Target Markets of Footwear Brands, New Balance and Bata

New Balance and Bata are two international footwear brands. New Balance produces more than 4 million sports shoes in a year, where Bata makes about 2200 pairs of different types of shoes daily. The last one deals with the manufacture and retailing of not only shoes but also bags. The product portfolio is high in New Balance, also. The brand offers classic, running, and walking categories of footwear. It is important to realize who the brands’ target markets are to perceive how they impacted their growth and prominence.  

Overall target market analysis of footwear brands

Footwear brands deal with the production and manufacturing of goods that are also retailed and franchised. The key points they elaborate on are newness, comfortability, and individualism. The brands’ target market is prone to seek something special that gives them a sense of individual significance and opportunities. This means the brands need to raise brand awareness to become trustworthy stores by potential customers and prompt them to be perceived as their favorite ones who make them unique.

Let’s start from investigating one of marketing campaign example of New Balance.

Marketing Strategies, in terms of campaigns, play an important role in brand awareness. One of the most famous campaigns is the “We Got Now” one. This enterprise’s hero is a two-timeNBA champion and four-time NBA All-Star Kawhi Leonard, who represents New Balance sports footwear. He puts forth the idea of “Now,” which he considers as a time when an athlete or ambassador needs to put all his/her efforts and strive for success. New Balance is the motivator and first aid in this case.

The company makes a step forward NBA. This is the best version for proposing the products while raising brand awareness among Basketball fans and players who pay the most precious attention to sports footwear. The short video is also another indicator of strength and uniqueness. It prompts people to be one of the differentiating individuals who may be akin to the professional player and close to his choice. 

It’s time to discuss communication strategy of New Balance.

Each brand has opted for its own path that makes it unique. Are you curious about knowing what the critical focus of New Balance is? The slogan of the brand says, “Fearlessly Independent Since 1906.” Do you consider it as a powerful claim? Yes, for sure. The main reason is that fashion changes not in every single year but intensively frequently. It is more than essential to keep up with the rapid changes in trends and styles.

However, New Balance sports footwear distinguish with its independence in design and comfortability. Besides, it does not make them feared in terms of danger of declining demand because their products are distinctive, which means a free way of thinking and manufacture. The independent spirit of the New Balance brand promotes them to avoid sameness and go against the motion.

Now let’s explore the target customer of New Balance.

To do so let’s go through and watch the commercial example.

Here we witness a scene where young sportsmen and sportswomen enjoy the running competition. New Balance footwear definitely helps them, reflecting on the move of a man pursued by intense horizontal fire from his back.

It makes him more powerful and exemplifies the strength sports footwear transmits him. As the commercial is called “A Speed Commercial”, there is a spot where the young man reaches the final point in 2 seconds, passing at least fifteen meters. It is fantastic what NEW Balance sports shoes do! 

What messages did the commercial was aimed to send us telling about the target segment? The young people seem motivated and energized to new challenges in their sphere of interest, which is a sport in this case. Their highly aimful and confident mindset reveals their bravery that is prone to be noticed by their audience. Being at the epicenter is a must. These features discussed above resemble the segment of Peacocks.

Who are Peacocks, and what do we know about them?

Values and Beliefs

Peacocks are people who seek for uniqueness and individualism. Being differentiated is a priority to them. They do their best to succeed in being considered an independent and confident personality by their sphere of friends and society.

The desire to achieve social recognition and prominence can be proven through their ambitious values towards money. Another aspect is that Peacocks never give up as failure is not something related to them. 

The target segment tends to have many like-minded friends as it ensures them to feel comfortable and secure. Being surrounded by a lot of people is their relaxing therapy. Sometimes they go to activities, occasions or celebrities to meet new friends and have fun with them. Family is important to them; however, they are not emotionally much related to the family members. 

Shopping Preferences about the segment

Peacocks value their outer appearance considerably. It is crucial what they wear, which needs to be according to the latest trends and fashion archetypes. They want to be seen as stylish people, so they tend to purchase items from premium brands. They give worth to quality above quantity; however, Peacocks do not like to pay high prices for luxury goods. That’s why they are used to wait for special offers or big discounts.

Other Interesting Facts

• Peacocks like honest relationships, but they avoid going too deep because it makes them too dependent. 
• Cars are another primary thing for Peacocks. It is a way of self-expression. They think cars need to say something about them. 
• One of the primary ways of success measurement is money.

16 Personalities (Which one is for your business?)

Attractive appeal, trendy looks, quality clothing; all of these characterise the product offerings of New Balance and Bata. Throughout their existence, New Balance and Bata have tried to offer superior value and adapt to trends by staying loyal to their long-lasting traditions. Surely, in this dynamic world with constantly evolving customer needs, it is of much importance to know your consumer and their preferences. They target the Peacocks segment, the representatives of which are known for their love of standing out by their looks. 

