Campaign

http://news.nike.com/news/jordan-brand-introduces-first-performance-woven-upper-with-air-jordan-xx9

http://uk.complex.com/sneakers/2013/07/know-your-tech-air-jordan-flight-plate



Cravens, David and Piercy, Nigel F. (2008) Strategic marketing. (abstract ) Higher Education . Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. ISBN 9780071263351

Traditional marketing strategies have produced ‘high success rates’ (Higuera, V 2013) but failed to create an experience for the consumer. I wanted to move away from the ‘product function’ brand focus (Cravens ,2008) offered by tradition marketing and more towards modern marketing strategies that offer an experience to the consumer. Stimulating more than one of the senses at the same time triggers emotions and memories. This allows consumers to relate and think about the product or service offered which increases the chances of them purchasing or acting based on the experience in the near future (Schmitt ,1999).  My campaign concept is a man size (7 by 16 feet) XX9 Air Jordan Hare edition shoe to be placed in East London (Shoreditch high-street). The main objective for the campaign is to inform the selected segment of consumers about the brand and its values. Jumpan23 is the official US site for the brand however there is no UK tailored site or international site which may make international consumers feel less valued to the brand. This campaign should help re assure consumers that the brand cares about its consumers at an international level.

The Air Jordan XX9 mark a mile stone for the brand in their footwear department. The brand became a must have shoe producer for their innovative distinctive Air Jordan 1 which was the ‘first’ shoe to go against colourway league regulations at the time. The XX9 Air Jordans are the ‘first performance woven upper basketball shoes’ and the ‘world’s first basketball shoes tailored for flight’ (Nike Inc. 2014). This is sweet music to the ears of the basketball sport participants, NBA fans and brand fans. This shoe retails at £165 two years after release date on the official Nike website which is a lot of money to pay for a shoe let alone one that was produced two years ago. To some consumer’s price can be seen as a negative aspect however research has proven that it may not be all negative as there is a ‘strong correlation between the perceived quality and price’ (Lichtenstein, 1989). Jordan consumers expect high prices from the company because the shoes are unique and premium which I took into consideration when choosing which shoe to use for my campaign. The Air Jordan XX9 shoes have flight plate technology from the XX8 and the new performance woven upper which allows their consumers to sub consciously imply that the brand is always looking to improve their products.

Flight plate technology is a game changing feature placed ‘below zoom air bags’ to enhance shoe comfort and create a visible bridge between the heel and the fore foot. This technology can be felt when the ‘zoom bags compress and decompress’ (complex, 2015) This helps the shoe stand out because most current technological aspects in shoes are seen and not felt.  The new performance woven upper is a single material that offers ‘structure, support, interior comfort and exterior abrasion resistance’ which are important components to any performance shoe. This feature helps drives sales and create hype for the shoe and brand name. The woven upper adds an aesthetic look to the shoe. This reflects on the brand values as it shows that they are innovative and unique. This artistic aspect of the shoe enables it to be worn off the court and increase the product hype. The shoe is sophisticated and offers many features and I wanted to bring some of the mentioned aspects to life by enlarging the shoe.

To make the campaign unique and memorable I decided to add a few features to the interior to not only make it more visually appealing but reflect brand values. This paragraph will point my visualisation of the campaign and the essential features to making it a memorable campaign. The outer part of the shoe will be have the hare edition theme and used mainly to attract attention and allow people to take pictures in large numbers. The inner side of the shoe is to be open to show the interior and increase the visual appeal of the campaign. The sole of the shoe will be transparent clear curved glass to allow people to subconsciously see themselves in the shoes when they see their reflections. Half of the shoe’s sole upper is to be super micro fibre coated to reflect the premium soft material found in the shoe’s interior. The flight plate will form a physical separation to the other half that will have bouncy air filled bags that give a trampoline experience. To maximise the experience of the campaign a picture will be taken by the shoe when participants jump and mimic the Air Jordan logo. Real leather should be incorporated on the big logo (on the outside of the shoe) to offer a distinctive smell. The back of the shoe will show pictures people have taken in the past hour and allow people to like and follow their pictures on the campaign pages. The rest of the interior will be micro fibre feel and coated with different colours of paint splashes to embrace the diverse urban environment the shoe is placed in and enforce the hare edition them seen on the outside of the shoe. Official social media campaign links will be printed in small print in the interior of the shoe and social media logos will be printed larger than the print to minimise the chances of consumers missing the social media links.

