Social Listening: Converse Run Star Motion

 

The brand I selected to analyze is Converse, more specifically I want to take a look at their new shoe: Converse Run Star Motion. This product really grabbed my attention a couple nights ago when I was scrolling through Instagram and I really liked the shoe and haven't seen anything like it. With that in mind I decided to take a look at the comments and I was surprised at what I saw. For the most part people were not fans of the new model. One instagram account even said  "This looks like a hedgehog". 

Converses' value proposition is comfort and style all in one. Converse uses "CX foam" and says "they're bold, in style, easy to put on, and too comfortable to take off". You'll also notice Converse  uses more relaxed poses and colors to give off a more comfortable vibe. 

Many people are hating on the new shoe model calling the shoes the ugliest they've seen, or saying absolutely not. However there are a few comments in favor of the shoes such as fire emojis and heart emojis. 

Unfortunately I wasn't able to comment or reply to any of the posts, I'm not sure if it was an issue on my end or if Converse disabled any further comments. However as you scroll deeper into the comments there appeared to be more people who liked the product so not all of the comments were against the new converse model. 

If you take a closer look at Converse's profile as a whole you will see that their main goal is not only to promote their shoes but to truly give the shoes a casual wear reputation with a sense of art. We can see this as there's a lot of posts both indoor and outdoor with people doing your typical day to day activities. 

Converse's whole Instagram profile directly relates to marketing as they are trying to sell a story which each individual shoe. Like mentioned before you get an artsy feel as you scroll through their page because each design is unique and can be paired with so many options. Ultimately they really create a causal/ creative vibe which really translates to their target market which happens to be younger people I'd say teenagers to upper 20s. Overall I think that they use their social media very wisely and it promotes talk and comments which drives even more people in. The main challenge for Converse right now is simply getting more people to accept their new Run Star Motion model which could be solved by having an influencer wear them or even just gaining more exposure for the model across other platforms. 

One thing I noticed when I was scrolling through the comments is that Converse did not respond to any of the comments, good or bad. This is an interesting move because it shows that they are wanting information the public's view on the shoe release so that they can predict sales or see what their next move could be marketing wise. 

Overall I did think critically about this company and I even thought about why companies may or may not respond. Prior to this I never really cared or looked deeply into advertisements but not that I have with Converse I'm more likely to visit other company's pages and see what they are trying to do with their marketing and how they reach their target market. 

Sources Cited:

https://www.instagram.com/converse/ 

Marketing in the News

In Japan a giant cat brings joy into lives as we start to get back to our day to day routines pre Covid. A 26 foot by 62 ft LED screen displays the realistic cat in Tokyo, Japan. Despite millions of other advertisements throughout Tokyo, the main attraction is the hyper-realistic cat that makes an appearance several times throughout the day. The displayed cat acts as a normal cat would as it sleeps, yawns, walks around, lays down, and so much more. 

Many observers of the realistic cat display thought that the prime advertising location of Tokyo was a particularly strange place for the cat display as the cat wasn't promoting any brand or product. The only product of the hyper-realistic cat was pure entertainment and joy. The creators of the display mentioned that their goal of this unique display was to simply bring in some light into Tokyo, especially since they will be hosting the 2021 Olympics in a very short amount of time. With COVID taking such a big toll in Tokyo, and around the world, the creators simply thought it was time to bring in some happiness into our day to day lives. 

I found this article particularly interesting because I think that this is the first "ad" that I've ever seen that promotes just a feeling rather than a product or brand. This was also the first time that I have seen a 3D ad. After seeing the cat I did a little more research and saw that there have actually been other 3D displays one of those were were promoting Star Trek. This could be a huge step in marketing as this is an effective way to reach people and we cane see that the results are there as this cat has been trending on Youtube and Twitter. Overall I think That this is a really fun way to grab an audience's attention and this is one of those spaces and visuals that makes you stop and observe. 

Sources Cited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqDBWIu3k7E 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/world/asia/japan-cat-billboard.html 

https://www.boredpanda.com/adorable-3d-cat-billboard-microad-digital-tokyo-japan/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic 

Introduction

 Hello everyone!

My name is Amanda Banford and I am a junior who is dual enrolled at LBCC and OSU. I am currently living in Happy Valley, OR but I have moved around a bit and have lived in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. 

My major is marketing so I took this class to gain some fundamental knowledge around how companies advertise and find out what people and potential consumers respond to. I am most interested in learning about what people respond to such as what colors, shapes, emotions, or even mode of delivery. I think that this section of marketing interests me the most because I've always liked figuring out how others think and comprehend concepts, I enjoy exploring how the mind works especially when it comes to business advertising. 

Outside of college I am very passionate about my online clothing store and I am currently working towards my goal of moving away from an online store and opening my own store front. I've bene selling new and used clothes online for seven years now and have completed over 10,000 transactions so this is where most of my time goes when I'm not focusing on classes. Other than school and work I enjoy paddle boarding, hiking, watching NBA and NFL games, as well as spending time with family.