Week 14: Segmenting and Targeting Markets

            Converse brand has became part of a life style and apart of some cultures.Converse use age segmentation because the it shows who are the people who are willing to buy and have the ability to buy their sneakers.Converse generally targets young adults between the ages of 18-24 years of age.The sneaker is worn by people of all ages but i believe their most important segment is the one involving the youths.
Young adults trust advertising in magazines the most , more than television, radio, or the Internet.Young adults are diverse, vibrant, growing, and crucial market in the world today.The young adults generally speaking do not have major bills to pay are a family to take care of.They have more dispensable income and spend more loosely.The price of the sneaker is inexpensive compared to a lot of sneakers.The price is very satisfying for example fore young college students who have limited funds this would be a great buy. Converse comes in a variety of colors and patterns the youth could appreciate.Young people like to express their selves through how they dress and converse rich history with these cultures give the a sense that people see who they are.Converse has a large base for loyal customers.Their marketing mix help maintain brand loyalty.

Week 13: Development and Managing Products

         It is evident that new products are crucial to obtain profits and replace outdated items.Converse took note of customers idea and made revisions to there Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers making it a "new product".Converse where created Originally converse came in two colors black or white in the high top cut.It took Converse  50 years to extend their market line and product mix by producing more colored sneakers and creating more cuts of the Chucks.In 1962 Converse released a low-cut version of the popular All Star called the Converse All Star Oxford(now referred to as the low tops).In 1966 Converse added seven new colors to the All Star line to coordinate with team uniforms.1985 Converse developed bio mechanic insoles one year after sponsoring the Olympics, creating the first high-tech cushioning systems in the shoe industry.2005 Converse gave customers the option to be in the driver seat designing and creating their own shoe via their site http://www.converse.com/.   Fuse was hired by Converse to create a website for the launch of the company's line of skateboarding shoes.



       Converse has deep roots in skating going back to the 80's. After a long absence, the re-entry of this iconic brand into the skate world was a highly anticipated event.In late 2008, Converseskateboarding.com launched with four styles of CONS skate shoes, five team members, a blog, and an interactive skate spot and dealer map of the United States.

Converse Skateboarding logo

Because this was a new product line from a longstanding company,showcasing a different side of Converse was crucial. The     minimal design forced users to see the brand in a new light by putting the focus on the personality of the skaters and the quality of the shoes.

Week 11: Intergrated Marketing Commnication(continued)

       Just in time for the holidays season Converse releases  their Dr.Seuss collection.Smart timing the movie airs every holiday making the characters on the sneakers easily to recognize Max the Dog, Cindy Lou Who and the several other images co-opted from the film.The line consist of 8 pairs of Chuck Taylor's.

        Converse created their new site Converseskateboarding.com to reinforce their presents to the skating world.They created the site to give their consumers a new way of looking at their company and to remind them of their close relationship to the culture.The minimal design forced users to see the brand in a new light by putting the focus on the personality of the skaters and the quality of the shoes.Upon its launch, the website and the CONS product were greeted warmly by eager skaters and shoe enthusiasts. Within just ten hours of being live, the site had served over 55,000 page views,making it by far the most heavily trafficked action sports site on that day. Defiantly the site reached its intended market of the youth and skating boarders.

Week 3 - Ethics and Socail Responsibilities(Continued)

        

Converse has joined forces with (RED). (RED) is a organization that partnered up with  up with several large retailers such as American Express,Apple,Dell, Emporio Armani,Gap, Hallmark, Nike, Penguin, Starbucks. When consumers purchase special produced red product from these companies 50% profits goes to their global fund to invest in HIV and AIDS program in Africa that focuses on women and children The Global Fund, the recipient of (RED) funds, is the world's leading financer of programs to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. Created in 2002, the Global Fund has committed $19.3 billion to lifesaving programs in 144 countries.The Global Fund invests 100% of (RED) dollars in HIV/AIDS programs in Africa, including interventions targeting women and children. Global Fund (RED) HIV/AIDS grants are selected based on a track record of consistently good performance. Today, programs supported by the Global Fund have averted more than 5.7 million deaths by providing AIDS treatment for 2.8 million people, TB treatment for 7 million people, and by the distribution of 122 million insecticide-treated bed nets for the prevention of malaria worldwide. 

           Converse announced plans to open a “community-based recording studio” called Rubber Tracks in Williamsburg ,Brooklyn.It's scheduled to open later this yea, select up-and-coming artists will be allowed to record their music for free. Musicians can fill out an application, and those accepted by Converse will receive not only studio time in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility but also rehearsal and post-production accommodations.

Converse  created their Converse Open Gym.The gym is designed for children between the ages of 12-18 years of age.The sessions are free every month.Children are given the opportunity to make new friends develop new skill and improve current skills and win a new pair of basketball shoes .           

