personalization. The solution and impact Armed with clear user insights, we redesigned the loyalty program’s digital touchpoints to eliminate confusion and honor the brand’s heritage. The redesign Landing page: We created a crystal-clear value proposition, making the program’s purpose obvious at first glance. We simplified the visual hierarchy and implemented strong, action-oriented CTAs such as “Let’s get started”. Dashboard: We separated the navigation, moving the dashboard to its own tab. We restructured the layout to match natural reading patterns and made current points and next-tier previews highly prominent, drastically reducing cognitive load. Measurable results To validate our redesign before final delivery, we conducted A/B testing via Maze. Usability roadblocks eliminated: In the original design, 47% of users were confused by the primary CTAs, and 36% assumed they led to unrelated account info. Our new information architecture completely eliminated this confusion. Strategic alignment: We successfully shifted stakeholder focus from “fixing program features” to a broader strategy of “rebuilding brand intimacy.” Long-term value Beyond immediate interface upgrades, we delivered a comprehensive research report, three detailed customer personas, and a long-term strategic roadmap. C.P. Company walked away with actionable quick wins—like accessibility improvements and an awareness campaign—as well as a sustainable, community-focused vision for the future of The Brotherhood.
