New Balance Takes Down Nike

In the ever-changing athletic shoe market a recent change in leading categories has begun to shake up the norm. Not until recently has the casual, low performance or leisure athletic shoes category been such a successful business. Before recent times, you wouldn't dare sport a pair of any kind of sneakers with dress pants, a blazer or tie. Now issues of GQ recommend a stylish pair of sneakers to go with just about anything. Justin Timberlake, (pictured below) one of the biggest style icons of the past decade, is a large advocate of this dress casual/sneaker trend. This market of stylish sneakers are creating major buzz in the industry. According to research results pictured below, the low performance category is second only to running, and growing fast.

Many clothing companies have jumped on the band wagon, making their own shoes to accompany their designer jeans and clothing. High-end Denim focused clothing companies like Diesel and True Religion have experienced great success since introducing their footwear lines. What used to be a primarily athletic shoe company, Puma has done a great job adapting to the new focus on style in footwear. On their website they have 3 categories, SPORT, SPORT FASHION and SPORT LIFESTYLE. Sport includes football, running, golf, motorsport, women and cricket; Sport Fashion includes different lines within the sport fashion line such as, The black label, Alexander McQueen, Mihara and Rudolf Dassler, which are designed by various fashion designers; Sport Lifestyle is made up of eyewear and fragrances. Based on the look and feel of the website along with the advertising, Puma has almost completely dedicated themselves to fashion. Even their "regular" running shoes are far more stylish than their competitors. In the Puma stores you can even purchase designer jeans! Puma teamed up with a Japanese Denim company called Evisu and created a line of denim to feature in their stores. Another brand which should be commended for their ability to successfully convert to the fashion conscience outlook is Asics. They have a sub-brand called Onitsuka-Tiger which has really taken off in the fashion world. They essentially brought back their designs from the 1960's and put a spin on them with new fabrics and styles. Asics and Puma did all of this while still keeping their athletic lines. Therefore in the current athletic shoe market, in order to get to the top or stay on top, shoe manufacturers must realize and embrace their rapidly changing market, and act accordingly.

The problem with this need for companies to shake up their priorities and focus more on fashion, is some consumers will be completely closed off to the thought of buying stylish shoes from an completely athletic-focused shoe company. This problem can be seen in any industry. Recently Wal-Mart has introduced a prototype store in Plano, Texas. It is a 203,091-square-foot store has the chain's only sushi shop, more than 500 organic products and a wine department with more than 1,000 varieties ranging up to $500 a bottle. It features a Wi-Fi-ready Kicks Coffee CafÐ"© at the front of the store and a kiosk in the meat department that prints recipes and shopping lists. About 1,500 premium products and lines are being tested in the flagship store. Now Wal-Mart HQ is playing the waiting game saying, "now we see what the customer thinks." In my opinion I do not think this high-end Wal-Mart will take off. Wal-Mart is what it is, a store that emphasizes everyday low prices. I think they should stick with what they have, and not try to be something they are not. Many consumers even if hearing about the new change, would still not wander into the store and buy a $500 bottle of wine, they are going to seek out the specialty wine store. The problem is getting the consumer to buy something from a store that is completely on the other side of the spectrum, from what the consumer expects to find there. If Victoria's Secret began offering men's underwear, no matter what the reviews, no one is going to buy their underwear from a women's undergarment store. Therefore company's like New Balance, Champion or Riddell might find it hard to sell these fashionable sneakers without a good strategy.

This is where the power of marketing is put into play. For this project I will be representing New Balance, acting as a marketing consultant. The objective of my work will be to expand New Balance's offering and diversity with a new stylish sneaker line. Another objective is to change people's preexisting views on the brand in order to attract potential customers to the new line. I am suggesting we use a similar approach that Asics did by going back to original designs from the 50's, 60's and 70's and putting a new age spin on them. I want to find old designs, with simple but attractive lines, and integrate new edgy colors, fabrics and materials.

The target audience should be 18-25, which are the ages of people who shop for the designer jeans and clothing that we want to pair our new line with. I want to target the young men and women who shop at such stores as Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, H&M, Free People and Heartbreaker. This will be a hard group to impress, because they are fairly snobby towards more mainstream brands such as Abercrombie and Hollister. New Balance is currently not meeting the needs of the new target market. New Balance represents a running shoe company that has a loyal following and makes a quality shoe, however could not be worn with a pair of designer jeans. Our Target customer enjoys art, indie films, music, concerts and is interested in world issues, politics and the environment. Our product will be a premium and stylish sneaker line, that can be dressed up or down