Nike was the goddess of victory. If you had paid attention to Greek mythology, you'd probably still have missed her. However, the 1980s lead to a resurgence of her name though Nike shoes. Nike made high-end athletic shoes possible. They had a distinctive logo, the swoosh, that Kmart and other ripoff manufacturers copied. And for a while, everyone wanted Nikes. Michael Jordan helped elevate this make through Air Jordans.
Reeboks were the only serious competitors to Nike, and even then, they lagged in second (to my mind).
But as with any fashion trend, people grow tired of the trendy stuff. To get a sense of this, watch Donnie Darko. As much a paean to 80s style and music as it is a mind-bender of a science fiction tale, such outdated fashion statements such as OP (Ocean Pacific) and Members Only jackets were highlighted so that those who grew up in the 80s could giggle with glee about the stuff that people used to wear.
Sometime during the 90s when I decided to get my own shoes, I did all I could to avoid wearing Nikes and Reeboks. I tried Avia, Asics, Brooks. Then, I mostly started to wear New Balances. Here I thought I was wearing some lesser known brand, and now everyone is wearing them. How did that happen? I hardly see ads.
You have to give credit to Nike. They made ads that were often not about their shoes, but about something else. Charles Barkley proclaiming that he was not a role model. Ironically enough, for a brand that often advertised anything but their shoes, the ads Spike Lee produced for Michael Jordan ("Gotta be the shoes!") were as blatant an ad for the shoes themselves that you almost had to feel Spike was satirizing advertising.
This is hardly the case for New Balance. I can't think of any New Balance ads. I'm sure they have ads. I'm sure they're nothing original. So, how did these guys do it?
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3 comments:
High quality shoes! You can make a better shoe spending more money on design and manufacturing and less on advertising and athlete sponsorship...
Yeah, but how does this information get around? At least, you can say Nike sold its name through its ads, much like Apple does now.
How does the consumer know to pick New Balance over the twenty or so brands of shoes out there? And does this reflect a change in the way consumers look at how they buy shoes now, that they are less swayed by blatant advertising, but either lean to real research, or word of mouth?
You know, honestly, I bet that part of this is that the groups of people that you observe have changed over the years, with the various stations in your life.
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