The latest statistics prove the U.S. population landscape is shifting significantly. Are companies prepared to address this climate with marketing messages that are as ethnically diverse as their consumers?
By LAURIE MACDONALD
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Athletic-footwear companies and street-fashion brands alike are unabashedly taking aim at urban consumers. In doing so, the industry has indirectly recognized the importance of ethnic markets.
The urban customer -- a term ubiquitously used with the industry to cover young African-American, Hispanic and white consumers who drive athletic- and fashion-shoe sales -- is the undeniable target of much of the industry's marketing efforts and dollars. And although most corporate spokespeople are careful to use the term, rather than identify a particular ethnic group as a marketing target, the connotation is clear: As the country's population becomes more diverse, so do trendsetters and, therefore, so must advertising and marketing.
"The industry's recognition of the urban consumer as an [audience] gives the implication of a more ethnically diverse population," said Yolanda Allen, executive director, Association of Black Sporting Goods professionals, Coral Springs, Fla. "And that's a positive."
In an effort to remain abreast of this population, shoe resources employ street teams, "regional marketers and "cool hunters," to track the fashion sensibilities and attitudes of urban consumers. Put simply, companies are boldly reaching out to the ethnic markets that drive athletic-shoe sales. Sometimes vendors hire individuals in touch with the markets to put together marketing strategies, other times they contract market research specialists to do the homework for them. Ultimately, marketing messages intended to appeal to a particular demographic are created by members of that group. And this, in turn, has meant an increasingly diverse work force. (See related story.)
U.S. Population Sequence By Race & Ethic Origin 1998 2010 Total U.S. population 269.6 297.7 Total white population 222.7 239.6 Total black population 34.3 40.1 Total of Hispanic origin 30.2 41.1 Total Asian and Pacific Islander 10.3 15.3 Note: table prepared from a bar graph
U.S. Population Share by Percentages 2030 2050 Non-Hispanic whites 61% 53% Hispanic origin 19% 25% Black population 14% 15% All other 6% 7% Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, May 1998 estimates Note: table prepared from a pie chart.
Regional marketing and Hip-Hop culture have emerged as popular approaches to the urban consumer. Nike and Reebok are focusing their marketing on being relevant and authentic to regional audiences. Nike's "city attack" campaigns, which started in Los Angeles in the mid '80s and probably became best known with the brand's New York City Attack campaign launched five years ago, stands as the most conspicuous example of this. As part of the advertising blitz, Nike spotlights local heroes on billboards and supports grass-roots events. Most important, all the advertising communicates a very specific message that is extremely relevant to local audiences.
"As Nike has become a more popular brand, it has become more important to become locally relevant," explained a spokeswoman for the Beaverton, Ore.-based company. "Just as it is important to be relevant to specific sports, we need to be relevant to specific areas." To this end, Nike hits stepped up its efforts to partner with regional retailers to reach urban consumers with specific advertising. "We do it in a way that is very 'New York.' Our spots highlighting Patrick Ewing and Charles Oakley appeal to a New York state of mind," she continued.
New York Lugz, along with Nike, Reebok, Tommy Hilfiger, Fubu and a slew of other vendors have also tapped HipHop marketing venues to reach consumers. Take the 10-year-old magazine The Source, for instance. Peter Ferraro, associate publisher of the magazine, said footwear represents the publication's top category of advertisers in terms of dollars. And popular inner-city brands aren't the only shoe brands gracing The Source's pages: Candie's, Eastland Shoes, Saucony and Mountain Gear are among the latest footwear companies to join the magazine...a swelling portfolio of advertisers.
The industry's growing connection to Hip-Hop culture is most recently evidenced by The Source's latest venture with the Foot Locker retailers in New York and Los Angeles. The August issue of The Source and The Source Sports is being sold in Foot Locker stores in the two cities, beginning this month. The magazine aims to roll out in more retail stores nationwide next year.
Larry Schwartz, executive vice president of Jack Schwartz Shoes Inc., the New York maker and marketer of the New York Lugz brand, sin Hip-Hop as the brand's most important venue for reaching its target audience: 18- to 24-year-old urban males. Though Schwartz concedes the urban hip hop customer is predominantly African American, he insists the Hip-Hop's target audience is all-encompassing. "Hip-Hop is really color blind. It appeals to Hispanics, blacks, skaters and white kids."
Still, Lugz has chosen Hip-Hop magazines, radio stations and television shows as a strategic means to reach African-Americans. Similarly the brand's chosen endorsers are prominent rappers. "If Nike has the best athletes, we have the best rappers, said Schwartz. As a result, the company works hard to get Lugz product on high-profile rappers like Master P, Snoop Doggy Dog, Rakim, Outkast and Kid Capri. It has also been successful in placing its product in videos and in movies such as Spike Lee's "He Got Game."
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Yet Schwartz emphasized the importance of using a combination of marketing approaches in reaching the urban consumer. "The most important message to send is that 'we care about Hip-Hop.' As long as you're not talking down and trying too hard, your efforts are recognized and appreciated.
Echoing Schwartz's comments, The Source's Ferraro noted: "Hip-Hop transcends race and socioeconomic [stratifications]. It has become a global culture. The Hip-Hop customer today is just as likely to be the kid in Greenwich, Connecticut, as the kid in Brooklyn, New York, or even the kid in Des Moines, Iowa. The this end, the magazine has targeted alternative footwear brands such as Airwalk, Tevas, Simple and Vans as its next area for advertising growth. None of the four brands currently advertise in the magazine.
Nike has helped catalyze the industry's embrace of urban consumers. "Nike consciously went out of its way to talk specifically to inner-city kids about basketball. And it went out of its way to talk specifically to women," said a member of Nike's creative advertising team, who declined to be named.
The company's New York City Attack campaign spoke specifically to inner-city kids about street basketball legends, not just NBA stars. Not surprisingly, much of the copy for Nike's New York City Attack campaign was written by an African-American advertising executive, much like its award-winning women's sports campaign, "If you let me play ...," was written by two females.
Regardless of the movement's catalyst, the industry is courting diverse ethnic populations more aggressively than ever. But they're chasing a constantly moving changing target.
"We are not doing anything different in those markets. We are just making sure we show up where we should and get our product in front of the right people," explained Adrienne Foster Williams, director of staffing and diversity at Reebok International Ltd., Stoughton, Mass. "But the challenge is always, 'where do you show up and how do you show up?'"