Chapter 7 : Business Marketing

Jordan Brand has been in the business for 27 years marketing its product all around the world. Everyday there are being sneaker purchases made. Since the start of the internet the business has gone up because not only can you purchase Jordan brand in the states, but people world wide can make the purchase by logging on to jordanbrand.com or nikestore.com. Online readers can react when they read about a new release of a sneaker, or the bringing back of a retro. Internet marketing contributes big in the Jordan community because they are able to see which new customer they can attract and which customer they can get to re-purchase. There are over hundreds of sneaker websites exposing Jordan sneakers and their release dates. Consumers are now more aware of what they are going to purchase and can see images of proto types or final products. Customers make the decisions of what they want to call the sneaker product, either business or consumer. A person can simply purchase the shoe as a collection of what they like, or as a business product using it for the purpose of basketball. Relationship marketing is growing more for Jordan brand because they have more ways to advertise for example twitter,Facebook and other social networks. They are able to maintain a balance with customers and answer their questions directly. Jordan also focuses on location of the buyer by seeing where the products have been sold the most. This way when a new hot sneaker releases they can ship out more shoes to specific places. With the increase business to business electronic commerce Jordan brand grows more, because customers are aware of where to make a purchase. This is what makes them successful in marketing.

Chapter 8 Segment and targeting market

Market means different things to different people. In the book Market is described as people or organizations with needs or wants and the ability and willingness to buy. Who are the people willing to buy from the Jordan brand.The marketing segment Jordan brand focuses on is basketball players and fans. Growing up and seeing Michael Jordan play, everyone wanted to be like Mike. Leading the bulls to consecutive championships they we're the dream team in the nba. People wonder how did Michael Jordan do everything on the court, well like in his commercial with spike lee. "It's gotta be the shoes". The importance of market segmentation to Jordan brand helps them focus more in what the consumer wants. It is bringing back an original shoe for the customer or making a new shoe that it comfortable and sleek for a players performance. Jordan brand targets from the age of 13-30 people who love basketball or like the style of the shoe. The success of a company's of a company's segmentation is based on 3 reasons depending how well Jordan identifys it's customers, designs and develops a shoe, and meet the consumers wants while also meeting the customers. Jordan brand does it so well by providing a shoe based on what the consumer wants, making it to perform well and last, while making their quota. Company characteristics the company brings is making the shoe available. Jordan brand is carried in most sneaker stores world wide like footlocker, house of hoops, footaction, niketown and mom and pop shops. The brand makes it so easy for its consumer to purchase and get its wants. The target market of Jordan brand is basketball players and fans. These are the group of people who will purchase the shoe and be satisfied with what they get. The way they are attracted is by Jordan brand brings back an original shoe,something that the consumer has wanted but couldn't get because of how rare the sneaker is. Where ever you go to purchase a sneaker brand, you can find a Jordan brand shoe.

Chapter 11 Developing and Managing Products

Jordan Brand has been around now for 27 years. The good thing about the brand is how every year they are constant in producing a new sneaker to its consumer. This all started with the little luck that the company Nike took on Michael Jordan by offering him a contract to his own sneaker line. In chapter 11 it talks about how their are 6 different kinds of New Product lines. The two main lines Jordan brand uses is , addition to existing product lines and new product lines. For example this year Jordan brand introduced the Air Jordan 2012. The sneaker was built to help the performance of a basketball player, the shoe itself comes with 3 different insoles and the ability to take out the strap to make the sneaker a low top or high top shoe, at the consumers use. An example of the company using additional product line is that this may 5th Jordan brand will release a new color way of the Air Jordan 11 model in a low cut form. The launch of this sneaker is bringing a lot of talk on sneaker blogs worldwide on how the consumer is reacting to the shoe. Jordan brand uses Idea Generation when they want ideas for new products. Most of the time they talk to Jordan himself or reps, and in most cases the consumer. A famous sneaker blog called sole collector.com is used by some reps of Jordan brand where they are able to interact with the consumer and see what color ways or designs of sneakers they would like to see. On these blogs the consumer can give its reaction of its shoe and the popularity of the sneaker can rise. Before the release of a sneaker the company does a concept test or a sample where they release a pair and give it to celebrity's or basketball players to try out the shoe and see the feedback it gets from the consumer. Giving the sneaker to a Jordan brand member to play in can also be test marketing because the consumer gives a reaction on how they like the sneaker determine if they will make a purchase or not. A lot of commercialization went into the air Jordan 2012 during the Allstar game. Celebrity like Kevin Hart sported in the sneaker playing good giving him the MVP award of the game.