Social media is a key component for this campaign because it will be used to upload captured moments from the campaign and keep in touch with the consumers. Prior to the event the official sites can be used to advertise and hype up the campaign. Social media links printed on the interior of the shoe will be live pages that will be occasionally updated to keep consumers informed of new brand products after the campaign. These pages will also be used as a key to reassure consumers that the brand cares about them. Competitions will be put up on the social media links in return of consumer feedback from the campaign and experience with the brand products alongside discounts codes and online offers. To increase campaign hype pictures with the most likes / retweets from the campaign get a free pair of the advertised XX9. This should help increase consumer participation and allow them to do the marketing for the brand.

Young Athletes and urban fashion enthusiasts are the brands main target audience. I used segmentation to ‘increase the expected profitability’ (Yoram ,1978) from a specific sector of this target audience. I chose to segment the fashion enthusiasts because they are passionate about how they are viewed. ‘Fashion is highly focused on self-identity’ (Finigan ,2012) and can be used as a tool to help us stand out. As highlighted on the SWOT analysis retro models are ‘rare’ which would allow my target market to stand out from the crowd. Using behavioural segmentation principles of separating people using what they purchase I decided to target air Jordan retro fans. After some research I found out that there is a shoe convention once a year in the UK named ‘Crepe City’ which opened the doors to targeting not only the brand’s advocates purchasing retro editions but also potentially sway the competition’s consumers our direction.

Crepe City London is an annual shoe convention (only shoe convention in the UK) playing to my campaign advantage as thousands of shoe enthusiasts expecting to spend high amounts on shoes gather every year. Crepe City is located at the Old Brewery in Shoreditch (East London) making Shoreditch a priority venue for the campaign. The event allows brands and sellers to hire a booth providing more options for the consumers. Since it’s not just brands who can hire booths it’s likely that there will be more than one seller selling and advertising the brand already. The potential competitive nature of the event discouraged me from hiring a booth because it minimised the chances of my campaign standing out. I decided to place the campaign along the high street to attract attention from consumers going to and from the event. This puts the brand at an advantage because people will see the big shoe on their way to the campaign and increasing the chances of them purchasing a Jordan branded product when they get to the event. Apart from purchasing those that see the shoe because of its size they are likely to take pictures, talk about it when they get to the event which should be enough to get others in the event to visit the campaign.

I think that this campaign will work because the concept is simple and unique. Adidas is one of the brand’s main competitors and for their campaign they had an appearance of an NBA star Derek Rose to increase hype and make their campaign a success. Using celebrities would create life changing experiences for the consumer however it is not cost effective as you need to pay the celebrity for their time, cover security, travel and food expenses. The SWOT analysis also shows that celebrity endorsement one of brand’s strengths however I wanted to move away from that and do something a little different. The Air Jordan brand still distributes its products under Nike however the Nike products still remain competition to those produced by Air Jordan. One of Nike’s campaigns that grasped my attention was their hyper dunk campaign. The Hyper dunk campaign involved an enlarged shoe on top of a roof with flashing lights at night time to dazzle the eyes of the consumers. This campaign is similar to the planned Air XX9 campaign however it only stimulated the sight sense. The Air Jordan XX9 campaign stimulates sight (shoe size), touch (soft micro fibre interior) and smell (premium leather material) senses increasing the chances of consumers remembering the campaign and informative brand values at display.