Ch. 12-Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Air Jordan shoes tangible features such as colorways and different fabrics and textures creates an intangible feeling and experience when one is wearing them. The lifestyle is felt when you put on a pair of Air Jordan's. The search quality can be fairly easy and informative for one to look up where and when to buy a pair of shoes. The experience quality varies from shoe to shoe on different releases. Some Air Jordan shoe products are made top of the notch quality for durable wear, where other products coming out are very cheap in fabrics and production and are easily ruined. This creates difficulty within the credence quality aspect for Air Jordan's, mainly for new product consumers not knowing what to expect. The gap model usually helps new and frequent consumers translate the expected quality of the core service before and after purchasing a pair of Air Jordan's.

SOURCE : WHY OG's ARE BETTER THAN RETRO"S??

OG vs RETRO 

Ch. 11- Developing and Managing Products

The development in Air Jordan's are simple. They re-release old pair of Jordan's from years ago with a retro twist to it. The attention brought from previous release of the original pairs prepares them with a better analysis and is used for test marketing. So if one shoe sells out then the new retro pair to ensure everyone has an equal opportunity to receive a pair at market price but still create a balance in number so consumers still want a pair of shoes.This product has just recently in the past few years gone from the growth stage to maturity stage so with a better business analysis they can prolong this stage of maturity before hitting the decline stage. For example, when the White Cement 4's OGs (original) released in 2016 they produced a lot more pairs then they needed to due to the "hype" the preceded around it, although all pairs did sell out the quality on the shoes suffered. So the declining stages of the brand of Air Jordan Shoes might be closer than it seems. Air Jordan always are trying to put new ideas in product development but in the end, majority of loyal branded consumers never buy them and only buy the original Jordan but in retro releases. One can tell no one is buying it because they are always still on the shelf for the same price and never sells out while usual retro jordans sell out after a couple of days.

JORDAN NEW XXX still sits in stores for 200$

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Majority of Air Jordan's market segment targets a specific segmentation bases including teenagers, and basketball players. The major market target are for teenager's, creating a demographic segmentation Parents from certain background sometimes usually buy Air Jordan's for their kids also due to different reason's. Reasons might include they might have worn the Jordan's when they were young, or even maybe wanting them but couldn't have them so they could buy Jordan's for their children. The target market also has a very niche market attracting young teenagers and parts of the fashion sneaker community. The psychographic segmentation of Air Jordan's is when the consumers, usually teenagers buy and wear Air Jordan's they might feel superior, or more fashionable creating a perceived lifestyle.

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Communication plays a large part for marketing for Air Jordan's. The brand uses different channels of communication including a verbal and visual to advertise. Poster boards and commercial varies in explaining a message and demonstrating a message while promoting using images and iconic symbols. (Air Jordan Russel Westbrook 2016 commercial) All the advertisements are based of the pull strategy, stimulating the mind of consumers to buy more product. The promotional mix includes consumers personal selling, advertisements, and publicity in the media. Air Jordan's have been on the news multiple times in the case of people getting hurt, robbed or even killed over buying a pair of Jordan's. The publicity creates a "hype" and demand for the shoes.
Teen killed over Air Jordans
Teen's arm got severed over Air Jordans

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Jordan brand has a product line depth that varies to convenience products to specialty products creating a product mix for each target consumer. The convenience products are somewhat inexpensive compared to the specialty products that usually sell out in men sizes on the first couple days of releases and sometimes even hours after release times. These convenience products of Jordan's can be found in most retailers in unlimited amount of quantities and purchase. As for the specialty products, a consumer can only buy one pair at a time for a more expensive price and are sold with an exclusive number of production per release. The specialty products that Jordan shoes release are modifications of previous release's from years ago. This action of product modification results in the term "RETRO" Jordan's.

