advertising : chapter 17

Big Head Ad

Teen Vogue

You will never find a Steve Madden Advertisement on the television.  Steve Madden like many other designer lines have ads that are fit for their target market, young fashion savy women.  When Steve Madden first started he hardly ever advertised.  Mostly word of mouth had passed on the line and soon in 1994 small times celebrities like Carmen Electra and Mary J Blige were shopping at the first store in Soho. This boosted the brand name.  After that Steve Madden began to run his "Big Head ads".  These ads were everywhere in the train station, bus stops, and other large deparment stores like Macy's where many people could see. These ads attracted the target perfectly.  Young women everywhere saw these funny ads with pretty funny looking big head girls doing something every girl would love to do in a pair of Steve madden shoes.  The big head ad to the right show a girl in Steve Madden platform sandals running a photo shoot.  The funny looking big head is what attracts the young eye to it automatically.  The Big Head Ads boosted Steve Maddens sales and name.  Bigger Stars began wearing the shoes.  For the fashion industry celebrity endorsements are the biggest way to get your product known.  Once a high end celeb is wearing your shoe tons of adoring fans will want the same shoe or brand.  After the big Head ads public ads are rarely seen.  Now most ads are put in teen fashion Magazines.  You wont ever find one in anything like vogue or the W because those are for older more established women.  But teen vogue ran an ad like this one.