My daughter posted the following blog today (www.morethanalogo.blogspot.com) that I thought I’d share with you as there is a common theme that aligns with my blog site’s purpose.
Lately athletic shoe companies like Sketchers, Reebok, etc. have come out with a style of athletic/walking shoe they claim will become toned simply by walking around in their product. As I’ve often said, exercise requires effort and it’s disingenuous for these and any vendor to market to the public otherwise. There’s no such thing as the “7-Minute Ab Workout”, the ”3-Minute Bow Flex workout”, the 12-Exercises in “10-Minutes Workout” etc, etc that will sufficiently elevate your heart rate and provide the necessary training effect for overall good health. At best, these new fad shoes may assist in improving posture, but that's as far as it goes. That said, my wife owns a pair of these shoes and she loves the comfort they offer, but make no mistake, her good shape comes from riding her bike 100's of km's each week.
Most North Americans despise the very thought of regular exercise, so these vendors are marketing a short cut solution that appeals to the lazy nature inherent in most people. Don’t be surprised that you'll never look like their models they feature simply by wearing a pair of Sketchers. These models hit the gym, or participate in some other form of regular exercise to look as great as they do. We don’t call it a “Work-Out” for nothing. Good health requires work, and as the Nike ad above says, “The Ultimate Quick Fix ... These Shoes Work, If You Do”.
Enjoy the Ride …. Rob
Nike on Brand = The Ultimate Quick Fix
Having just finished my afternoon run, I came across Nike's new ad for the Nike Trainer One, which read "This shoe works if you do." My first thought after reading it, "Brilliant!"
Today, BrandWeek wrote about this ad and its retaliation to the popular toning shoes introduced by companies like Sketchers and Reebok. These toning shoes have generated considerable increases in revenue for these organizations, and the article suggests that Nike missed the boat and should have created a toning shoe to meet women's needs, and the ad was in defence of them not creating one of these shoes.
Well, I couldn't disagree with this more. Sure, maybe Nike missed the "opportunity" to create a toning shoe, but, if this is true, I would consider it a blessing in disguise. If Nike had created a toning shoe, an athletic shoe designed to make working out "easy", it would have gone against Nike's core brand philosophy of Authentic Athletic Performance. There is no authentic athletic performance in trying to get in shape without sweating.
Nike is about striving for excellence; being the best; going out there and Just Doing It! I mean look at this recent ad for the Write The Future campaign - there is nothing in this alluding to making athleticism easy:
It would be completely backwards for Nike to create an athletic shoe for people trying to avoid "Just Doing It".
However, the toning shoes make perfect sense for Reebok, who is repositioning itself as the sports brand that makes sport fun and approachable for everyone. But Nike is about being competitive, willing to go through the hurt and be the best. Walking around to tone doesn't fit the mold.
It's no wonder Nike is the market leader. In my mind, they are crystal clear on who they are, and they are willing to make the appropriate trade-offs to maintain their brand philosophy.
Just like the ad suggests, the quick fix is sticking to the fundamentals - in the case of branding, the fundamentals are your philosophy!
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