Shoe cards that come with the specialty products that identifies to the consumer its a special product not just a regular pair of Jordan's.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Nike uses very little sale management due to the fact the Jordan brand name has already built a name for itself. The brand is not very sales oriented, and does not have to be because of the marketing and branding the consumers did for them. In fact the only interaction made with consumers and the company are by giving the created list release dates and shoe of up to a whole year with very few surprise releases within the set quota of specific shoes being produced. These lists are not even promoted by Nike but giving to reliable sources as a way of creating anticipation and not a promise. Jordan brand is still making over $100 Million dollars of year without the need of attacking sales promotion. Personal selling comes into play into the market of re sellers and sneaker group cultures not from the company Nike itself, but the consumers. The consumers creates the sales management for the company. The company usually comes out with a quota of how much shoes will be produced to sell worldwide which in most scenario's sell out on first few release days which leads to the market of sneaker collectors buying and selling shoes. Nike does not state that they use knowledge management from consumers, but it can be assumed that they retrieve information from  sales numbers, outrageous lines, and how fast they sell to predict the value of the shoes for next retro releases. The demand that is created after they sell out one year helps Nike know how much to produce and sell the retro version of the same shoes a few years later, and attack sales differently.

Sneaker Con ( Sneaker Convention for Buying and Selling )

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Air Jordan's have sale promotion billboards for consumer sales promotion that includes only the release date and Jordan shoe number or even sometimes a picture of the newest shoe.

The public relation of the brands name and consistency of publicity allows the company to flourish in advertising. Public relations and publicity such as the sponsors for top NBA basketball players including Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Blake Griffin, Ray Allen, and Russell Westbrook. Not only does the brand sponsor all these athletes but are also promoting by giving famous celebrity pairs of Jordan's to wear or making Collaboration's with there name on it, creating a unique selling proposition for it's media mix. The frequency of consumers seeing the brand of shoes in the streets of regular citizens to famous people play a major roll in promotion and advertising and creates a demand for Air Jordans.

Macklemore X Jordan "Wing 12's" Releasing 12,000 pairs April 2016, designed and sent one pair of sample to Macklemore.

Kobe X Jordan Package Released sold for  $240,100.00 USD at an auction on ebay 

 

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Jordan brand shoes are distributed in a strategic channel alliance with chain stores. Nike has use multiple distribution channels to sell their product such as, Nike Stores, Jimmy Jazz, Foot Lockers and Finish Line. The retailing mix of the distribution sites and companies that are selected defines the product itself. During certain release dates of Jordan's, consumers go wild but the workers at distributing retail stores remain calm and provide proper guidance to what is going on in Nike, Footlocker, and Finish Line. Presentation of stores that retail Jordan's all have certain aspects of clarity in how they market and sell the shoes. Place and promotion can be located all around the city. You can find a retailer for Jordan's in almost any part of NYC. Online retailing are one the various ways to have the chance to get the newest released shoe without the going through the hassle of large crowds and lines. The disadvantages of their online retailing is during certain release dates, consumers flood Jordan's very limited distribution channel websites and usually cause server crashes. Another disadvantage would be a lot of people use bots. Bots are programs on the computer to auto buy and checkout on retail websites to guarantee a pair of shoes in your size for small fee, this causes very limited chances on getting a pair your size for people who don't know about the programs.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Air Jordan brand shoes has preceded to grow recognition over the past two decades. The want for the brand of shoes has increased yearly since the release of the first pair of Jordan's. Generation after generation of teenagers are still buying these same Jordan's repeatedly. The mass majority of consumers buying has developed a sub culture which built speculation over  the brand of shoes. These groups of people all over the world, are very involved in the politics and aspects of the "shoe game industry". Spending hours and hours of their day discussing over the latest fads and trends. Teenagers tend to use extensive decision making on their speculation over certain new or old release shoes. But use limited decision  making when it comes time to buy a pair of Jordan's due to the hype that follows after consumer speculation trends. The perception of ideal self image and self concept are fulfilled after buying or wearing a pair of Jordan's. To perceive yourself as wearing a stylish shoe fulfills the subculture norm of wanting to look fashionable. The belief of an empowering and boost in attitude walking down the street in a pair of Jordan's allows consumers to come back and buy more without much thought.


This is the true subculture created with no marketing-controlled information source and just consumers discussing and doing external information searches on the web.