Chapter 16 Intergrated Marketing Communication

Jordan Brand a company known all around the world not only because of Michael Jordan, but because of the impact it had on the sneaker culture. Promotion of the brand makes the customer aware of all the sneakers and clothing the company provides. The promotional strategy Jordan brand uses informs the consumer. Advertising is a big role to Jordan Brand. You can find out the latest sneaker releases all over the Internet and magazines. Jordan brand uses the Internet so well by posting on their Jordan brand twitter about their latest product. Sneaker forums and websites like nicekicks.com, get the latest info on where to purchase the sneaker and where they will release at. With the limited availability of some sneakers, the consumer will search to purchase the product. The Public Relations Jordan Brand has is the "Wings for the Future" campaign. These events help the brand educate the community and people about the message they are trying to provide. Jordan brand does different summer programs for kids where players like Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul go around talking to kids on the importance of education and also to donate money to different schools and programs. Informing promotions seeks to convert an existing need into a want. Jordan informs customers months in advance on limited sneakers making the consumer hype the sneaker until it releases. The more people talk on forums about how much they want a shoe, the more attention it gets and make the consumer make a dessision. A couple days before a sneaker launches you can find a reminder on their twitter blog on the sneaker that will release , which usually happens on a Saturday.

Chapter 10 Product Concepts

Air Jordan

Since the start of the Air-Jordan era the sneaker brand was in a league of their own. With the help of Nike, Jordan brand rose and was known by people all around the world who loved the game of basketball. The product that the company created was the shoe. Like Mars Blackmon once said " Its Gotta Be The Shoes". A product is a tangible good a person receives in an exchange and this good is the Air Jordan sneaker. This brand can be made up to two types of consumer products. The consumer product, which the sneaker is made for the publics purchase. And a specialty product because once in a while Jordan brand comes up with shoes called quick strike or lifestyle meaning they are limited and can only be purchased at certain locations, making the consumer search extensively.  

Making its debut in 1985 the Air Jordan 1 was the first official product item of the company. After this history would be made, every season in the NBA Jordan played he would have a new sneaker line (product line). And with each shoe their would be a product mix making various color ways of each sneaker.

Even though Michael Jordan has been retired for 9 years his legacy and campaigns live on. Jordan Brand is still adding a product line extension to his sneaker line . The latest sneaker to the collection the Air jordan 2012.

Chapter 18 : Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Jordan Brand a sneaker industry that is well respected for over 20 years, and is sought after worldwide. The impact the shoes had on the sneaker culture some negative and some positive, but at the end of the day they sell. Even though Jordan brand does not offer sampling, rebates, coupons, people will camp out and pay retail price. Instead of a decrease in price of the Air Jordan Retro series , prices have increased and they continue to get sold out. The only type of online promotion the company provides is through nikestore.com where if you pay more then 175 on sneakers or clothing you get free shipping. 

As long as Jordan Brand keeps releasing their Air Jordan series they will make tons of sales. People wait every year for a certain sneaker to drop causing them to keep coming back and purchasing from the brand. If the customer gets what they want, they will be satisfied and continue their relationship with the Brand.

Chapter 17 : Advertising and Public Relations

                   "In Advertising, Nike was in their own league" 


       Back in the early 90's Nike was giving the whole sneaker a lesson on marketing and advertising. Not only did they have a young player by the name of Michael Jordan making a name for himself. But they also had his own sneaker brand Air Jordan becoming legendary as well. Still a classic commercial to this day is the one with MJ and Spike lee on " Its gotta be the shoes". Air Jordan's have been worn in t.v shows like : Fresh Prince of  bel air, Wayne bros, Seinfeld, and movies like He got game with Ray Allen and Denzel Washington. As of lately Jordan brand has not done a lot of promotion and advertising on the t.v networks, but on the internet it's going crazy. Many sneaker blogs like nicekicks.com, theshoegame.com, kicksonfire.com all advertise the latest sneakers to release with updates on price and dates. In the sneaker community information on rare sneakers that have not been seen in years spread like wildfire and the hype for the sneakers brings collectors to drastic measures like camping out or paying extra money just to have the shoe. Now a adays you can fine Jordan brand advertising on web pages like twitter were thousands of people use everyday to send out information and keep people up to date. With the aggressive techniques Jordan brand is using on giving the costumer what they want with the latest shoes it works. Every month  Jordan brand uses product advertisement to focus on their latest shoe that releases to the public. Even though Jordan has not been playing basketball for a while, his sneakers are still making a statement.