CASE STUDY
The Starbury Movement
How do you make a $14.98 sneaker cool?
When Steve & Barry's University Sportswear was looking for an agency partner to launch its Starbury brand in association with NBA star Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks, they knew that they would need someone with knowledge and experience in the space, so they called Erin Patton and TMG.
However, this opportunity presented a unique challenge in that Steve and Barry's did not have hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on traditional advertising. In addition to the reach challenge, there was also the problem of positioning the product for launch.
To meet this challenge, TMG did five key things. First, we created a movement. We knew that we had to make this an inspirational movement to make it about more than just buying a sneaker.
Second, we had to make it authentic, and to this end we used the tagline "This is my life, my vision. You feel me?" This is authentic urban vernacular which also supported the opt-in strategy causing the consumer to identify with Stephon Marbury's vision for the brand.
Third, we did not mention price in our print advertising (the only traditional advertising we did). We wanted to make the purchase decision emotional first, then rational once they see the price point.
Fourth, we spread the movement virally through grass roots marketing, tours, and a massive PR campaign. We brought it to the people.
Fifth, we knew the audience. Moms/parents were our decided target, as they still controlled the purchases of younger kids. We have known for some time that Moms/parents have been waiting for an athlete to buck the trend of overpriced sneakers, especially in multi-children households.
