The Nike Air Yeezy
is arguably Nike’s biggest ever signature sneaker line ever released. A
combination of persuasion principles such as the use of celebrity, product
placement and scarcity, made it easily one of Nike’s most hyped and desired
sneakers ever to release to the public. The Nike “Air Yeezy” line corresponds
to Nike’s collaboration with musical artist Kanye West, it is technically
speaking his own signature shoe. The line began with the release of the
original Nike “Air Yeezy” on April 6th, 2009 with a production of
roughly 3,000 total pairs for three color ways world-wide, making it a limited
release by today’s standards. Aside from the limited distribution numbers, the
real significance behind the “Air Yeezy” line is that it’s Nike’s first ever
signature sneaker deal with a non-athlete.
(PhotoCred: kicksonfire.com)
Another unique
attribute to the “Air Yeezy” line is that the sneakers were actually designed
by Kanye West with the help of Nike Design Executives Mark Smith and Tiffany
Beers. Essentially the Air Yeezy’s are a menagerie of pieces of West’s favorite
sneakers from both the Nike and Air Jordan line tied together. Along with
West’s own taste and themes being incorporated into the sneakers, they easily
resemble some of the most iconic shoes from Nike’s golden era in the 1990’s.
This resonated with long time “sneaker heads” and aficionados as they saw how
the Air Yeezy became the Frankenstein of almost every popular pair of Nike
sneakers in the 90’s. In terms of design the original Air Yeezy boasted the midsoles
of the Air Jordan 3 and the Nike Air Assault, it had a full grain leather upper
to go along with a patent leather mid foot strap and was completed by a
glow-in-the-dark outsole. Never before seen on a pair of shoes before, the
unrivaled use of personalized details and premium materials were a first for a
style set to release to the public.
The first persuasion
principle used by Nike to push the Air Yeezy line is Celebrity. Celebrity based on who they chose to
collaborate with, that being Kanye West, one of the most polarizing public
figures in the last decade. Kanye West oozes marketability from his pores as
one of the most controversial and highly publicized celebrities in recent
memory. Regardless of if you’re personally a fan of Kanye’s or not, one thing
is certain; when he says or does something, people listen and watch. West’s
list of career accolades range from as high as multiple platinum selling records
and Grammies to as low as stating the president doesn’t care about black
people. Regardless of the press, good or bad Kanye West has established himself
as a figure to watch and maybe even elevated himself to a profile of celebrity
that us “mortals” can’t even fathom. This along with his oft-aggressive
personality and über high self-esteem makes him intriguing not only from a
media perspective but from a marketing perspective as well.
It’s seldom to see
anything West touches not get eyeballs. He’s a modern day trendsetter amongst
the younger audiences for his rash and sometimes extremely absurd approach to
everything. Kanye West embodies an image that resonates with the word “cool”
(among others); he always wears high fashion in unexpected ways that still appeals
to urban youths. His influence ranges across the spheres of music, fashion and
social media, whatever Kanye West cosigns sells out instantly. Which in my
personal opinion made him the perfect candidate to be chosen as Nike’s first
non-athlete collaborator. He’s definitely still relevant, he appeals to Nike’s
target audience and has more than enough push and pull to market anything as
outrageous as a pair $275 sneakers, which boast one of Nike’s highest suggested
retail prices ever. When it comes
to current celebrities you can’t do much better than Kanye West, someone so
essential to fashion and the sneaker sub-culture in general, it was a marketing
grand slam by Nike.
The
second principle used by Nike is product placement. With sneakers as highly
touted and hyped as both Air Yeezys, Kanye West was clever in his approach to
exposing his product. For months at a time the sneakers were cloaked in
mystery, he would use his own social media sites to provide glimpses of the
sneakers while in production to generate traffic to his sites, generating
“eyeballs”. If self-considered “sneaker heads” didn’t like West’s music, they
were definite still on his site for the sneakers and that in a way only further
expanded his audience. West was also smart with how he unveiled the existence
of his signature shoe, he used the biggest stage in music to debut the
sneakers; The Grammy Award Show. One year removed from his Mother’s passing,
West took music’s grandest stage and did a heartfelt tribute performance
dedicated to his mother sporting the most Google-searched sneakers in the last
10 years. Following the Grammy performance West would go on to perform in
several sample variant pairs of the original Air Yeezy, while keeping
standalone shots of the sneakers few and far between, only increasing buzz
around their uncertain release.