Peacocks are self focused and have a tendency of standing out in the crowd. That is why they pay so much attention to their looks. Sporty lifestyle like working out and eating healthy is typical to them, as it also adds to their appearance and others perception of them. Their career goals are again pointed towards building an image of successfulness in the eyes of others.

Focusing on a target segment with distinct preferences and life values give New Balance and Bata a clear imagination of their future. It helps shape their marketing strategy and make sure their customer gets what he/she wants.

Want to be like New Balance or Bata? Check out our book “16 Personalities“! Targeting Peacocks brough to success, so let us introduce you to all the other buyer personas, and the choice is up to you!

Let’s go through and discuss a campaign example of the other giant Bata.

You have probably not only listen about the brand but also have purchased and experienced at least once for a while. This is because the representatives sufficiently demand them of almost all societies and cultures. If you are already curious about their marketing campaigns that elaborated on their demand cycle growth, you are welcome to watch it below and read the description further.

One of the curious and entertaining campaigns of Bata is called “9 to 9.” What does this mean? The enterprise is made for female workers who spend most of their time at work. As women give considerable worth to the style and outer appearance of shoes, it is also vital to purchase a convenient one. Bata proposes such an opportunity to its female customers, particularly, exerting a “9 to 9” marketing campaign, where the name points out its pairs of shoes for wearing from 9 AM to 9 PM.

The campaign surprisingly appealed to its customers because it provided them with a chance to obtain a pair of shoes that correspond with their own taste in terms of design, color, shape, etc. that is also comfortable daily to evite fatigue embarrass. Bata is undoubtedly the preferable option for those people.

Now I suggest to get acquainted with communications strategy of Bata.

To do so we need to know what the slogan tells and what idea it actually is meant to transmit.

Bata has factories that deal with the production of shoes and bags in five continents. It is founded in 1894 and could gain such prominence through this time. It is more than essential for the company to deserve customers’ trust and live up to their expectations. That’s the reason why Bata vitalizes customers’ feelings towards their shoes. One of them is a sense of belongingness and appreciation.

 In South Africa, the company did its best to make people feel that all of them are beautiful, deserving, and valued. They sent this message through their slogan, which tells “Me and Comfortable With It” that focuses on its comfortability-first aspect, then democratization of beauty and inclusion.

It’s time to discuss the target audience of Bata.

To do so, let’s watch the commercial example below and explore it.

We see, here are wonderfully designed number of shoes. The advertisement shows different categories of them like sandals, clogs, mules, loafers, heels, ballets, etc. The shoes are also produced in varying colors and designations.

The commercial had an essential and noteworthy facet that needs attention. The shoe categories described above and displayed in the video were worn by the same people while walking. If we pay closer attention, we will ensure that the models were not changing considerably while showing Bata’s new type of footwear.

Thus, what does this aim to tell us? It means the target segment of Bata. More precisely, it reveals to the customers that anyone who needs a pair of footwear can visit a Bata store, and he/she will definitely find their favorite one.

This is because of their voluminous product portfolio. The target segment also values the significant style variants. Visually, the shoes seem comfortable for everyday use, which is another alluring factor for the target audience of Bata that are Conscious Progressives. 

Who are Conscious Progressives, and what do we know about them?

Values and Beliefs

Conscious Progressives are intelligent people with a university degree. They never cease exploring new facets of their exciting fields. Growing up, feeding minds, and self-development are the last things in their life. The target segment is prone to have recognition for their efforts in the job. Self-satisfaction for the hard and crucial work done is more motivating than a higher salary. Challenges, difficulties, and changes are from their favorites’ list because it prompts them to show their full potential. 

As Conscious Progressives are more socially active people, they are involved in many activities. Their hobbies also reflect them. One of them is frequent debates with well-informed human beings in informal means. Friends and family are in their hearts, whom they perceive as the most in-depth people they are in relationships with. 

Shopping Preferences

Conscious Progressives value much the other design of any product. If an item is packaged so that it exerts their curiosity, they will think about purchasing it. Another point that highly resembles this is about advertisements.

The target segment gives much worth to the examples of ads that sound different or special. It needs to be entertaining. Sophistication is another influential point while choosing clothes or new looks. Causality and comfortability are musts; however, they would prefer something tiny that could make them more noticeable.

Other Interesting Facts

1. The highest rates of Internet usage are recorded among Conscious Progressives. It helps them stay informed with the latest news, keep in touch with friends, and other acquaints. 
2. They like like-minded people who also differentiate with something, for example, in dressing features. 
3. According to them, knowledge is the base of human confidence.

To sum up, we discussed the target markets of New Balance and Bata. More specifically, we pointed out critical facets of targeting and communication strategies, accompanied by one of their effective marketing campaigns. We hope this was an efficient blog post you enjoyed. For more similar posts, check out the main page of our website. 

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