1st Commercial
The first commercial focuses on Skechers Kids – the business branch producing stylish footwear for children in Australia. Every parent wants their child to wear fashionable and comfortable shoes, especially at school. Therefore, Skechers advances family values through this commercial, and it is facilitated by cultural elements, such as values and norms, dictating that parents guarantee children’s well-being. Moreover, this idea of caring for a child is enhanced through the commercial’s text “Best in Class” since no parent will refuse to see their children as the best in everything, making adults think about the best shoes for children. This approach transparently adheres to parents’ needs and addresses their concerns, making it an effective choice for the marketing campaign.
2nd Commercial
The second Skechers commercial targets adults. It affects personal buying, individual differences, and consumer learning processes. It mentions that Skechers utilizes pediatrist-certified arch support to highlight consumer learning. This intentional use of fact forces more consumers to verify its credibility and buy these shoes because everyone wants to be healthy and wear comfortable shoes. Therefore, this marketing affects the first step of purchase making and identifies the customer’s needs and motivation behind the purchase.
3rd Commercial
Here are provided excerpts from the video commercial with the photos of happy people establishing tight bonds. It serves as the stimulus and post-purchase behavior illustration. For example, a photo of a cat being near Skechers affects the personal decision-making of pet lovers as they enjoy this picture recalling positive emotions. The picture with the basketball players can be attributed to the Skechers’ focus on subcultures. This hip-hop subculture has its own beliefs and behavior. Thus, buying Skechers would define someone as its member. It is intertwined with the reference group since the one who purchases footwear specifically for sports can become the one who guides the appropriate behavior of his team.
4th Commercial
This commercial is specifically for people who dream about easy slip-ins. The marketing campaign allows its customers to save time by wearing shoes wherever they are very successful because every person is concerned with the effort and time it takes to wear shoes. Thus, it primarily affects personal decision-making and achieves its goal of addressing customers’ needs because the commercial is shot in the airport, where people are always worried about time. Moreover, it hints that the footwear is comfortable to the extent that even slipping in takes a few seconds.
5th Skechers Commercial
Summer, fun, and friends are the terms related to this video commercial affecting personal decisions, playing on cultural behavior associated with summertime, and evoking positive emotions. Mostly, customers are affected by psychological aspects as this commercial makes its audience believe that this stylish footwear brings entertainment during the hot days. It is an efficient decision to involve many people in this video as it influences the immediate experimental level of culture like the taste, music, and entertainment when these people act like friends who enjoy their time. More importantly, the commercial demonstrates the importance of collectivism when the well-being of the whole group matters. Its relevance to the Australian community, justified by Hofstede Insights (2022) with 45% dominance, helps the campaign to succeed.
Alignment with the previous findings
I prefer to provide examples through the mentioned five commercials as each represents different relevant points. Generally, Skechers knows its audience and addresses its needs in the advertisements. It uses visuals that bring positive emotions and memories, paying more attention to customers’ culture and individual preferences in Australia. The fact that all commercials were posted on social media justifies that customers check the brand’s social media, as survey findings revealed. For example, the first commercial proves the survey sample results that the purchase of Skechers is facilitated by its alignment to culture and beliefs for a consumer, as it relates to family relationships and norms of raising a child. It is the strongest point of this campaign. Moreover, it can stimulate people’s senses by being associated with schools. Adults can recall their own school experiences and sense stimulations connected to the classroom, thus, buying their children Skechers. My personal decision to purchase Skechers was also facilitated by sight. When I saw them, I realized my need for comfortable shoes.
Meanwhile, some commercials are successful because they focus on individuals rather than their relationships. The second commercial connects to the personal aspects of the survey sample’s findings as it primarily affects the person’s decision-making. As the third question reveals, people buy Skechers because it makes them happier, as, in this commercial, both models are mimicking happiness and joy. This idea is distinct from my perspective about the Skechers’ purchase, as I did not associate it with happiness. After thoroughly analyzing all competitors, I made a purchase and mainly focused on satisfaction with the shoes’ quality.
The significant similarity between the survey sample results and the marketing campaign is that consumers are affected mainly by friends and families during purchase-making. After seeing the first commercial, the audience believes that buying Skechers Kids makes the customer’s family’s lives happier and more manageable. Presumably, the customers here serve as deciders and buyers, while the children’s role is an influencer. The given commercial even touches on social rank through its slogans “Cool for School” and “Best in Class,” hinting that Skechers is only for the best or socially and economically advantaged groups. It aligns with the survey’s results that more than half of buyers purchase the items to belong to a particular social group.