For
the Air Yeezy 2, which released on June 9th, 2012, West used a
similar approach and physically debuted the sneakers at The Coachella Music Festival,
which mirrors as a modern-day Woodstock of sorts for every genre of music. He
combined that with the promotion of his new album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy” and also teamed up and collaborated with long-time friend and Hip-Hop
mogul Jay-Z to tour their new joint album “Watch The Throne”. The “Watch The
Throne” tour was a worldwide tour with two legs, one in North America and the
other in Europe for a total of 63 virtually sold out shows and an aggregate
audience of roughly 400,000 people based on tickets sold. During the tour both
Kanye and Jay-Z wore the Air Yeezy 2 on a nightly basis, appealing to the
viewers sense of “I want to be like my favorite __________” I probably can’t
afford most of their outfit, but those shoes release when? Product placement at
it’s finest. The tour received a ton of publicity and rave reviews from critics
and magazines alike as an experience for any Hip-Hop enthusiasts, Kanye
West/Jay-Z fans alike.
(PhotoCredit: sneakersaddict.com)
West
was also featured in another one of Nike’s marketing campaigns for basketball
player Kobe Bryant’s 7th signature sneaker, “The Kobe System”. He was featured in two full length commercials,
one as an audience member in Bryant’s presentation for the “Kobe System” and
the second as a villain wearing the Air Yeezy 2’s, the sneakers first ever
debut. Nike hit two birds with one stone, they successfully used celebrity to
market Kobe Bryant’s upcoming signature shoes as well as used product placement
to get the Internet abuzz about the possible second sneaker in the “Air Yeezy”
Line. I personally remember the measures sneaker websites took to get a close
up of the shoes, no amount of Photoshop could cure the culture’s thirst for
knowledge on the potential “Air Yeezy 2”.
The
last persuasion principle used by Nike was scarcity; limited production runs of
both the Yeezy and the Yeezy 2 did by no means represent the amount of demand
for the shoe. The original Air
Yeezy only had a production run of about 3,000 pairs for three color ways, then
you factor in all the pairs reserved for head Nike execs and West’s friends and
families, along with the pairs bought early at inflated prices by celebrities,
that’s leaves about roughly 1,500 pairs left for the general public. The effect
this had on the sneaker and the market was a surging resale value literally
minutes after being bought at retail from exclusive local retailers. The
original Air Yeezy had a suggested retail value of $275 and instantly hit a
second-hand vendor price of about $2,000 to $2,500 the day of release. This
release threw the sneaker market and culture into flux. It would change the
“sneaker game” forever and turn it into a re-sellers market to cash in on
worthy sneaker releases, creating middlemen and inflated prices for those who
missed out on the initial release.
As for the Yeezy 2, it was even more
limited, two color ways released at an astounding 500 pairs each. This along
with the hype and knowledge of resale values going through the roof led
potential buyers and re-sale sharks to camp out in front of stores and
boutiques for about two week in advance of the release. The measures people
went to attain these sneakers was ridiculous, many lost their jobs, some lived
completely off whatever was around and weathered Mother Nature’s wrath in some
parts of the country, just plain out ridiculous with no guarantee of even
attaining a pair. No sneaker in history has warranted this much attention or
effort to purchase. Much like the original Air Yeezy, the Air Yeezy 2’s prices
inflated like a hot air balloon minutes after its initial retail release.
Suggested retail price was set at $245, they were going for as high $3,500 just
hours post release and settled at about $2,500 months after for a dead stock
(Brand New, Unworn) pair. When you add in the aesthetic, cultural and financial
values of the sneakers, they transcend that of any ordinary product, they’ve
become a status symbol and a trophy to those “Regular Joes” fortunate enough to
get them through camping or those with deep enough pockets to avoid the Yeezy
Madness.
(PhotoCredit: nicekicks.com)
In retrospect, The
Air Yeezy Line is monumental in its own right. The shoes literally changed the “sneaker game” as many
immersed in the industry call it and changed the way people viewed shoes all
together. They changed the perspective of many from being ordinary shoes to
symbols of status and even merely ridiculous profit incentive to some. I
believe Nike used all three principles of persuasion masterfully; everything
was planned out perfectly to a tee. From the cultural significance of giving a
non-athlete his own shoe, to cross marketing their product to their largest
audience using their biggest names, and also mystifying the product to being
beyond just another pair of shoes. The sneaker became a holy grail among avid
collectors and myth to the rest of us “Regular Joes” who just so happen to
appreciate our sneakers a bit more than the everyman. Even now second hand
heavily worn pairs of the original Air Yeezy go for about $600-$1,000 depending
on condition. You’ll be lucky to find a moderately used pair of Air Yeezy 2’s
for anything less than $1,500. When you combine everything put into creating
the sneaker and the legend, the Air Yeezy line will be regarded as legendary
amongst “Sneaker Heads” for decades to come. With the Air Yeezy 3 slated to
release sometime in the year 2015, we’ll all have the chance to let Nike make
us drool and get a little crazy again at the expense of our wallets. As far as
Nike and Kanye’s efforts go to literally push almost ANYTHING to an audience,
I’ll just shut up and give them my money.
(PhotoCredit: rollingstone.com)
