Jacobs Media’s Bill Jacobs provides insight on how Nike plans on reaching young male consumers:
Even though Michael Jordan hasn’t scored a point in an NBA game since April 16, 2003, he, along with Nike, is still scoring bigtime. As a result of the phenomenal success of Air Jordans starting way back in the mid-’90s, Nike established “Nike’s Jordan Brand,” tying in younger athletes such as Carmelo Anthony and Richard Hamilton. Now Nike is set to roll out the Air Jordan XX3 and the Air Jordan Retro 1 in 2008. Substitute the word “retro” with “classic” and you can see the connection, and how it’s going to be packaged.
However, how do you get young males to buy into the Air Jordan brand when many of them barely remember who Michael Jordan even is? Today’s teen target Nike customer was only 5 or 6 years old when Michael and the Bulls won their last championship in 1998.
Thus, you’d think that marketing to this group would be a tough putt. But it isn’t because the same concept applies to Classic Rock artists like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Jimi Hendrix who are all revered by many teenage males who never saw them play. When you look at it that way, it’s easy to see why the Jordan brand remains so popular. But it takes more than just producing the shoes (playing the songs).
What else is Nike doing to reach young male consumers? The kinds of things any Rock radio station should be doing. According to Roman Vega, manager for the Jordan Brand, the formula is rather simple:
“We’re excited about our web site, jumpman23.com, which we continue to make more interactive. With House Of Hoops by Foot Locker, Nike is building a closer connection with consumers on the street level. And we have the Jordan Brand ‘Breakfast Club’ where we send athletes into communities to meet with young players.”
Hmmm… so all it takes is a solid interactive web site, strong street presence, and sending your stars (jocks) into the community. None of this is rocket science but it takes a plan, it takes vision, and it takes bonding with shoe buyers (listeners) on the streets and in communities — things that do not cost a boatload of money. It’s not simply selling shoes (playing songs), sitting back and hoping for results. We all know how well that works.
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