Jordan Release Line 

Video Of Campout for Jordan Release  <---- Video of a typical night before a pair of Jordan's release.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Air Jordan has been a global brand name for many years, releasing all over the world in regular Nike stores to foreign country shoe stores. Nike was always the one manufacturing the shoe, U.S was the top consumer when the brand just started but as the hype and sensation all over the internet kept increasing, speculation allowed Nike to release in majority of the countries all over the world. Licensing different manufacturers from several different countries such as  Mexico to China as a direct foreign investment. Nike selling  Jordans all over the world makes a multinational brand for Air Jordan, just like the company Nike. Cultures all over the world influenced the Air Jordan shoes and innovative ideas were processed into making new retro Jordan shoes such as Chinese New Years 5's and Tokyo 5's.

Tokyo 5's

Chinese New Year 5's

This allowed and brought more foreign consumers to the brand. Building global relationships, connecting different cultures, making the world realize the true culture of not only of Michael Jordan, but the shoe brand itself.

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Air Jordan's marketing environment has changed since the many years of this shoe brands release in 1989. Many different shoes companies used athletes to promote there shoe brand's but not until Nike decided to sponsor Michael Jordan, has made this all change. As time went on the hype new idea of a fashion brand shoe influenced by NBA stars has been increasing all over media till this day. For example, Lebron's, Kobe's, , Kevin Durant's and many more. Not to say there weren't any shoes that there weren't sponsored before Michael's time but there was just not as much hype as there is now. Air Jordan's are not only marketed to basketball players but also marketed to teenagers who enjoy fashion and trends. No matter what the race, when you walk down the street of New York City, 1 out of 5 teenagers you see are wearing Jordan's. Its not just a shoe for fashion it meets component lifestyles , you can wear them to walk, run, and play basketball. Many less fortunate people might not have the purchasing power to buy the top of line, in trend Jordan release's so the brand produced Jordan's for everybody that are cheaper and more affordable to buy in stores and online instead of waiting on line on release dates. Instead of $200-$250 for a pair of very limited shoes you may buy one for around $100 in the stores with unlimited pairs. Now that this trend that Air Jordan's has set, made a lot of new market competition with new branding of shoes coming out rapidly taking sales from the brand. So what Nike decided to do was re-release OG (orginial) pairs of jordans that released back in the 89-90's to attract old customers back into the brand instead of going else where.

(The Orginal the Retro 2016 of White Cement '89 w/Nike air tab) -- (The Retro of White Cement 2013)

Ch. 18- Social Media and Marketing

 Sole collector was a magazine company who turned their marketing for shoes into forums 

Nike Air Jordan's have been marketed from many years in different categories, and since social media has been a trending, so has the brand. It is only right that both of them collide and become one. There are many media sharing review sites that started over a decade ago such as, www.niketalk.com and www.solecollector.com, where people who are interested into shoes came together on the internet and discuss upcoming trends, releases, and market prices for shoes which turned into a social commerce website which also included the buying,selling and trading of the shoes. These forums included sticky thread's where people click and discuss,  buy, sell and trade specifically Air Jordan brand shoes only. As social media started to blow up, a lot of old and new sneaker heads have been switching over to Facebook, which is more convenient since a lot of these people are on Facebook everyday anyways. This creates new markets for consumers who use Facebook everyday but don't know and heard anything about Jordan's. There are countless numbers of Facebook groups out there discussing everyday about the newest trends and fads of Air Jordan's such as NDSBG, and BST market. This creates opinions for newer markets for what the brand should and should not do, It is also informing for the newcomers who are just learning about the shoes and why everybody has been going crazy for it all these years. For all the people who never heard about this so called "Shoe game" and don't know about these Facebook groups can learn more on their website http://news.nike.com/jordan-brand which only include basic background information and vague release information. The real information and details are provided by consumers in the non corporate social media groups and websites. Social media has expanded knowledge and speculation over this brand of shoes and are one of the very reasons why Air Jordan's are still so hip, and "hyped" today.

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

As you may or may not know, Air Jordan's signature sneakers has came along way in time, and value. Each and every shoe made for Michael Jordan was dedicated to him from a unique experience he had or made during the life span of his career.  Nike has been using production development, market penetration and development as a marketing strategy, explaining why the shoes were important and what each and everyone of them represented. For a long time this has worked out because Michael Jordan was one of the top story players in the NBA during his time. Each and every experience, play or win that Jordan had was branded, marketed and craftily designed on the shoes, making the brand very production oriented. Just a couple of examples of his experiences not only marketed but presented into the shoe.

