A Wren Says

A quick paraphrase of the YouTube short I just watched would be “Ugh, Nike’s new ‘Dirty Air Force Ones’ are ridiculously expensive. Really? $150 for a pair of dirty shoes and a toothbrush to clean them? You could just use acetone to get all of that off, or buy a fresh pair. It makes no sense.”

Meanwhile I told a sneakerhead about the concept. The response there? “Actually, that sounds pretty cool.” The same exact product, and yet there were two completely different buying intentions. The first would never buy such a thing and even made a post telling others they really shouldn’t either. The other is now looking into them.

Yesterday, I did a write-up on the sneaker itself, but today’s focus is on the idea of target markets. Nike designed this shoe for very specific people. A subset of the population who like hunting down limited edition sneakers, who downloaded and constantly refresh the SNKRS app. But more importantly, it is for those people who have actually felt stressed about the idea of dirty sneakers. A community of people who take that very seriously. This one’s for the collectors, who would sooner put their new shoes on display than on their feet.  This shoe is a twisted love letter to that group. It is a way of saying, “The shoe is already dirty. Wear it with abandon and watch it become more beautiful as you wear it, instead of trying to keep it pristine in its box.”

There are those who will hate the idea and would absolutely never even take a pair for free. But then there are those who get it already put themselves on the waitlist. Not everybody needs to like your product. Having some naysayers is a good sign you found your target. It means you’ve gotten your aim so sharp you hit exactly the point you were aiming for.