A price point of $300 or more for a single pair of kicks has
been the equivalent of the third rail in the $2.8 billion U.S.
basketball shoes business: rarely approached, potentially lethal if
crossed.
Once the news got out, Nike was immediately ripped for pushing
more overpriced sneakers during an economic recession. Marc Morial
of the National Urban League called on parents not to waste their
money on an "empty status symbol" and to use it on books
instead.
"To release such an outrageously overpriced product while the
nation is struggling to overcome an unemployment crisis is
insensitive at best," said Mr. Morial in a statement.
The Swoosh is no stranger to controversy. Or at rolling out
marquee sneakers that spark near riots at retail. Let's look at how
Nike has marketed the LeBron X so far:
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Counterattack. The athletic giant hasn't said
what the final price will be for the most-expensive model. But it
ripped the $315 price tag quoted by the WSJ as "inaccurate." Nike
spokesman Brian Strong said the shoe will be launched at a
suggested retail price of $180 this fall. The top model will cost
more "to reflect the Nike + technology embedded in the shoes," he
said. Sneaker analyst Matt Powell of Princeton Analysis hears the
Nike + model will sell for $290 -- thereby defusing most of the
controversy over $300 sneakers. The most expensive LeBron IX shoes
currently go for a not much cheaper $250.
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Word of mouth. Instead of expensive ads, Nike
's relying on word-of -mouth to build anticipation. Elite high
school and college athletes have been talking up the high-tech
shoes for six months, Mr. Powell said. Sneaker blogs are buzzing
about them. And every major media outlet did stories on the LeBron
X this week. "You market a shoe like that just by saying you're
making that shoe," said marketing consultant Ernest Lupinacci, a
former copywriter on Nike ads at Wieden & Kennedy. "They've
gotten millions in free publicity already."
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Product placement. Nike had the placement of
all placements when millions of NBC TV viewers watched LeBron wear
the shoes while leading the U.S. men's basketball team to the gold
medal at the London Olympics on Aug. 12. After years of being
criticized as a choker who couldn't win the big one, Mr. James had
a dream season, winning both Olympic gold and the NBA championship
with the Miami Heat. It's easy to see Nike rolling out ads showing
how the new shoes helped LeBron gain gold in London.
One of the strongest selling points Nike uses for shoes like the
LeBron X is that they're not for everybody, Mr. Powell said. The
top-end Nike + shoe is aimed at elite athletes and consumers who
want to track how far they run and how high they jump. He expects
Nike to only make 25,000 to 50,000 pairs. The rarer a shoe is , the
more desperately sneaker buffs want them -- if they can even get
them before they're scooped up by scam artists who sell them as
collector's items for double or triple the price online.
"They won't do any advertising for this shoe. They don't need
to," Mr. Powell said. "This is not so much about being commercial
as it is about creating hype and buzz about the brand."
