Dear Mr. Post:
I've purchased two pairs of Vibram FiveFingers
in recent weeks -- first the EOS, then EOS Trex. Sure, I've been told I
look like everything from a monkey to a cat burglar but, from day one,
I've felt myself transmogrifying into one of those wackos capable of saying things like, "these shoes have changed my life." To wit, I actually enjoy running.
Of course, you don't need me to tell you that your best, er, only marketing has been your customer's word of mouth. But why not make better use of it? I've been stopped by several dozen strangers who want to know 1. What are those things you're wearing? 2. Do you like them?; 3. Where did you get them? 4. How much do they cost?
How about
equipping me, and everyone else who'd like to participate, with business
cards that we could give to these people with that basic information
along with the name and address (and website address, if applicable, as
in the case of my source, Eastern Mountain Sports)
of a nearby retailer. If the person hands in the card at purchase, they
get a, say, 5% discount. And I get, say, 5% off my next pair of
FiveFingers for the steer.
And for those times when we find
ourselves communicating with someone who has the same mobile OS and
fondness for every gimmicky app that's out there, how about something
for our smartphones that would allow us to bump-and-run the information?
I know that you're having enough trouble as it is keeping up with demand, as CNNMoney reported
in August, and that you've also got your hands full battling
knock-offs, but how about making it easier for those who "have a sense
of ownership about the brand" to get in and out of the grocery store
without having to deliver the same testimonial time and again?
See you on the trail,
Thom
Sidebar: Christopher McDougall's Born to Run
(Knopf, 2009) is widely credited with popularizing the
barefoot-running craze in the U.S. With a lot of interesting diversions,
it tells the tale of an formerly unheralded ultramarathon among elite
runners in the desolate Copper Canyons of Mexico, where the reclusive
Tarahumara Indians practice the lost art that allowed hominids to, for
millions of years, run down their meals. The Tarahumara run in
hand-crafted sandals that provide no "support."
Among the
diversions are some entertaining marketing tales, including the
sponsorship from hell. In 1994, a mercurial promoter named Rick Fisher
brought a few Tarahumara to the U.S. to race in the grueling Leadville 100.
He
arranged a sponsorship deal with Rockport for a new, banana yellow
racer with thick soles it was introducing. But Fisher would not allow
anyone, including Rockport executives led by then-marketing chief Tony
Post, to photograph the winning Tarahumara without coughing up
additional bucks. (Never mind that all the Tarahumara had quickly shed
their thick-soled Rockports on the trail).
There's also a
section about running coach Bill Bowerman inventing the heel-to-toe
running stride and then, with runner-turned-entrepreneur Phil Knight,
parleying that into the Nike brand. The whole premise of barefoot
running is that we are not genetically engineered to land our heels,
which do not absorb shock very well.
In calling the Nike
marketing strategy brilliant, McDougall quotes a financial columnist who
wrote: "The same man created a market for a product and then created
the product itself. It's genius, the kind of stuff they study in
business school."
So, who else has created the market and then
the product? And who else is not utilizing an obvious marketing channel
to its fullest?
Originally published in MediaPost's Marketing Daily on Monday, December 6, 2010