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.