Steve Madden Advertisement

I recently found a Steve Madden Advertisement flier in the street one day.  It is a new launch of the Steve Madden big head ad.  Its also promoting "Steve Madden Music" the new project that promotes new and upcoming artist.  The advertisement is very simple and has nothing to do with shoes whatsoever but by having the steve madden symbol and the big head from the first best known ads it made it show out to me on the ground while walking in the street it also made me think about steve maddens target market.  Young white woman are the definite target market because most ads have young white woman on it .  The ad with the seemingly mixed girl is the only ad i have seen or found by Steve madden featuring a black or Hispanic woman. 

chapter 8: segmenting and targeting Markets

Steve Madden has successfully segmented their ideal target market.  Young woman is a large group of potential buyers this segment can be broken down further into Young white woman, but young woman as a whole are accessible through medias like magazines, internet social networks and blogs, and public advertisements like those on buses and trains.  The company uses demographic segmentation and geographic segmentation as well.  Steve madden stores and ads are often found in heavily populated cities. Places where people can afford to spend money on things they want rather than things they need.  Everyone needs shoes.  But women do not need stylish pumps or high heel boots.  They understand that this is a want and not people from all places can afford to fulfill these wants.  Older woman with children that are teens girls are also a big buyer of the product because these women want their daughters to dress fashionably and be comfortable with the way that they dress.   Steve Madden targets mostly young woman but concentrating on white young woman because they are most likely to spend the most money on wants.

Developing and Managing Products chapter 11

Being that Steve Madden is a shoe store they cannot vastly change their products.  The products they make are shoes and these shoes are in no way going to provide anymore functions than to wear then and express your fashions.  About 7 years ago Steve Madden added a new product line by introducing a Men and Kids shoe line.  These lines started with a few shoe choices but now there are almost as many styles for men and children as there are kids.  This adds a new target range not only woman will come in the store and of the woman who come they can shop for husbands and children and friends all in the same store.  A few years ago Steve Madden also launched a bedding line.  With there bedroom in a bag sets which are mainly offered online and in select stores like Marshall's they can get costumers to buy more things that are needed, while getting stylish shoes you can get a Steve madden stylish room as well.   Since this is originally a fashion forward shoe company they make additions and revisions to the existing product line.  They must always keep up with the trends so they have to adjust their products accordingly.  New trends means new styles and new seasons means new colors.  Products that have done well have reappeared in different seasons.  Also classic shoes like a classic pump is kept.  They release the same exact style every season but they may release pinks and purples in the summer and brown and red in the winter.  They may also take that same shoe and  make it with different materials like suede, faux snake skin, leather, or glitter.  This is all to attract different types of costumers and make the same good selling product seem a bit different.  The styles of the shoes generally stay similar like the product life cycle chart 11.3 MKTG 4,  Styles come in start to fade then come back once again.

chapter 21: costumer relationship management

My company sales this year have been the best they have ever been because this year they have worked efficiently on  managing their costumer relationship.  Steve Madden stores two different types of information.  They collect personal information like Name, email address, credit card number and items you buy and store the frequency of you purchases.  This shows them how many individual loyal costumers they have it also allows them to send emails telling the costumer of new promotions and events.  This makes the costumer aware of the company more often and its likely that they will come back to purchase products even if they had not originally planned to.   The second type of information the company stores is aggregate information which monitors how many people log onto the site everyday and how frequent people visit the stores.  This year they have made a larger acceptance that their buyers are more frequently young women from the ages of 16-28.  They understand that this age group of women enjoy a funkier type of shoe.  The lines every year often have higher 4.5 -5 inch platform based heals.  They have found that this age group enjoys buying these higher heals in comparison to older women who seem to purchase something a bit more sophisticated.  They do have another line called "Steven by Steve Madden" which have pricier more sophisticated shoes for the slightly older working woman.  This year off customer relationship management Steve Madden has been able to increase its sales by knowing its largest target market well.  Woman of a younger age group tend to love social networking sites.  Facebook, twitter, and blogger are something that the company have found very useful.  Launching a Blog said to be written by Steve Madden him self was launched 2 years ago.  Although this blog is also about things other than the company and the product lines it has brought alot of buzz around the company name. Facebook and twitter like buttons on the web site have made Steve Madden look that much cooler to young woman who spend alot of time on the computer.  And in this day an age where your phone can do just about everything a computer can do in the palm of your hand, even shopping the company knew that a mobile site would be the best thing.  The Mobile site launched this year has been the best thing for young women because most of them own either an iphone, blackberry, or andriod they can do a little shopping from anywhere.  The launch of the Steve Madden music site is also something that young woman love and they feel comfortable with.  The company has understood that "coolness" and convenience   will increase their sales and will further the message of buying Steve Madden shoes. One last thing i found on the site that i have never noticed before is a chat pop up to chat online with Steve Madden representatives to see what shoes and styles are right for you, and to ask any questions.

