Saturday 19 March 2011

Defining target consumers for competitor brands

Using the tier model given to us during Michael Clarke's lecture on New Balance, I have assesed which the top 5 of NB's competitors target consumers fit into. This also includes any relevant information I have found to support my choices.


Onitsuka Tiger

Tier 1: Lifestyle Trendsetter 'Sneaker Head'
- 18-29
- Limited availability product
- Bright neon colours
- Sneaker sites

These paragraphs are taken from their website detailing where their stores are located and a short description about each one:

BERLIN: Onitsuka Tiger opened its jaws on the trendy Berlin-Mitte district in June of 2006, with a classic flagship store design that continues to attract fearless German style mavens. Atsushi Suzuki’s bleeding-edge store concept fuses state-of-the-art styling with traditional Japanese elements in a 160 square-metre showcase that immerses visitors in the raw style of the brand’s boldly contemporary streetwear. 
PARIS: The fashion capital of the world began sporting Onitsuka Tiger’s stripes in 2005, when the brand opened its first European flagship store in Paris’ fashion district, Les Halles.
Now a mecca for forward-thinking French fashionistas, the store is an exceptional example of design fusion, with modern styling, minimalist lines, and natural wood detailing that speaks to the brand’s roots in traditional Japanese culture. 
I think this helps describes the type of consumer Onitsuka Tiger target to.



Converse

Tier 3: Sport/urban 'Urban Youth'
- 18-24
- Lives in the now
- Trend driven but within brands
- Peer group influenced
- Athletic footwear key to look

I believe Converse are a well established brand with consumers that like to buy into the brand, for example if they own a pair of Converse they are likely to have more than one colour or style. These consumers will have friends who also wear Converse as casualwear. These consumers arent excerise orientated and would wear Converse for comfort, convienience and a laid back style.



Puma

Tier 1: Lifestyle Trendsetter 'Fashionista'
- 24-35
- Biking
- Open to wide range of brands
- Inspired by design
- Trend pioneer
and or

Tier 3: Sport/urban 'Urban Youth'
- 18-24
- Lives in the now
- Trend driven but within brands
- Peer group influenced
- Athletic footwear key to look

This section of an article found on the internet helps me to define the brands target consumer:

Puma's market segmentation targets active, eccentric, individualistic, bold and creative consumers who admire originality. Recognition is important when you are a responsive, consumer-driven company. In the ever-changing consumer market, Puma attempts to adapt its unique mentality of being outside the box to the design of its products. Above all, Puma strives to surprise consumers by constantly delivering the unexpected and challenging perceptions that continues to be a defining voice in the world of sports.

Consumers perceive Puma as a sports brand that defines the culture of a sports lifestyle. The icon of the cougar creates an immediate sensation of durability, strength, speed and power, which depicts athleticism. The cougar, Puma's index is an example of Kansei engineering; which translates customer's feelings of vitality into design elements. These elements are significant because they distinguish Puma from the cluster of other brands. 




Adidas

Tier 1: Lifestyle Trendsetter 'Sneaker Head'
- 18-29
- Limited availability product
- Bright neon colours
- Sneaker sites


The athletic company's target market is consumers 14 to 22 years old, according to: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2005-06-05-track-adidas_x.htm.

I think the type of consumers attracted to Adidas are those who own several pairs of trainers, that like to be the first getting exclusive limited addition pairs. These types of consumers are either very active or fashion conscious and like keeping ontop of trends. They will regularly visit shoe stores such as Size? and will maintain the condition of their trainers. Brand ambassadors include David Beckham, Lionel Messi, Katy Perry, Zinedine Zidane, Snoop Dogg, Franz Beckenbauer, Mohammad Ali, Sachin Tendulkar and so on.. These are highly regarded celebrities or sportspersons who many people aspire and look up to each for different reasons. These choices in celebrity endorsements are each selected specifically to target a wide range of aspirational individuals.



Nike

Tier 1: Lifestyle Trendsetter 'Sneaker Head'
- 18-29
- Limited availability product
- Bright neon colours
- Sneaker sites

Nike's target market are those who maintain an active lifestyle and are concerned to own high quality trainers. They also target a fashion and trend influenced market.
Nike create ads that also inspire like Adidas, they encourage the individual to push their limits whether it is sport or lifestyle based.
Nike are a very well established brand which seems to be forever expanding. They currently cover several areas of the sports wear industry including ranges: Nike Football, Nike Women, Nike Basketball, Nike iD, Nike Running. This is very clever and makes them a dominant brand as there is something for everyone, whatever their trainer need.

Taken from Adidas' News Archive

adidas is all in - Launching the biggest marketing campaign in the brand’s history


Herzogenaurach, March 14, 2011 – On March 16, 2011, adidas unveils its latest global brand campaign. This is the first time that the company has created a campaign leveraging the adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style sub-brands, ensuring that it is the most diverse and all-encompassing glimpse into the brand ever. The campaign showcases adidas’ distinctive presence across and into different sports, cultures and lifestyles fusing the worlds of sport, music and fashion. Captured in their natural, authentic surroundings, brand ambassadors from football stars Lionel Messi and David Beckham to NBA star Derrick Rose and pop icon Katy Perry to the adidas skateboarding team and many more show that when you love your game, whatever the game, you put your all into it.