Week 12: Costumer Relationship Management

 

           Converse is one of the leading shoe company in the shoe industry maintaining great market share and you know what they didn't get there over night.They've listened to there costumers and contributed the ideas they received through feed back, Customer Relationship Management is a great way for a Converse to learn more about their customers.Customer information is used for marketing and promotional purposes.Based on the information retrieved Converse work to improve their customers shopping experience.They do this by collecting information and using  it to help respond to customer inquiries, send emails about sales, events, and surveys, contact contest winners, and/or ship and bill orders. The information collected  help Converse determine what products appeal to customers,so they can better merchandise their site to appeal  to their target audience.

         Customer information is delicate and most people or reluctant to share in  fear their information will be shared.Converse do not  sell customer information to any outside company or third party.They maintain strict policies and security controls to assure that customer information in their computer systems and files is protected. Their employees and affiliates are permitted access only to customer information that they may need to perform their jobs and to provide service to you. All employees and affiliates are required to respect customer privacy.

Week 11: Intergrated Marketing Commnication

           
           I feel that Converse have greatly communicated their messages of being unique from other sneakers through mass media over the years.Converse continue to flex their competitive advantages such as their company longevity (they have been in business for over 100 years),and for their coexistence and influence on  NBA and Rock "n" Roll,and being apart of a few cultures.Recently the internet has impacted its marketing communication.My blog is an example of a non-corporate blog.

Week 10: Product Concept

         

Brand logo for Chuck Taylor All Stars

         When Converse first began in 1908 they were a rubber shoe company.In 1918 Converse teamed up with Chuck Taylor the famous Basketball player producing Chuck Taylor's All Star basketball sneakers at the time they also created tires.Throughout World War II  Converse created many products destined for troops overseas.The troops needs became the main focus of Converse manufacturing. They made a variety of product that included footwear, apparel, boots for pilots and army servicemen, parkas, and rubber protective suits and ponchos.At this point they increased their product items list ,product line and product mix.Consumers started to demand more variety in choices for selecting their shoes,originally the shoes only came in  black and white. This lead to product modification and  more colors and styles became available. Low-top or oxford ,high-top, and later knee-high, versions were produced. More materials were offered for the construction, including leather,suede,vinyl,denim,and hemp. Some versions of the shoe were offered without laces, held up instead by elastic.Converse packaging is used to protect their sneakers and to promoting their product with their logo.

Chuck Taylor packaging

Week 9: Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

            Converse has used many promo ads like print out ads but have been more active with using Online Sales Promotions(with the rapid growth of the internet i say this is a smart business move).Converse uses online promo codes to attract more shoppers.The prices online compared to in store prices are amazing.An online shopper can save an average of 15%-75% of the suggested retail price(varies from site to site).Some sites include free shipping and cash back on your Converse purchase with them.Converse shoes sells on many retail sites aside from their own site(Converse.com) such as Target.com, Zappos.com ,Nordstorm.com and FamousFootwear.com. This month promotional code from the official site is "tweets4u".

Week 8: Advertising and Public Relations

            Converse used their Advertisements to attract their targeted audience.They use young people to convey their messages, in images over the internet and billboards to win over the youth.They use a lot of  humor styled commercials.Using super stars like Dwayne Wade ,Larry Bird,Magic Johnson,Tina Turner , Pharrell and his group N.E.R.D to connect  with there young audience.Converse brand has constantly been tied to the cultures and lifestyles of basketball, Rock n Roll and Skateboarding.So it is understandable why they use the stars listed above.I had posted a few commercials i thought was good to my blog so feel free to watch.

Converse All Star Best Commercial!

Converse - Dwyane Wade "From Robbins, Illinois" commercial

Converse "Pageant" Commercial

Converse Commercial

Converse commercial with Larry bird and Magic johnson

Tina Turner Converse All Star Commercial

My Drive Thru - Santogold, Julian Casablancas, N.E.R.D produced by Pharrell

Week 7: Retail

       I know I know my company is Converse but i hadn't had a chance to visit there store in the village.But this weekend i went shopping in three retailing giants(of course after reading the chapter). I went to DSW, Old Navy and Target. DSW is a specialty store selling a large selection of shoes but it can also be considered a discount store as well being a designer shoe warehouse offering shoes for less then suggested retail price..Old Navy falls more towards specialty store though the have different target markets like infants ,kids,women and men. Over all there main focus is selling clothes.I believe Target is a department store.They carry a wide variety of shopping goods from clothes,furniture,food and electronics etc.They actually sell Converse one star in there shoes department.This store is a perfect example of scrambled merchandising by having all these items in one store. All the stores I've visited are chain stores having several locations. Knowing the correct terms the businesses/shopping behavior and understanding the environments in where i shop makes me feel confident.I think its changing my purchasing style for the better.

