Benioff opens Dreamforce conference in nerdy custom Gucci sneakers

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff opened up the Dreamforce 2023 conference in San Francisco in a classic two-piece navy suit — and a fresh pair of very nerdy luxury sneakers.

The executive rocked custom the Gucci sneakers, with a white background, Gucci’s classic green-red stripe pattern, red laces, Gucci’s logo and a dotting of blue clouds, for the event’s opening keynote Tuesday. Non-customized sneakers of this style from the Italian fashion brand retail for $730, but as Benioff proudly told the crowd during his remarks, he got his pair for free.

He first brought up the shoes as he chatted with Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber, whose company served as a sample client during a demonstration of Salesforce’s new Einstein platform, which promises to to integrate Salesforce’s various data tools with a ChatGPT-esque chatbot. (For the skit, the AI “co-pilot” answered various sales questions about a mundane chair delivery.) After Alber opined on artificial intelligence, Benioff jumped in with his fashion flex. 

“We’ve been working with this amazing company in Italy, Gucci, they even, they were so happy, they made these shoes I’m wearing and sent them to me. I was very happy about that,” he said. “Especially because everybody likes free shoes.”

Benioff went on to discuss Gucci’s customer service teams’ use of Einstein before turning back to the rest of his interview with Alber. He spoke for about a third of the conference’s opening keynote, and then switched stages to run an interview with OpenAI’s Sam Altman. As he chatted with the artificial intelligence leader, Benioff crossed his legs, lifting one garish sneaker prominently in the air. 

After the keynote, as the full-capacity crowd filtered out of Moscone North’s convention hall and Benioff shook hands with admiring fans, SFGATE approached Benioff to ask about the shoes, as well as his feelings on the start of the conference. The chief executive told SFGATE that the shoes are “cloud-computing themed”; Salesforce’s logo is a cloud, and the software firm relies heavily on modern cloud computing for its customer management products. Talking fast, he offered some general enthusiasm for the start of Dreamforce before praising the importance of journalism in society.

Gucci did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s not the first time Benioff has donned flashy shoes for his company’s marquee event: In 2012, he wore sneakers with a motherboard design from Christian Louboutin, while 2017 saw a more low-key Adidas Superstar pair.

Hear of anything happening at Dreamforce 2023? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.