|
Saturday, July 12, 2008
A nice, swift kick...
Sneaker Wars by Barbara Smit
I had never realized how un-settled the athletic goods industry is. You think about us being all civilized and stuff, and then read about how athletes at the Olympic Games were receiving under-the-table bribes of cash and equipment to wear particular brands, how the executive within companies fought each other over marketing schemes, and how a family could be ripped appart by some soccer cleats.
Adidas and Puma were founded by feuding brothers; they dragged their entire town into the deal, with one side of the river being Adidas and the other Puma. Before WWII, in their small German town, they were part of a family shoemaking business. During the war? Both wanted to be in charge, and accused each other of bribing to get one sent off to serve with the Nazis, of cooperation, and all sorts of other bitter things, resulting in the split.
Even once that was "done", there was infighting within the Adidas family, and countless attempts at sabotage between the two families/companies. One of the sons of the Adidas founder felt forced out, and, having a good amount of autonomy as the head of their French division, started his own semi-rival line of Adidas goods, as well as founding/owning Arena (swimsuits), Pony (shoes), and Le Coq Sportif (clothing) - all without the remainder of his family finding out for many years.
There were ups and downs for both over the years, especially once Nike hit the scene and pretty much took over the American market. The distribution set-ups were ludicrous, production could never keep up with demand, and the companies faltered through the 80's and 90's.
At this time, neither really has any descendents in an ownership position, both having been sold off repeatedly to weathly investors, banks, conglomerates, and so forth. But they each also (finally) figured out a direction within the last decade, taking back much of their market shares. Adidas also managed to buy Reebok a few years ago, mainly because the two were tired of fighting for second and third place in market share behind Nike, and figure they have a better shot if they join forces. (Did anyone else miss this? It was 2003, and you'd think it'd be big news...)
There's no conclusion. The story is still on-going, as both Adidas and Puma continue the upward swing.
One interesting note: A LOT of executives and family members died (young) of cancer or leukemia. Within the family, it could be coincidence, but when you start factoring in all the outside business people who joined the board or bought giant chunks of a company and ran it, it gets a bit creepy...
Full disclosure: I own a bunch of athletic shoes/clothing/equipment.
Adidas: my current favorite running shoes, some trail running shoes, my current indoor shoes (though I don't really like them, and will probably be swapping them for some Pumas that are similar to my outdoor cleats...), some shinguards, a bag, various jackets and shorts, etc.
Puma: my outdoor cleats (which I love), and the current outdoor team shirt
Nike: various former running shoes and cleats, various other clothing items Labels: biography, marketing, sports
posted by ket at
11:40 AM
2
comments
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Sticky sticky sticky
Title: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Authors: Chip Heath & Dan Health
"Any of us, with the right insight and the right message, can make an idea stick." (p.252)
This is a great marketing book all about how to create ideas that people will remember. The authors outline the six key ingredients of a sticky idea, explaining each with a few stories that help it stick in the minds of their readers. To be extremely sticky, an idea needs to be:
1. Simple - Find the core of the idea, the single most important point you are trying to communicate. Your audience can only remember so many things.
2. Unexpected - Surprise them to get their attention, then keep their attention by creating interest. Create a mystery. An example from Made to Stick tells of a book that started off with this story: For years, scientists at well-known institutions debated about what Saturn's rings were made of - dust (MIT), gas (Cambridge), or ice crystals (Cal Tech). Then, the story unfolded, until, much later in the book, the answer was given: ice-covered dust. Needless to say, the reader was enthralled as to how such renowned universities could have scientists who couldn't solve this problem. It's unexpected.
3. Concrete - It's far easier to remember concrete images and specifics than it is to remember an abstraction.
4. Credible - Be or use a credible source - e.g., people with personal experience. (Jared lost all that weight from eating Subway. He's credible - he personally experienced the weight loss). I can see this working in libraries: Provide a concrete example/quote/etc from a student whose research was made much easier by using a library database or by consulting a librarian.
5. Emotion - Make people care about the idea. Invoke self-interest. How will it affect them? What will it do for them?
6. Exemplified through stories - Stories are entertaining. Include them when you can. They make the idea more life-like. They can also provide inspiration which drives action.
You also have to be careful to avoid the Curse of Knowledge. Ideas that may seem simple to me, aren't to others. For example, to me, it's completely obvious that you should use a library database to search for articles. However, others are going, "What's a database? What if I want books?"
All in all, a great read for those interested in marketing.
[Note: This is also posted on Kat's personal blog because it is relevant to librarianship.]Labels: marketing, non-fiction
posted by Kate at
11:29 AM
0
comments
|
|