chapter 16: Intergrated Marketing Communication

Advertisements for Steve Madden are limited to more traditional clothing advertisements.  Newspapers, magazines, and the occasional bus stop ad are where you would find a shoe advertisement from them.  The company seems to be very concerned with their image and the way the public relates with them.  Each store has a layed back "chill" atmosphere.  It sets the mood for the type of costumer they get, young woman.  You will always walk into a store and hear the latest pop music.  This is because they understand that their market of young "trendy" woman that like these things.  They even have a music web page where they feature new artist and costumers can post blog comments about their favorite music and artist.  They also as I've mentioned before have parties with DJ's and a bartender in the original soho store for costumers to come and enjoy them selves.  Buy one get one half off and 30% off sales are given every 3 months at the end of the seasons these sales encourage costumers to buy because woman often walk out of the store with more than one pair of shoes.  Why not buy more with a sale like that.  Steve Madden has more of a mass communication process through ads and blogs.  The web has really boosted this years sales.  Facebook's like button has increased the website traffic.  The Launch of the new site has also had online sales booming with the connection to networking sites like facebook and twitter.  All your friends on all your networking sites can see you've liked or bought a pair of shoes from Steve Madden.  Steve Maddens blog is Steve Madden personally blogging about new shoes new music and events that he just loves.  He also responds to comments left by the consumer.  This give a more personal feel to the costumer.  They serve consumer products on a personal level at the store with the hip talkative employees that make you feel cool and welcolme. 

chapter 10: Product concepts

Steve Madden Offers shopping products.  Shoes are not a necessity they are a want of costumers.  They offer a few product lines of shoes from mens, woman, and childrens shoes and a product mix from shoes, to accessories, apparel, and bedding.  There are many products in each product line because a this trendy company offers many different styles of shoes.  Flat shoes, boots, heels, and super high heels.  Every season the styles and colors change for the shoes that they sell and the older styles go on sale.  The Brand name for the company is Steve Madden and their brand mark is the name in the circle.  The name is in the Brand Mark so that it is always clear what company the brand mark is talking about.   You can never get confused with what company makes the shoe or posted the ad because the name is always on it.  

Sales promotion continued

I'd also like to add that Steve Madden has promotions with other discount stores.  You can find your Steve Madden shoes at any Marshalls, T.J Maxx, and Filenes Basement.  These stores often offer last seasons shoes or some of the new season shoes that havent been sold as much as others in the original Steve Madden store.

Chapter 18: Sales promotion and personal selling.

Steve Madden is not the type of company that does personal selling.  There are too many costumers and too many products to sell personally.  Sale promotions are something that Steve Madden does very well.  Since the launch of their mobile site the they have really increased sales.  The mobile site offers more details than the desktop site and has a Facebook like button which is sent out to all your friends on Facebook.   On the desktop site they offer things like free shipping when purchasing shoes.  That is a nice incentive because shipping and handling can be quite costly especially when only purchasing one item.  The site also has the "shake your booties" sale which is 30% off selected winter boots.  I myself almost purchased a pair.  With free shipping, 30% off, and chilling weather here who wouldn't want to add to their winter closet.

VAKU
WAS $109.95 NOW $39.95

Steve Madden Also has a warehouse store located in the Lower East Side where they sell last seasons sandals two pair for $20, and last seasons boots two pair for $50.  I often go in there to find two sandals when i have an extra $20  laying around.  In the Stores Steve Madden has these game tickets a few times a year.  The game tickets have scratch off pieces that can reveal anything from 10-50% discount or a free pair of shoes.  This is to bring in costumers because they want to get the free pair of shoes ticket.  Even if they don't get it they leave with a discount they can use then or for a week after they received the ticket.

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.

Retail: Chapter 15

Steve Madden of course is a retail shoe store.  I visited the franchise located in Soho between Spring and Prince Street right on Broadway.  I could not help but notice that there was another Steve Madden franchise on the corner directly across the street.  This location is one key to the success that the company has had this year.  I often see Steve Madden stores in the busiest shopping spots.  Soho in particular is the one place that hip trendy fashionistas go to shop.  Twice a year on the first night of seasonal fashion week the most popular stores on Broadway have huge events.  Steve Madden is one of the few stores that throw a large party including a DJ, drinks, finger foods, and big sales.  I go every year and I find that Steve Madden always has one of the biggest turn outs.  The company has many stores in high traffic shopping areas like 34th street, 5th avenue, and even 42nd street.  The company's retail store would be classified as a specialty store because Steve Madden is a shoe designer although they do offer hand bags, sunglasses, and other small accessories (mostly scarves and gloves when I went for the upcoming winter chill)  When entering the store someone greeted me automatically.  While walking around there were several employees that asked whether I needed assistance. I would say that the service was high, not as high as service that you would get at Saks but I could not move around with out someone asking to help me.  The layout of the store is one the best aspects of the store.  The manager said that the window display is changed in someway once a week.  A entirely new display is put up every month.  There is a raised runway in the store making the small space two leveled.  These two level allowed me to see all the shoes over the big crowd that walked in the store.  The speakers played updated pop music and all the seats are a comfortable sparkly purple.  This store in particular holds most of the monthly music events that Steve Madden has begun doing which brings in an even larger crowd.  The prices are pretty moderate but high in comparison to the quality of the shoes.  (Although the styles are great steve madden has some of the most uncomfortably made shoe that I have ever wore)  After purchasing a pair of clearance shoes for $50 the cashier told me I could also purchase things from the recently launched mobile site.  It seems to me that Steve Madden has the prefect retailing strategy, the many times I've been to this store I have never seen it empty.

