Advertising Campaign
The articles ‘Crocs’ and ‘Style’ in the Same Breath deal with the new advertising campaign of Crocs, which is supposed to “establish Crocs as a brand” (Newman B4). Crocs was founded only eight years ago but proved to be a successful company since it has sold approximately 120 million pairs of shoes.
Advertising Methods of Crocs
The article under consideration also highlights the ways used by Crocs to improve the sales. For instance, Crocs shoes have been sold not only in the footwear shops or in sporting goods shops but also in kiosks and malls. Another method is advertising on TV, websites, magazines, posters, etc. And finally, the article depicts the advertisement which reveals the company’s tagline: “Feel the love” (Newman B4).
The Main Issues of the Article
Thus, the article highlights one of the issues not only of Crocs but of all the companies: how to sell its products more. Crocs has its opponents who blame this brand for its strange look. But Crocs argues and suggests that “Ugly can be beautiful” (Newman B4).
But this kind of criticism, of course, doesn’t determine company’s revenue loss, and so Crocs finds the ways to gain its profits in different ways. One of which is wide advertising campaign, and another one is taking an “outside-the-box approach”, which consists in selling Crocs in malls and kiosks (Newman B4).
Main Advantages of This Advertising Campaign
To my mind, Crocs represents an example of a successful company which uses all possible methods to sell its goods. First of all, they understand the importance of a good and thoughtful advertising campaign, so they point out and even stress the main advantages of their products telling about them to the customers via television, the Internet, periodicals, etc. They also introduce new characters to enhance the idea of comfort wearing Crocs shoes; these are two Croslites who massage women’s feet in the advertisement.
The name of these characters is not sudden, for this is the name of the material used for Crocs shoes, which is “soft, odor resistant and conforms to the shape of feet” (Newman B4). To my mind, it is a very wise decision, for people will remember this material’s name, since they hear about those little characters Croslites every day, thus, they keep in mind the significant characteristics of that material and will likely to by Crocs shoes.
Pluses of Crocs’ Experimentation
And another interesting method used by Crocs to sell their products in new places, this suggests that this company is not afraid of experiments and is ready for something new, which is highly important in our world, which changes so fast. To my mind this campaign will bring Crocs on the level of the year 2007 and let the company develop further, improving its already very good products.
Target Audience Readiness Stages
It is also necessary to point out that Crocs launches its campaign taking in consideration the readiness stage of the target audience. Crocs know that their target audience is on the third or fourth stage, i.e. liking or preference (Kotler et al. 701). Thus, their advertising campaign will not to make consumers aware of their product, but will pass to the next steps forming buyers’ liking, preference, then conviction, and, finally, making customers buy Crocs.
Conclusion
To my mind, this is the right approach, since marketers should be aware of the stage where their target audience is. For example, if Crocs started from the first stage (and we remember their target buyers are on the third or even fourth), they could come to the opposite effect, for people who already know quite enough about the company might become tired hearing about something they know.
It is also impossible to pass to the stage conviction and purchase, for example, without forming liking first. People will never buy anything, if they only have some information about the product, people buy things which they like, and advertising campaign is to form this liking.
Works Cited
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., Saunders, J. Principles Of Marketing. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2008.
Newman, A. A. “Crocs And Style In The Same Breath.” New York Times 14 April 2010: B4.