Vivian Leung's Blog

Just when you thought that you can’t get any better than the classic Nike shoes, think again.

Perhaps as a way to differentiate itself from head-to-head competitor, Adidas, Nike decides to target a whole new segment with a new product line, a method of diversification. As AdFreak describes in its blog, Nike’s new line of Internet-themed sneakers targets the “geeks” or “nerds”. Adidas had “hinted (or threatened, depending on your point of view) last year that they were planning something similar”, but Nike obtained the advantage of launching this new product first, hoping to gain the approval of the innovators and the early adopters.

But really, will this be a repeat of the “Air Jordan’s”? I think not. I would say Nike is trying hard to reposition and rid its “basketball shoes” image so that they can expand to a greater variety of people and segments. I might say they are quite successful, as their shoes have grown to be a popular and stylish fashion statement world-wide with their famous swoosh sign. However, Nike’s latest Internet-themed sneakers are really questionable. Their aim is to target the so-called “geeks” or “nerds”, but as AdFreak mentioned, “all the nerds […]display their nerd plumage through anime and webcomic merchandise” and rarely go out to purchase fashionable Nike shoes. They should have analyzed furthermore into this particular segment and their attractiveness/likelihood of purchasing a pair of $100+ shoes. Nike would probably have to charge a premium for these costly shoes, and nerds would be more likely to spend their money on anime character figurines than a pair of Twitter Nike shoes. In a nerd’s perspective, the costs definitely outweigh the benefits.

Nike, if you really want the nerds to jump into the bandwagon, perhaps try getting the characters to wear the Nike shoes to advertise instead of putting the characters and themes ON the shoes. Just saying.