Mixing Irreverence & Tradition
"If American consumers get any more casual, they're going to be wearing pajamas to work" -- Marshal Cohen, the chief industry analyst at NPD, a fashion research firm, weighed in on the new ads for a 150+ year old men's footwear company. Johnston & Murphy have made upscale shoes since 1850 -- wingtips and tassled loafers sell for about $375.
Mr. Cohen compared their branding challenge to Cadillac's in the mid 90's -- how to capture the young market without alienating the establishment. Johnston & Murphy's new campaign includes a contest about people's most uncomfortable moment, which is then linked with comfortable shoes. This web-only campaign is a great example of 'talking' to the new wave of business people -- one shoe is called an XC4, to appeal to men's preference for techie-sounding products with alpha-numeric names. (NYT 12/23/10)
This 'not-your-father's wingtip' approach seems clever to me, and I won't be looking for the ad in the NYT style magazine. Using interactive web-based ads creates an experience that shouts out to the future masters-of-the-universe.
But they, too, need to watch their backs. A recent survey shows high school students getting about 300 text messages a day. One twenty-something sibling said he can't even understand his younger brother's jargon, as it is extremely abbreviated and does not conform to general language rules. For the teenage set, email is way too much work, and social websites are adapting -- subject boxes are being cut, as they are rarely used.
It's probably going to be easier for a company to create a comfortable business-appropriate shoe than learn how to adapt to a generation that sees full sentences as so yesterday.
Reader Comments