#StanYourself. How this famous sportswear brand reintroduced one of their signature sneakers [Fridays: Gorrillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
A person’s style preference changes from time to time.
Consumer brands either keep up with their customers’ tastes or risk losing their market.
Depending on the trend, clothing, shoe, and accessory brands constantly update their designs, phasing out old ones, in the hopes they remain in-vogue and top-of-mind for consumers.
This brand chose to go a similar route… but with a twist!
ADIDAS is a multinational corporation founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
Starting out as a company that produced sports equipment, Adidas has developed into one of the brands well-known for its sneakers and other sportswear around the globe.
In the recent years, we continue to witness this corporation flourish more than ever, standing as one of the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world.
An effort that contributed to this success and staying relevant to all its consumers is their unique marketing strategies.
One example?
THE ADIDAS STAN YOURSELF CAMPAIGN
There are instances when footwear brands phase out a style of their sneakers because it’s no longer selling.
Older styles are discontinued permanently to make way for new ones.
Adidas, on the other hand, had other plans for its classic and popular shoes.
In 2011, the brand decided to temporarily discontinue its signature sneakers.
The Adidas Stan Smith.
[These sneakers get their name from the tennis icon and Grand Slam winner, Stan Smith. It was first introduced as a tennis shoe but as time progressed, it became a favorite match for street and casual wear.]
This was done in the hopes of desaturating the market and guess what? It worked!
People started looking for ways to cop a pair again after seeing numerous celebrities wear the Stan Smith sneakers with casual wear and eventually, on fashion magazine spreads.
As a response, Adidas relaunched the signature sneakers in 2014 through a campaign they created called, “Stan Yourself.”
Giant shoebox-shaped pop up stores were placed in certain areas to reintroduce the Stan Smith sneaker collection.
These giant Adidas classic blue shoebox stores were open from January 16 to 19 and included Adidas Stan Smith limited edition designs for purchase, an interactive floor that allows guests to control 3D digital graphics by walking through the entrance, a digital “Stan Yourself” station for customizing shoe tongues, and a 3D printing post for making lace locks.
People who visited the store were given the opportunity to put their own faces on their shoe tongues and customize their own lace locks…
… but what about those who couldn’t visit?
People around the world were also given the chance to join and experience this campaign through Twitter.
Adidas encouraged people to mention @adidasoriginals in a tweet along with a photo of themselves and use the hashtag #StanSmith during the 5-day duration of the campaign.
Those who tweet and follow the instructions get a chance to win a personalized pair of Stan Smith sneakers with their face on it.
The feedback?
Adidas’ PR team got an average of 24,000 tweet entries for each day of the campaign period!
The @adidasoriginals twitter feed received 13,000 mentions and over 15,000 new followers smashing previous records on both counts in only a span of 5 days.
Adidas even had to hire more people for its PR team to increase its manpower because of the unexpected boom of the campaign!
In the same year of the campaign, Adidas sold over 40 million pairs of Stan Smith’s worldwide making it the brand’s best selling shoe of the year!
The campaign served as a great boost for Adidas’ branding and business, and it all went uphill from there.
Stan Smith also continues to be one of Adidas’ best selling shoes of all time as it continues to captivate customers who are looking for the classic look.
Not only was Adidas able to appeal to new customers, retain the interest of its current customers, and gain more brand awareness, but it was also able to make the most out of one of its old yet classic products.
What a comeback!
Through its marketing prowess, Adidas definitely showed why it’s one of the best brands for sportswear!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers, and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing is inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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