Week 6: Consumer Descision Making

          Converse to date is my favorite shoe, the classic Chuck Taylor's are so comfortable for everyday wear.I looked up reasons why people shop Converses and majority of the answers were no different than mines.The main reasons people like Converse according to my findings is because of the price they're inexpensive (cost being one of the five shopping behaviors).The cost makes them more likely to buy.The sneaker performance was top on the list, the sneakers life span leaves customers pleased with the purchase.No one has money to waist on a product that doesn't deliver that would only ignite cognitive dissonance after a purchase and no one likes that feeling.The shoe matches with every outfit and has wide range in color/style and designs making it a great investment. Converse is connected to certain cultures like basketball and rock n' roll.The classic shoe is worn by everyone toddlers kids and adults. The brand rich history and reliability makes it a low involvement product.With customers good reviews and familiarity with the product it becomes a no brainer when purchasing sneakers.

Week 5: Developing a Global Vision

           After doing some research I learned Converse don't have stores internationally nor ship internationally. All this time i had it in my mind they were a multinational firm.Converse definitly has a global vision.Converse has web pages for internatonal customers keeping them known abroad. you may locate an International store, distributor, licensee, or agent through the sites listed below .   Converse have out sourced to Asia. Out sourcing has increase their efficiency,freed up their resources and reduce their capital expenditures.

• Greater Balkans: www.converse.rs
• France: www.converse.fr
• Germany: www.converse.de
• Hungary: www.converse.hu
• Benelux: www.converse.be
• Spain: www.converse.es
• Czech Republic: www.conversecz.com
• Mexico: www.converse.com.mx
• Argentina: www.converseargentina.com.ar
• South Korea: www.conversekorea.com
• Singapore: www.converse.com.sg
• Australia: www.converse.net.au
• South Africa: www.converse-sa.co.za

Week 4:The Marketing Environment

     
            Converse target market is not so black and white as it once was in their early days of business. Their intended market has expanded from just ball players to more athletes and just about everyone in between producing different sneakers to appeal to the different audience. Converse development during the years and longevity in the business continues to strengthen their brand and shoes. With the state of the economy Converse continues to appeal to customers with their wallet friendly prices making them more willing to buy oppose to pricey sneakers.With families disposable incomes facing cuts due to the recession converse understands the importance of each customer. Converse gives customers different methods to shop in stores,partnered stores and online. Online might be more convenient to stay at home parents, disabled clients or simply busy clients.To keep clients up to date with the different promotions and products made Converse offers RSS feeds (really simple syndication).RSS feeds enables automated seamless delivery of updated news content or  marketing to blog sites or mobile phones. Converse understanding of the diversity in the market environment now and makes changes accordingly continues to keep brand loyalty.

Corporate Iresponsibility_NIKE (OWNERS OF CONVERSE)

             With Nike net worth estimate at nearly 9.6 billion (in 2009) it's mind bottling why the hell they can't pay decent wages.With the competitive markets over seas like many companies Nike brought originally American jobs over seas in third world countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam, China, Indonesia ,Bangladesh and India . Nike sure took things to a brand new level of low.No longer fooling the public with majority of their equipments being made in developing countries.Developing countries having cheaper wages making it easy for Nike to get away with illegal practices allowing the sporting good giant to avoid human rights appeals and union movements.        

             Labor laws concerning overtime are constantly being violated.The different wages for night shits and Sundays go constantly ignored. They're paying wages lower than minimum wage making it hard to provide their selves with basic needs like food,water and shelter(maybe shelter should be replaced with clothes they pretty much live in the sweat shop anyway) and not to forget the caring of their families.More than 50% of the world soccer balls are made in Pakistan produced by productions involved in child labor.Nike seeing the horrible living condition didn't extend a helping hand but instead thought to $$$$profit$$$$. .Using 200 kids in their production line making soccer balls some children as young as 4 & 5 yrs old earning 60¢ a day.Average Pakistanis lives off of $5 a day excluding taking care of family(a traditional Pakistanis family can range up to 10 children).

             In Indonesia 12 year old girls was forced to work in sweat shops for 70 hours making Nike shoes in unhealthy plants.Thank god labor organizers in Indonesia have been put behind bars.In Vietnam Supervisors in a plant beat workers paid 20¢ per hour denying them the right to leave their work post .In 1996 many workers were forced to work more than 200 hours of overtime in a one year period. Worsening in 1997 many of their workers had approached 200 hours overtime in a two month period.Higher demand of products produce by kids in child labor +higher birth rate +increasing sweat shops = discouraging education and kids being bought and sold as slaves.

