The Science of Communicating & Marketing Your Business

For those who don't know, "The Nike Air Native N7, a new shoe meant specifically to fit the feet of Native Americans, has launched. Nike designers and researchers looked at the feet of more than 200 people from more than 70 tribes nationwide and found that in general, American Indians have a much wider and taller foot than the average shoe accommodates. The average shoe width of men and women measured was three width sizes larger than the standard Nike shoe. As a result, the Air Native is wider with a larger toe box. The shoe has fewer seams for irritation and a thicker sock liner for comfort. Profits from the sale will support Nike-sponsored "Let Me Play" programs on Native American lands."

I've been asked to respond to the following questions:

• Will Native Americans buy the shoe?
• What about non-Native Americans?
• Why is Nike launching this product if not to sell it to Native Americans?
• How do you identify your target market?
• How do you allow the market to show you what new products to create?
• How do you handle a new product launch--PR, marketing, advertising, training new sales people, etc.?
• How do companies benefit from marketing to specific target audiences?
• What does it say about Nike that they made a product for a specific ethnic group?
• Will these shoes have any appeal internationally?
• How much do big companies pay attention to the international market?

• Will Native Americans buy the shoe?
  Will a largely minoritized ethnic group purchase something that an international company has marketed to them? The obvious response is "If the shoe fits, they'll wear it". There are many responses to this, truthfully. Did Nike do sufficient research to indicate this group had sufficient disposable income to warrant this marketing effort? Is this shoe truly marketing to NAs?
• What about non-Native Americans?
  First, see the above as much of it still applies. The Native American mystique has passed, though. There are fewer and fewer Wannabees roaming the landscape and I doubt they'd make a good consumer group in the first place.
• Why is Nike launching this product if not to sell it to Native Americans?
  This is an excellent question. Few companies the size of Nike launch such efforts with a single goal in mind. My guess is that their studies and research indicate this marketing campaign will achieve several goals.
• How do you identify your target market?
  See Failure: a case study
• How do you allow the market to show you what new products to create?
  See the above link.
• How do you handle a new product launch--PR, marketing, advertising, training new sales people, etc.?
  This is another excellent question. The answer depends on the size of the company, the size of the target market and the projected lifecycle of the product being launched. A product with a short lifecycle requires a large target audience in order to achieve justifiable ROI on development and such, and these things require large company backing. Products with very long lifecycles require smaller target markets however that market has to be either renewable or refreshable. Renewability and Refreshability can be achieved through service commitments attached to the product, moving the product into new geographies or into new markets, or through scheduled upgrades.
• How do companies benefit from marketing to specific target audiences?
  Another excellent question. I have no idea how large this specific target audience is nor do I know the shoe's pricepoint. The fact that this shoe's release seems to be an element of Nike's "Let Me Play" campaign is telling, though. A rule of marketing is similar to an old voting adage; Do it early and often. This could be a method of branding a recognize and under sold demographic.
• What does it say about Nike that they made a product for a specific ethnic group?
  That they're either good marketers with much forethought or they have a warehouse full of shoes that were screwed up during production and have found a possible market for them. There's also lots of room in between those two.
• Will these shoes have any appeal internationally?
  I started with "if the shoe fits..." and that holds true here, as well.
• How much do big companies pay attention to the international market?
  My experience has been that the larger the company the more attention they pay to all markets.

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