The customer’s learning process guarantees the success of a marketing campaign. Skechers’ commercials facilitate informed decisions because customers usually check on the facts mentioned in the commercial. In the second commercial, they pay attention to the arch, which is pediatrist-certified. The most important similarity between these two is that people buy these shoes because they make their daily lives easier. Moreover, all adults must wear convenient shoes such as Skechers that positively affect posture.
Skechers utilize commercials that evoke positive emotions in their audience. For example, as the third question revealed, people prefer Skechers since it makes them happier and improves how people look at them. Consequently, it matches the third advertisement because, according to the video commercial, Skechers is dedicated to making its buyers’ lives more accessible, more comfortable, and more careless. When it comes to the last advertisement with very bright colors, Skechers succeeds due to customer satisfaction and cultural understanding of entertaining activities. I would be interested in purchasing such a commercial because I want it to affect my mood positively.
However, there are some distinctions between the advertisement and survey sample results. One of them is social rank highly praised by the survey participants. Surprisingly, social class, as the survey results dictate. This is a weak alignment with the survey results that should be improved. Conversely, it targets customers regardless of their different social classes and backgrounds.
Moreover, none of the commercials mention any sports celebrities or influencers. Survey sample results confirm that people consider their family and friends’ opinions more credible than the influencers. However, my decision to purchase was affected by this footwear’s popularity among athletes. These contradictions illustrate that all clients are different, and satisfying their needs is challenging for such big shoe manufacturers as Skechers.
Marketing Strategy
Skechers have powerful alignments like applying to cultural norms, family values, and individual preferences. However, its commercials underestimate the ideas of social rank and belonging. Although it implements undifferentiated marketing, it also should demonstrate to its customers the prestige brought with the purchase. As Schmidt (2020) mentions, there are three categories of consumers, but for this discussion, only the second one is relevant. This category is based on people affected by external factors such as belonging to others or imitating when they make purchases. These people follow fashion trends and associate their purchases with their success. For example, office workers also need lifestyle footwear and are prone to irritation. Skechers lack marketing for such social groups, who constitute the majority of Australians and can develop reference groups. If Skechers created a new commercial for such people, it would be associated with more influential people who value high quality and comfort.
Skechers target all population segments, but it underestimates the benefits of chasing teenagers. As customers, teenagers tend to share posts on social media about their favorite items bought, and they are more concerned with fashion trends and high-quality shoes (McMinn 2022). However, targeting them needs a more distinct approach involving YouTube influencers or Snapchat. For instance, Skechers could create commercials with Snapchat masks when teenagers are randomly provided with their shoe models (Screentime 2021). Considering that youngsters at that age are more concerned with their health or exercising, Skechers could use advertisements with teenagers playing sports to attract a wider audience. Another example is paying YouTube or Instagram influencers to use their photos in advertisements. This marketing campaign would resolve the issue of unaffected teenagers who also want stylish footwear.
Moreover, Skechers does not utilize innovative methods of digital communication to its full extent to attract teenagers. Some of the potential tools that Skechers can use are real-time content on social media platforms, more information online, and other engagement strategies (McMinn 2022). Partnerships with notable celebrities, real-time streams, and other creative risks can significantly improve Skechers’ online presence and expand its scope of influence. Hence, it is advisable to utilize additional strategies on social media platforms to attract more teenagers.
The following suggestion is based on the strong alignment of Skechers to improve them and increase sales. One of the prominent features of Skechers is its concern with the customer’s healthy traction and body posture. As the second commercial reveals, it produces the pediatrist-certified arch. However, it would be better if the company used more informative visual content to build awareness about the shoes’ features that help people become healthier (Ahuja & Loura 2018). For example, Skechers has a flexible sole that keeps toes comfortable, while its perfect size and best-quality materials keep the foot relaxed (Nevine 2022). This awareness-building would capture more audience’s attention and involvement.
To conclude, all mentioned marketing commercials have specific purposes and their primary focus audience. Skechers use different cultural values and meanings in their advertisements to attract more customers. People like me value Skechers’ client-oriented approach and stylish footwear with price and quality match. Skechers should create commercials addressing the teenager’s interests and needs to improve its marketing campaign. Moreover, it could have provided more opportunities for office workers and people who care about their health, facilitating the consumer learning process and expanding reference groups.