PopSockets exploded onto the phone accessory scene in the mid-2010s when it rolled out its circular phone grips, which quickly became a common fixture on the backs of phones held by celebrities such as Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian, Serena Williams and Ryan Seacrest. 

The rise of copycat phone grips and rival phone accessory brands such as Casetify has diminished the brand’s ubiquity in American pop culture in recent years. PopSockets is aiming to restore its pop culture relevance with a revamped marketing strategy focused on getting its phone grips and other accessories—such as phone cases, portable chargers and wristlets—into the hands of influencers, while also shaking itself free of the tech category and repositioning itself to Gen Z consumers as a lifestyle brand.

“To many consumers out there, PopSockets is such a famous, household brand name—but I think from a marketing lens, the brand’s been very quiet for some time,” said Emily Sly, who joined PopSockets as its head of marketing five months ago. “And now, we’re really in a position to reintroduce the brand to a whole new demographic of consumers and create that cultural connection that will help kind of get the conversation going about PopSockets again.”

Sly spent over a decade as VP of global marketing at Crocs, where she spearheaded a similar marketing strategy centered on shifting Gen Z and millennial consumers’ perception of the shoe brand. She ran the brand’s integrated marketing strategy, which leaned heavily into social media and influencer marketing, she said.

While PopSockets’ U.S. marketing has slowed in recent years, its business has boomed in the Asia-Pacific region over the last three years under Jiayu Lin’s leadership. Lin was recently promoted to global CEO after climbing the ladder from general manager to president of the APAC region. Between 2021 and 2023, Lin drove over 200% business growth for PopSockets through a combination of product development, influencer partnerships, social media marketing and expansion into retail. Sly will work closely with Lin to transfer that formula to the U.S. market, she said. 

PopSockets declined to share specific sales data for the U.S. and APAC markets.

In her first few months at PopSockets, Sly has concentrated on inking deals with popular creators such as Gen Z girl group Katseye and Jools Lebron, the beauty influencer behind the summer’s “very demure” trend. Lebron collaborated with the brand on a collection of pink and rhinestone-studded phone accessories, including phone cases, straps and a trio of phone grips labeled “very demure,” “very cutesy” and “very mindful.”  

Lebron told Ad Age that she uses PopSockets products “every single day” and was involved in “every single part of the process” of designing the line of accessories. “This isn’t some ‘We got it from the corner and put my name on it’ [collaboration]—these are coming from the diva generator herself,” she said. 

Leaning into lifestyle

The collaboration with Lebron reflects Sly’s ambition to reframe PopSockets as a brand providing “a whole wardrobe for your phone,” allowing its target audience of 18-to-35-year-old female consumers to turn their phones into a “fashion accessory” they can match to their wardrobe in the same way they would a purse or hat, she said. For example, the tops of nearly all of PopSockets’ phone grips are interchangeable, so consumers can swap the designs to complement the colors of their outfits, Sly said.

“Your phone is really the one thing that you’re carrying around with you at all times—even more so than your sunglasses or purse,” she added. “But I don't know that consumers really think about your phone being part of your overall wardrobe, so I think we have a real opportunity to own that space.”

PopSockets’ in-house marketing team has centered its social media strategy around the concept of curating a “phone outfit” using the brand’s various accessories, Sly said.

PopSockets isn’t the first brand to experiment with making phones into a fashion statement. Gen Z consumers, or those born between 1997 and 2012, rushed to buy beauty brand Rhode’s viral phone cases with a built-in lip balm slot when Rhode released the first wave of them in February, and the brand has continued to capitalize on the case’s popularity by regularly rolling out new colorways. 

Water bottle brands such as Stanley and Owala have developed a similar marketing playbook focused on positioning their products as a mode of style and self-expression among Gen Z consumers. And earlier this week, rival phone accessories brand Casetify unveiled its expansion into lifestyle with the launch of its “Casetify Travel” luggage line. 

Also read: How Stanley’s marketing is evolving beyond TikTok 

Sly is also prioritizing brand partnerships in PopSockets’ marketing strategy to allow young consumers to show off another aspect of their identity—the fandoms or brands they associate themselves with—through their phone accessories. In just the past few months, PopSockets has collaborated with Squishmallows, Disney and Warner Bros. on a slew of phone grips and cases. 

And, as PopSockets has done in the APAC market, Sly will work to “create more opportunities for customers to interact with the brand in real life,” both in the form of pop-ups and brand activations and an expansion into retail in 2025, she said. Earlier this month, PopSockets entered into a partnership with Apple to sell its phone grips on Apple’s website and in select Apple stores.

Sly won’t be alone in fulfilling that wide range of marketing endeavors. She’s already planning to grow PopSockets’ tiny in-house marketing team in the first few months of 2025, she said.

“We are looking to really create some waves … and engage with this new generation of consumers,” she said. “I think we're looking at all of this through a new lens, where we're willing to move really quickly [and] we're willing to try new things … to reintroduce the world to a brand that people think they know, but it’s actually better than they remember it.”