The Heart and 'Sole' of a Brand

Normally, when you come across a company executive who emphatically proclaims, "We don't believe in advertising!" you might simply think that this person is completely letting potential business fly out the window. That's exactly what I thought when I first heard Howard Schacter, chief partnership officer, talk about his company Steve & Barry's during his presentation at last month's EPM Conference. Rather than investing money in print or television advertising, the company relies on word-of-mouth promotion.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this company, Steve & Barry's is a retailer that specializes in hip, casual apparel and footwear at discounted prices. The company first began selling university-type merchandise, such as t-shirts and sweatshirts bearing university logos, and later expanded into basic casual wear.

Schacter discussed the fact that the retailer relies on promotional partnerships with such companies and brands like Lions Gate Films, Island Def Jam Music Group, CBS, Sony Music BMG and Red Bull.

However, the most enlightening part of the session wasn't the promotional campaigns with these companies. Recently, Steve & Barry's embarked on a more unique business venture that meant competing with top-brand basketball shoes. Since this was a company that knew how to manufacture sweatshirts and t-shirts and sell them at low prices, why couldn't it also produce a basketball shoe that retails at a fraction of the price for a pair of Nikes?

Well, that's exactly what it did. Yet, in order for this to succeed, the company needed a big name to brand it. Enter Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks.

Marbury, who grew up in the inner city, couldn't afford name-brand basketball shoes when he was younger. Think about those $200 Kobe Bryant shoes or even--for those old enough to remember--Air Jordans.

"When I was younger, if I asked my mom to buy a $200 pair of basketball shoes, she would tell me that $200 meant a month's worth of groceries," explains Marbury.

This inspired the star athlete to partner with Steve & Barry's to design a basketball shoe that was constructed from the same materials as a pair of Nikes, yet without charging consumers the hefty retail price. The end result was the Starbury, a high-quality basketball shoe that retails for only $14.98. However in order for this brand to appeal to consumers, Steve & Barry's had to show that this wasn't simply a low-cost product that a star athlete slapped his name on just for a lucrative endorsement deal. On the contrary, Marbury believed wholeheartedly in developing a high-quality product from start to finish.

In fact, he was as much a part of the design of the shoe as was the retailer. What's more, he was not paid an endorsement fee. Yet, what really made this new brand a hit was the fact that Marbury practiced what he preached. Each time he hit the basketball court, he was doing it wearing the Starbury. To date, the shoe remains a hot-selling item for the retailer.

This proves that high-quality brands don't require a high price tag to be successful. Now, wouldn't you say that this product just screams live shopping?

Vitisia Paynich
Editor-in-Chief