“In the past ten years we have successfully extended the adidas brand into three powerful sub-brands with adidas Sport Performance, adidas Originals and adidas Sport Style. Now we are proud to be able to show the breadth and depth of the adidas brand in one global brand campaign,” explains Erich Stamminger, member of the Executive Board responsible for Global Brands. "’all adidas’ is the biggest campaign we have ever executed. Its creative concept brings together the diversity of the brand under one strong roof. From the court to the catwalk, the stadium to the street, we are giving an authentic statement with credibility only adidas has.”

Directed by Romain Gavras, the campaign is built around a 30- and 60-second version of the commercial for TV and Cinema as well as an extended 2-minute version for Online. Viewers and fans can then continue the conversation with adidas online through social platforms such as Facebook, where adidas serves up daily, in-depth exclusive content from the various parts of the brand – from new product releases to competitions for Katy Perry tickets and much more. adidas already engages in excess of 10 million fans of the brand on a regular basis across these platforms. In addition, the creative will come to life in a complete through-the-line offering, including mobile, retail, activation events and print.

Montreal-based agency Sid Lee created and produced the global campaign. Sid Lee was hired as the global advertising agency for lifestyle label adidas Originals at the start of 2008 and developed the global campaigns for Originals in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, Sid Lee was announced as the global lead-agency for the entire adidas brand.

The “all adidas” campaign takes place throughout 2011 in a mix of environments from sport to music, lifestyle to fashion with different elements rolling out over the year. It will be teased before it kicks off with the global launch of the hero advert film on March 16th, 2011.

Adidas Is In All Commercial feat. Justice - Civilization (Directed by: Romain Gavras)



Adidas have done it, this advert defines how the brand is diverse and innovative. I think this is very clever how they have created a 2 minute advert showing every part of what the brand is about. This shows that Adidas can appeal to all different types of people which supports their celebrity endorsement choices as they are in a variety of professions all of which are highly regarded whether it is David Beckham or Katy Perry..
Being in their authentic situations makes it more real and inspiring. I believe this brand use celebrity endorsements in the best way.
This is something which Adidas should be truely proud of, and New Balance aspire to become.

T Mobile Flashmob review

These extracts from reviews of the T Mobie flashmob can be used to support the idea of our viral campaign in which our filming will take place in everyday life with unsuspecting members of the public around.


This is the kind of spontaneous fun us grumpy Londoners need. Liverpool Street is constantly subject to bomb scares and subsequent cancellations and delays, so it’s nice to see people enjoying themselves there for a change.

Once again T-Mobile have brought joy to a place normally associated with frustration, boredom and nerves.

The brand director of T-Mobile is Spencer McHugh who believes that he is putting the brand’s tagline of ‘Life’s for sharing’ into practice by creating the flash mob events. Hopefully 2011 will see another exciting mob-event take place, we can but only hope we’ll get caught up in the middle of it.
 (Jessica Hazel http://blogs.creativepool.co.uk/blog/the-t-mobile-flash-mobs/)

 I love these. Hadn’t seen the airport version before, but I particularly like the reaction shots. If your brand is about making people feel good, then this has all the elements of surprise and delight.
 (Michelle Nicol in response to the previous post)

Monday 14 March 2011

Focus Group Q&A

The following questions were asked to two males and also shown are their responses.


1. Why do you wear trainers?
2. What do you feel when you wear them?
3. What makes you buy a certain trainer?
4. How many trainers do you own?
5. Are you loyal to a certain brand?
6. What are your favourite trainer brands?
7. How often do you wear trainers and what do you wear them with?
8. What style of trainers do you like the best?
9. Can you think of any trainer adverts?
10. Do you think its good that they are celebrity endorsed?
11. Have you heard of NB?
12. Do you think if NB was better advertised you would be more inclined to buy them?
13. Would you go to the gym in gym gear or get changed there?




Leo Savage 21 Student


1. Because they are comfortable
2. Comfortable and sporty
3. Looks, price and comfort
4. 6 pairs
5. No
6. Nike, Adidas and Supra
7. 5 days a week. With gym clothes or jeans casually out
8. Hightops and running trainers
9. Nike football ads, Adidas Star Wars ad
10. A strong celeb endorsement is appealing
11. Running trainers from what he knows. Only see people in the gym wearing them
12. Would buy if famous celebs wore them in advertisments or were pictured in them and they looked good. A cool POS would attract attention but not necessarily encourage a purchase as its all about how the trainers look
13. Yes, would wear gym gear to gym but depends on where he is coming from




