Forsenorse's Blog

This is an old one, but a great one. Simple, yet strong. Ads that rely on the intelligence of the consumer make us all feel like we’re smarter for discovering something – even if it’s really easy.  When Blue from Blue Clue’s asks us where the big red chair is, we all want to say the answer out loud. Am I right?

It's hard to run fast wearing turtles.

Do consumers really care when your apparel brand started?

Technology adoption rates are rapidly increasing.  I recently dusted off The Tipping Point; time to dust off Geoffrey Moore’s Crossing the Chasm (one business book-of-the-minute I can’t dust off because I threw it away as fast as I finished it Who Moved My Cheese…nonsense).

As Wikipedia states:

Crossing the Chasm is closely related to the Technology Adoption Lifecycle where five main segments are recognized; innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. According to Moore, the marketer should focus on one group of customers at a time, using each group as a base for marketing to the next group. The most difficult step is making the transition between visionaries (early adopters) and pragmatists (early majority). This is the chasm that he refers to.  It can be argued, but the basic idea of the book is still relevant.

Technology Adoption Lifecycle

Technology adoption rates:

• 38 years for radio to attract 50 million listeners.
• 13 years for television to attract 50 million viewers.
• The iPod hit the market in 2001.
• Harvard students were using Facebook in 2004.
• Twitter was created in 2006.

Ok, so these examples refer to technology adoption.  What about brand adoption as it relates to apparel?  I mention technology because we all know that recent advances in social marketing and technology provide the platforms for your brand’s name to spread as rapidly as Jessica Simpson’s waistline before Tony Romo clipped her.

Are consumers more likely to buy your brand because you have been around the longest?  Maybe at one time people were nostalgic for how long ago your brand started.  I don’t think they care anymore – especially teens.  It might even make you look old?  Just ask Levi’s and Ford.  Are its sales to teens helped by the fact that they were first or the one of the oldest?  I don’t think so.

Teens are into what is now, what is current, what has strong design at a good price.  Save your breath and copy space to tell the current brand story and don’t waste your time telling consumers when your brand started…when it started only matters to you.

But wait…I stand corrected.

Is my sunblock rubbed in?

Hollister makes a point to mention that it started in 1922 (not in 2000 as it actually did, but it sure is convincing) and was ranked as the second most preferred teen clothing brand in 2008 by US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. So unless you can beat 1922, you’re out of luck.  Time to move on and stop mentioning that your brand was born when people listened to records while holding phones with cords and drinking Tang as an energy drink.

GEN X

In the early 90′s Generation X was anti-establishment, anti-parent, anti-authority, and anti-pop-rock.  If the brand you liked seeped into the wardrobe of your parents it was instant death to the brand. The same phenomenon was somewhat true for bands. You wanted to be the only one with the recording of the hottest band.  The parents of the Gen X’er were raised by parents who lived through world wars, the great depression, and hard times.

GEN Y

Then came Generation Y – the offspring of the baby boomers and a kindler, gentler parenting style. Suddenly, it wasn’t so wrong to wear what your parents wore.  You even listened to some of the same music.  With technology came exposure and appreciation for a more eclectic taste. This was fueled by economic prosperity as well. Everyone got a trophy and parents were all right.  Jobs for Gen Y came easy and the Internet boom quickly expedited raises and promotions.  Starkly opposed to Gen X’ers, Gen Y’s listed parents top on the list of best friends.

The stage is now set.

The Airwalk Syndrome will return. Airwalk was a brand on the rise that suddenly ended up in mass distribution channels making it available for your parents to own..and wear….at the same time the youth thought they were on to something special.  Given the same scenario last year, Gen Y’ers may not have disapproved of the mass distribution and still backed the brand.

Dust off Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” and find out more about Airwalk.

Airwalk was a very hip skateboarding shoe company that started in the mid-80s and had consistent sales revenues in the low teens in millions. With a large ad budget promoting a mixture of skate and lifestyle shoes – within three years, sales grew by more than 10 times to $175 million.

This success led to an effort to expand the market, doing deals with major shoe retailers at lower price points to try to entice people with less money to believe the hype. By the end of the decade, Airwalk was filing voluntary bankruptcy with more than $100 million in debt.

Will the recent economic downturn disenfranchise young adults because they don’t get the new car from their folks, they don’t get the quick raise, or the fast promotion, the large allowance, the trust fund, the extravagant prom?  Time will tell.

If teens and their parents both wear your brand and it is accepted, be weary.  Given the economic situation, today’s youth will start relaying on themselves, become a little harder,  more entrepreneurial, and distance themselves from their parents brands even further.   Gen X wanted to shake things up and did. Out of this recession will come amazing things from today’s youth as they start heir own brands because they can’t land a job or get paid enough.

The new is coming.  It’s time to evaluate your distribution and voice and be relevant.