univibe88
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What ideas do you have for Stetson to cost-effectively market their line of dress hats?
I hope it's ok that I started a new thread about this. Deep into the multi-page thread about Stetson in the modern age there is the start of a discussion about Stetson marketing complete with input from HATCO. I thought it might be more productive to start a specific discussion on the topic.
Marketing and Sales can be a chicken and egg argument - sales funds marketing, but marketing seeds demand/sales. However in today's economy let's just assume that we can't start with an expensive marketing campaign. How can a company use a limited marketing budget to fuel a few embers in the fire?
Here are the embers that I see:
An uptick in public presence of hats
Johnny Depp in general
Johnny Depp's Dillinger movie
Football Announcers - Deon Sanders in particular
News casters - noted in a recent thread here about CNN
An uptick in fashion magazine presence
GQ has done a couple of hat features and they continue to show up more and more in photo spreads.
A nod towards vintage style - The show Mad Men has received a lot of attention and has been credited with increasing suit sales.
Youth culture / current fads (let's not argue style here, they are non-baseball caps nonetheless)
Justin Timberlake / Americon Idol kids wearing hats
Sale of cheap fedora type hats at Target
Down economy - I don't have a citation for this, but I feel like I have read that during down times people tend to move towards a dressier style - more classic and conservative.
A cold winter - this is momentary, but with today's technology business moves very rapid.
A stylish President - while he's not wearing a Fedora (yet) he is stylish and may help the public be more stylish in general.
I would sum up the embers I see as this - hats have just poked their head into the public eye, how can we foster the image that they are "in" and "common"? I think that is our goal. I believe many men like the idea of a hat, and want to wear one, but don't want to stand out.
Our job as marketers is make hats VISIBLE. People pick up on fashion trends rather subliminally. People's wants will gravitate towards what they see around them. This is basic marketing, and a very expense ad campaign can accomplish this, but that is money we don't have.
I propose that the answer is PRODUCT PLACEMENT. One ad in GQ can cost near $100,000. Just think how many hats we can get on high profile people with that kind of money? Let's just start with people who are already wearing hats, and send them better hats!
The thread here about the CNN newscasters is a bit critical of the hats they are wearing. But they are wearing hats! I'm sure they bought them out of function, not fashion, and the selection at the local mega-mall is a bit limited so I don't blame them. So let's get them in a better hat.
http://www.hatforobama.com/ (which has been discussed here) is trying to get a Stetson to Obama. This is a great example of grass roots attention. The organizer is also the age of the youth/hipster crowd that we should target. Pabst Blue Ribbon (of all things) has managed to get themselves into this crowd and drastically increased their sales. What are some other ideas for using new media to get into the youth crowd?
Perhaps working with wardrobe folks from shows like American Idol?
Product placement in movies / TV? Does anyone know how this really works and what it costs?
Any more ideas? Any professional marketers here? I am a sales guy by trade, so I don't have all the answers. But I do know this, sometimes it's as simple as this: know your customers, call them often, ask them to buy. If I don't focus on a product, it doesn't sell.
I hope it's ok that I started a new thread about this. Deep into the multi-page thread about Stetson in the modern age there is the start of a discussion about Stetson marketing complete with input from HATCO. I thought it might be more productive to start a specific discussion on the topic.
Marketing and Sales can be a chicken and egg argument - sales funds marketing, but marketing seeds demand/sales. However in today's economy let's just assume that we can't start with an expensive marketing campaign. How can a company use a limited marketing budget to fuel a few embers in the fire?
Here are the embers that I see:
An uptick in public presence of hats
Johnny Depp in general
Johnny Depp's Dillinger movie
Football Announcers - Deon Sanders in particular
News casters - noted in a recent thread here about CNN
An uptick in fashion magazine presence
GQ has done a couple of hat features and they continue to show up more and more in photo spreads.
A nod towards vintage style - The show Mad Men has received a lot of attention and has been credited with increasing suit sales.
Youth culture / current fads (let's not argue style here, they are non-baseball caps nonetheless)
Justin Timberlake / Americon Idol kids wearing hats
Sale of cheap fedora type hats at Target
Down economy - I don't have a citation for this, but I feel like I have read that during down times people tend to move towards a dressier style - more classic and conservative.
A cold winter - this is momentary, but with today's technology business moves very rapid.
A stylish President - while he's not wearing a Fedora (yet) he is stylish and may help the public be more stylish in general.
I would sum up the embers I see as this - hats have just poked their head into the public eye, how can we foster the image that they are "in" and "common"? I think that is our goal. I believe many men like the idea of a hat, and want to wear one, but don't want to stand out.
Our job as marketers is make hats VISIBLE. People pick up on fashion trends rather subliminally. People's wants will gravitate towards what they see around them. This is basic marketing, and a very expense ad campaign can accomplish this, but that is money we don't have.
I propose that the answer is PRODUCT PLACEMENT. One ad in GQ can cost near $100,000. Just think how many hats we can get on high profile people with that kind of money? Let's just start with people who are already wearing hats, and send them better hats!
The thread here about the CNN newscasters is a bit critical of the hats they are wearing. But they are wearing hats! I'm sure they bought them out of function, not fashion, and the selection at the local mega-mall is a bit limited so I don't blame them. So let's get them in a better hat.
http://www.hatforobama.com/ (which has been discussed here) is trying to get a Stetson to Obama. This is a great example of grass roots attention. The organizer is also the age of the youth/hipster crowd that we should target. Pabst Blue Ribbon (of all things) has managed to get themselves into this crowd and drastically increased their sales. What are some other ideas for using new media to get into the youth crowd?
Perhaps working with wardrobe folks from shows like American Idol?
Product placement in movies / TV? Does anyone know how this really works and what it costs?
Any more ideas? Any professional marketers here? I am a sales guy by trade, so I don't have all the answers. But I do know this, sometimes it's as simple as this: know your customers, call them often, ask them to buy. If I don't focus on a product, it doesn't sell.