Charlie Green, 19 Student


1. To go for a run/ gym
2. Comfy
3. Try it on first to make sure they are really comfy and light feeling, good bouncey sole and not bulky looking
4. 2 pairs
5. No
6. Asics
7. Once a week with sports attire
8. Casual/ running
9. Nike women dancing around, Puma African men running ad
10. Depends how prestigous the celebrity is
11. Yes, know them as a running/ casual wear brand. Used to work in a sports store but they weren't very popular
12. Yes, if they had some memorable and innovative ads then they would appeal more to me
13. If driving then yes, but if walking then no as it would be cold in gym clothing


Florence Gillot, 19 Student

1. To go to the gym
2. Comfortable, sporty, springy
3. Comfort, colour
4. 2 pairs
5. No
6. Nike/ Converse
7. 3-4 times a week with gym clothes
8. High tops
9. Nike ones comes to mind as they are so memorable. Sketchers also, but because they are tacky so not a good reason!
10. No, I usually find it cringe and think it usually appeals more to men. A beautiful model would appeal to me more than a celebrity
11. No
12. No because I think they are ugly
13. Go in my gym wear to the gym

Onitsuka Tiger (2007)

To celebrate its quirky Japanese roots Asics presents its Fabre74 Onitsuka model, a 1.5-meter sculpture of an Onitsuka Tiger sneaker made of warring elements of Japanese culture. The sculpture will appear in print, online and at venues in London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona and Zurich.

I really like this idea as it truely represents Onitsuka Tiger as a Japanese born brand which is proud of its roots. A creative and fun advertisement which should inspire us as NB is very keen on stressing the heritage element to the company..

Onitsuka Tiger Vending Machine (2008)


An interesting concept, creates hype and buzz around the brand.






NB could do some sort of temporary instillation which is abit out of the ordinary which would get blogged about..

Tuesday 8 March 2011

Lying Down Game

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lying-Down-Game/102051902359?v=wall

This facebook group is something which we can be inspired by where people take pics of themselves in odd places wearing NB and uploading them to facebook.

Morning pumping / Umbro commercial.



A bit cheeky, but a good use of humour.

Adidas/ Star Wars



All stars in Star Wars / Adidas 2010

This Adidas commercial features Daft Punk, Oasis, DJ Neil Armstrong, Ciara, Jay Baruchel Franz Beckenbauer, Soop Doggy Dogg and David Beckham are in the party, shooting it out with Star Wars aliens.
A parody of the famous Star Wars scene in Mos Eisley: Pops Star and football icons as extraterrestrials.
Adidas collaborated with Star Wars created by one of the most original directors: George Lucas. This promotional material is advertising Adidas Originals and by using a film which is so highly celebrated, along with a variety of highly regarded celebrities is a very clever choice by the brand.

'Celebrate Originality'






574 Japan colors – Spring 2007 drop at NB Seattle

The downtown NB Seattle store has just received a shipment of Classic 574s for Spring 2007. These include all the “Japan colors” – blue, green, orange, yellow, pink and red – with a variety of white leather, black carbon fiber and grey suede to offset the bright colors. The price is nice at USD $70.

Spring 2007 574s – Japan Colors

Joy Division custom NB (2007)

On display at Ran in Manchester is a custom NB by a mysterious Canadian with a thing for Joy Division / Factory Records.
The art from the band’s 1979 debut record is used in the tongue tag and insole.
“The album cover, designed by Peter Saville based on a graph of 100 consecutive pulses from the pulsar CP 1919, is regarded as a classic of minimalist sleeve design. The image was found by Sumner in a book of astronomy and represents “the final flashes of a dying star.”" - Wikipedia





I think a way of tapping in to a younger audience is to collaborate with bands like Joy Division. They would work well with a vintage looking trainer like in the 90's when everyone was praising NB for bringing back the old school styles.


W410J GY, NP, SY Womens Japanese 410 (2007)

Satin/ Suede 410's available in Japan

The silk material printed with a bamboo grass leaf motif makes these stand out a bit from the regular unisex 410.



480 City Series – New York and Tokyo (2007)

New York and Tokyo residents can now represent with the new NB 480 “City Series.” These are said to be a Tier 1 August release. No word yet on whether more cities will be introduced in the series.

480 City Series – New York – khaki
480 City Series – Tokyo – red

Art & Sole book by Intercity features NB (2008)

Design studio Intercity released Art & Sole on October 20th, a sneaker book they wrote and designed to celebrate “the creative side of the sneaker scene.” The emphasis is on artist/designer sneaker collabs and sneaker-inspired artwork, and it appears some NB’s made the cut!

Converse Faces from Poland

Converse shoes in Poland were presented in human form in this “Faces” campaign designed by JWT Warsaw.

Monday 7 March 2011

Converse Footlocker Fixie Riders

Footlocker Europe is promoting the Converse Star Player OVR shoe in a series of films featuring fixed gear riders. The fixie kids wreak after-hours havoc through hallways and offices and all the places bikes are probably not supposed to go.

I think these ads are a really good way to get the attention of a younger audience which NB is looking to do.