          Amazed and disgusted with the findings just makes me curious as to how many companies in total are going about running their business like this.And how do they sleep at night doing this.They know better to pull a mess like that in the United States but its horrible they take advantage of these developing countries.

Week 3 - Ethics and Socail Responsibilities

Nike now has ownership over Converse so their  ethics and responsibilities are no different for Converse inc. Nike's feels its their greatest responsibility as a global/international company to set the tone in bringing positive systemic change for workers and in the industry. Nike also recognizies the impact of natural resources decline and believes we as citizens of planet earth should move to a low carbon economy. Nike has been  making some changes in efforts to become more enviromentally friendly. In efforts of doing so Nike use more recycled materails on their products so they can be contiuously reused to create no pre or post consumer waiste.

week 2 continued

Recently Nike/Jordan/Converse had their Fall 2010 Basketball Showcase.Converse having strong knowledge on the sport gave a brief history lesson of the sport and of their legendary shoes reinforcing their relivance to pop culture.The show case event featured a museum exhibit vibe, showcasing an all-new collection of Converse footwear that featured “Balls” technology in its performance shoes and revamped silhouettes of classic models.

Week 2- Strategic Planning

       

From selling 1.1 billion pairs of shoes from 04/2008 plus more by now and 60% of American clamming to have owned a pair of Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers Converse Inc. is definitely doing something very very right exceeding their objectives of selling shoes. Continuing to honoring their company heritage and staying true to its original ways the brand is stronger than ever becoming a key competitive advantage the company continues to have in footwear.Continues to focus on market development by adjusting giving a great variety of styles, color ,becoming more creative and marketing to more groups.Originally a basketball sneaker converse now attract baseball with there Leather Pro,skateboarders with  Rune Allston just to name a few ways their reaching out to more consumers helping to keep Converse ahead of their competitors like Adidas,K-Swiss and Vans.

      Chuck Taylor All Stars come in original canvas and rubber but the other Converse come in a variety such as brocade, corduroy, denim, flannel, fleece, hemp, lamé, leather, Mylar, metalized fabric, nubuck, suede, velour, velvet, vinyl, and wool.The company has under gone many changes since being bought by Nike in 2003. One of the drastic changes was production of the sneaker in the United States moving to Asia.

Converse continues to keeps its popularity and reaching new customers by using many methods of promoting its self like advertisement through various magazines,websites.Seasonal promotions like summer clearance,back to school marketing more towards kids and college students between 18-24.The Internet has become a great tool for many company's to reach new customers and making shopping convenient.Converse using social networks like Facebook and Twitter to promote upcoming release and offer promotional offer such as codes and discount coupons.Converse original site is amazing ,it even give shoppers the opportunity to be creative and artistic by creating their own very unique pair of Converse using a designer tool.

         The all American classic has gone global  with 511 stores world wide and in 13 countries United states,France,Spain,Germany,Hungary,Benelux,Czech Republic,Mexico,Argentina,Australia,Singapore and South Korea.Making partnership with several companies such as Target selling for lower prices and Gap works in their advantage by making the products more available and gaining loyal customers above all.Chuck Taylor All star in original(what ever color) normally run for roughly $40 more depending on sub brand/shoe ranging from $50-$150.

History and Mission Statement

Company Mission Statment: To give people a shoe that makes a statement alone. Hopes are to provide the same shoe their owner father wore for cross counry runing 1965 and that his father wore in 1930's playin stickball in the streets of philly.To continue honoring their company heritage and staying true to its original ways.But also to continuing to adust with time giving a great variety of styles, color ,becoming more creative evolving to what they will become.

History on Converse
         Marquis Mills Converse founded the rubber shoe company better known as "Converse" in 1908.From the very start they wanted to be like no other company.In 1913 Coverse created their catologe in it stating "....a rubber shoe company that would be independent in enough not to follow every other company in everything they do. And indeed they did just that becoming trend setter and not following trends and becoming part of different cultures remaining rebels that they were and still are today.1918 Chuck Taylor joins forces with converse becoming a salesman for the company.His partnership made the shoe appeal to the young sport of basketball(young at the time).Converse was around for the birth of the national basketball association in 1946 becoming the leading brand in the association.Around the same time it was their for the birth of rock n roll.Chuck Taylors high tops along with leather and American blue jeans becomes part of the culture.All stars finally came in color sometime after 1966 giving more variety to its consumers.1974 the shoe was remade with colorful suede and with big stars on each side of the shoe it was built for baseball.The sneaker appealed to rockers,skaters and rebels due to its brashness and brightness.1976 the pro leather busted on to the sceen of baseball giving the sport a new vibe.1996 converse created a new baseball shoe called the All Star 2000 an attemp to replicate chuck taylors All Stars sneaker.During the years the company continues to reinvent itself cant wait to see what the future holds.