Not only is it marketed by what he accomplished in the certain pair of shoes but shoes that were created from his overall experiences in his career such as the Jordan XII. In 1997, the original shoe that Michael wore was just black and red, called the "Bred 12's". During that game Michael was sick, and still managed to play an amazing game, scoring 38 points bringing the Chicago bulls a win. Therefore over time the shoe was retro'd from Bred 12's to Flugames 12's. Over a crafted period of time, the flugames included a sick emoji which appeared in the middle of the shoes.

(1997 OG (original) , 2003 Retro , 2009 Retro )

As time went on, Nike's brand Air Jordan has intrigued a different market of consumers. Using market diversification, Air Jordan's were not only represented and promoted by basketball players, It had gotten into fashion industry where celebrities promoted the brand of shoes. Such as the OvO collection recently made and crafted a couple pairs of shoes for drake.

During all this time since the Air Jordan brand of shoes has started, it has collected a lot of hype in mass media. Lines and lines in front of the store due to releases that are sold out within hours of store opening. This has accumulated a lot of attention to the brand but also loses a lot of customers who aren't able to get the shoes. This causes a market that Nike doesn't control where the consumers set prices that value the shoe instead of the production because there are only limited pairs being released but more people who want the pair of shoes then there is in stores. So instead Nike Air Jordan has a marketing plan that has recently been set in play where they would bump up the price of the value of the shoe in stores, but increase the production on releases so everyone who wants can get a pair in the stores, where Nike sets its own reasonable price of value instead of an outrageous market price made up by consumers.

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

 Nike’s mission statement is "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world."

 Air Jordan is a brand of shoes and athletic clothing designed, owned, and produced for Michael Jordan by Nike's Jordan Brand subsidiary.

his shoes, informally referred to in the plural as Jordans, were first produced for Michael Jordan in 1984 and released for public consumption in 1985.
Since its introduction into the sports shoe market by Devon Mabry, the Air Jordan evolved from the original basketball shoes to models for different uses, including I-XXIII. Air Jordan currently sponsers 21 active NBA players, including Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Ray Allen, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony.

AIR JORDAN I

In 1984, after winning a national title at the University of North Carolina and a Gold Medal at the Olympic games in Los Angeles, Michael Jordan was selected 3rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Draft. That year Nike also signed Michael to a five-year endorsement contract worth a reported $2.5 million (plus royalties). There was initially some skepticism over the hefty contract being given to an unproven marketing commodity, but MJ was quick to prove the critics wrong.
In 1985, Nike gave Jordan and his signature line of sneakers and apparel a unique logo - clearly, this line was created to be very different from Nike's previous basketball efforts.
Designer Peter Moore was given the task of coming up with the first Air Jordan shoe. The Air Jordan 1 featured the Nike Swoosh on the mid panel and a newly designed wings logo on the upper ankle. The first Air Jordan was similar in design to other popular Nike models released in the 1980s such as the Air Force 1, Terminator and Dunk. The Air Jordan I featured a Nike Air unit for heel cushioning, padded foam ankle collars for additional protection and a toe overlay for added lockdown.
Although the AJ 1 lacked technology, the colors and cultural significance set the sneaker industry on its ear. The Air Jordan 1 paved the way for colorful basketball sneakers. It transformed the way people looked at athletic shoes. During the 1985 NBA season, Michael wore the Air Jordan 1, which retailed for $65 - at the time, the most expensive basketball shoe on the market. The AJ I Black/Red colorway was banned by the NBA because of rules regarding shoe colors; Jordan was fined $5,000 for every game he wore them (Nike gladly footed the bill, as the fines created even more buzz around the Air Jordan 1). MJ's rookie campaign resulted in an All-Star appearance, Rookie of the Year honors and leading the Bulls to the playoffs after a four-year absence. Michael wore the Air Jordan I Red/White/Black as he scored 63 points against the Boston Celtics in the 1986 playoffs. Although the Bulls ended up losing to the Larry Bird-led Celtics, Michael showed that he was one of the bright young stars in the NBA.
And there forth the journey of Air Jordans revolution began...........