The sneaker industry caters for a market that is in constant flux with it’s consumer wants and needs. Today, the kinds of shoes made popular are not necessarily the most comfortable, the most affordable or the easiest to find. Rather, it is the rarer, more expensive, more exclusive shoes that find themselves flying off shelves. As seen in the articles listed below however, there are exceptions, and there is no greater exception than the Adidas x Kanye West collaboration on the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350s, a shoe that has completely revolutionised the way celebrities interact with clothing, shoe and garment manufacturers. The Yeezy 350, a shoe that isn’t exclusive, is cheaper than most fashion sneakers, and wasn’t made by Nike (the industry’s greatest market shareholder) - has become one of the most sought after, well-recognised, and most expensive sneakers on the after-market, collecting prices upwards of $1,500 USD a pair world-wide.
Today, many of the larger players within the sneaker industry operate on a product-orientated basis, choosing to make shoes people will want to buy rather for the buzz of owning the shoe, rather than making shoes in response to consumer demands. The problem eventually arises that people’s interests in certain shoes dies down over time (making way for the latest and greatest products released every season). Hence the onus is then placed on the marketing departments of Nike and Adidas etc. to stay with the latest trends in fashion and hype-culture. Today, these trends are influenced by the various celebrities and famous members of society that we follow so closely on social media and other platforms; Adidas’ acknowledgment of this has allowed them to produce a shoe that has single-handedly increased their market-share ten-fold since its initial release.
Adidas’ marketing strategy involved several elements:
1| The shoes were given in limited release to high-ranking celebrities and profiles several weeks prior to their public release later in the year. These celebrities would then endorse the shoes by wearing them to public events, posting about them on social media, and generally creating buzz among their own colleagues who would in turn bring in more exposure around the shoe. (As mentioned before this celebrities are the modern-day trend setters and have a strong influence on the target demographic of these sneaker companies).
2| The shoe itself would be sold in larger quantities than ultra-rare shoes (like limited release Air Jordans, Balenciagas etc.) but would be capped at a small-enough limit to create a frenzy to get them before they sold out (thus leading to potentially more sales for future releases).
3| While other shoe brands had created shoes with celebrity endorsements in the past, the Yeezy Boost 350 would have several firsts. It would be one of the first popular sneakers to be designed by the celebrity directly (a celebrity particularly known for being characteristically ‘un-liked’ and controversial). It would also make a celebrity musician the focus, rather than a sportsman or women, indicating a shift from performance-driven products to shoes specifically made for every-day wear.
The result of this innovative marketing strategy is that the shoe (and its later renditions since 2015) have sold out with record numbers, won several awards for best sneakers, assumed an infamous reputation for being associated with Kanye West, and has completely re-vitalised the sneaker re-selling industry. While it may prove concerning that all it takes for a shoe to sell out in 2016 is for have a celebrity wear it on the way to the gym, it is undeniable a significant change in the way the industry markets its products has taken place thanks to this collaboration.
https://matiesmarketing244.com/2015/09/15/yeezy-350-boost-a-marketing-miracle/
http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/04/06/kanye-west-yeezy-boost-resale-market/
