Exciting Times in the Sneaker Industry
If I were a sneaker exec now, I’d be pretty excited about the way a new shoe can get marketed or the way a retro shoe can get remarketed. The second a sneaker gets released and goes into the general market, you have so many people on social media being creative in doing things around it and hoping to share it with like-minded people. Back in the ’80s, and even in the ’90s, it was a very straight line. The company produced the sneaker, and a creative agency produced a commercial. The commercial was used to sell that sneaker, and that was pretty much it.
The consumer bought it, and the consumer wore it. The consumer maybe bought it and put it away. But the company was on to the next thing. By the time the commercials came out for the Penny II, they were deep into the Penny III. They were pretty much done with it.
Sneaker Education in Marketing
The retro market has obviously done something to change this, and the resale market has, too. We can dislike resellers all we want but it’s a reality that’s not going away. Look at consignment shops. Sneakers have a secondary life. The lifespan doesn’t end when the design is done, and the factories are producing it.
You get to remarket these shoes. If I were a sneaker company exec, I’d be looking to the consumer. This doesn’t have to be a one-way thing where the company produces the shoe and says, “Here you go.” I think the company can produce the shoe, say, “Here you go,” and then say, “What do you think? What do you want to do with it?”
Social Media Lessons for Online Sneaker Education
Whether it’s an unboxing video or a sneaker shopping episode with someone who doesn’t necessarily endorse your product talking about it, there are just so many avenues. It should all be two-way. I think social media has opened that up to a degree. You can find all these different sneaker designers on Instagram.
And they’re not hugely popular. Sorry, sneaker designers, you’re not Justin Timberlake. You won’t have hundreds of millions of followers. But the good thing about that is, you might be able to actually talk to these people.
When I was at Slam, if I wrote a story, three months later it might get published. A month after that I would get letters about it. Now, if I write something online, I’m getting responses on Twitter immediately about how terrible it is or how good it is. The feedback is so fast.
With sneakers, that shoe isn’t going to go away. That campaign isn’t going to go away. You can be part of it. So it’s interesting to see where it goes. As much as brands are speaking to you, they’re also listening to you, whether it’s at round tables or focus groups.
Before, people would have to pay you $200 to go to a focus group and listen to them talk about some shoe. You, as a millennial, could tell them what you think about it. Now those conversations are going on every day everywhere. And there’s no reason why you can’t be part of them. And there’s no reason why you can’t change what happens in the future.