chapter 6 : consumer decision making

Consumer decision making is a very important part in the marketing mix.  It is important to understand what they consumer wants and what they will do to fulfill that want.  Young women have a certain want.  Their want is to be in style and be fashion forward.  As a result Steve Madden offers a vast line of products to help women fulfill their want to be fashion forward.  Hand bags, shoes for every occasion, sun glasses, accessories like scarfs, gloves, and apparel.  They also understand that young woman like convenience.  all these products offered can make Steve madden a one stop shop for many consumers.  These young woman can be either extremely fashion forward researching new trends in magazines and looking for the new styles.  The steve Madden web site even has a "shop trends" so that woman can see all the styles that are similar to those in the latest fashion magazines.  Other women come to shop to find things of their own personal styles.  These young woman become very satisfied with buying the product offer because of the price and quality.  One would not expect a shoe that cost 100 dollars to last like a jimmy choo shoe would but they find that steve madden shoes are of a lasting quality.  Steve Madden understood that they were not capturing women that were closer to their 30's.  women this age like to be more sophisticated then funky.  Understanding that Steve Madden opened up a new shoe line called Steven by Steve madden.  The name itself seems more sophisticated and upscale.  They have a blog which influences a lot of the people of today.  Many people spend their time making blogs to gain information about current things. The opening of the men line is to attract more male costumers.  Mostly gay males purchase the shoes from Steve Madden because the store is so well known as a woman's shoe store it scares some men from going in. 

Chapter 5 Global Marketing

Steve Madden has expanded its market to this ever advancing technological world. Steve Madden has launched a mobile site that allows you to see the full catalog and make purchases right from your mobile device. This is a big step in global marketing because nowadays you wont see anyone with out a mobile device. From Smart Phones to music players like iPods and portable computers like the iPad everyone has someway to connect to the internet in the palm of their hands. All over the world people are using these things. Now you can walk down the street see a pair of really cute shoes on a person or in a window display at a steve madden store and order them instantly on your iPhone. Steve Madden has also targeted youth around the world as well by launching a music platform that will have a featured famous artist every month. Around the world people are in love with the same celebrities. celebrities are a sure way to get the attention of all youth.

Nestle, Walmart and KFC alleged social responsibility

This year Nestle, Walmart and KFC have suffered social media crisis due to accusations from the company Greenpeace. Greenpeace a company devoted to stop climate change and to preserve the world natural forests and animals seemed to have no problem in accusing Nestle for using palm oil obtained in Asian forest. Greenpeace launched a video that showed Nestle workers in an office about to eat a "Kit Kat".  The candy turned into a bloody gorilla finger as the employee bit down.  Walmart and KFC were also used of purchasing Paper products extracted illegally from the forests where Sumatran tiger and orangutan, [Both endangered species] live.  Nestle responded that the company itself does not purchase palm products from the Sinar Mas but admits that other companies they purchase from may have.  Nestle need to take a bigger step to make sure that they do not use these products that are being illegally taken from these forrest to save the earth and its animals

The marketing enviornment : chapter 4

Steve Madden understands the values of their target market.  Young woman today care greatly about being fashionable.  They want to wear whats in style but at they same time they also value being individual.  They want to feel that the have their own sense of style even while wearing the things that are in.  They understand that young woman between the ages of 16 and 25 are likely to buy alot of their product they also understand that women this age are likely to be at school and at work during regular television hours so they do not promote their products on television. Their target ethnic market is young white women.  Most of their ads have white women in them.  Ive personally only seen one steve madden ad with an african american women in it.  White america is the largest ethnic market so this may be why they target them. 

Clothing List

Shirt- Cambodia
Leggings- China
Bra-China
Underwear- China
Socks- No label
Shoes- China

Week 3: Ethics and Social Resposibility

Steve Madden is one of the most worn shoe brands today.  Top brand shoes designers like Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, and Chanel have extremely expensive prices for their shoes.  Steve Madden knows how important expressing your self through fashion means to women.  The company feels that every woman should be able to afford to be trendy.  Steve Madden has made that possible by creating different brand within the company.  Steven By Steve Madden is a line of beautiful shoes that is a bit higher end for those woman who can afford it.  The Steve Madden line is more affordable with every shoe under $200 dollars a steal in comparison to some of the previous named brands which run for over $1000.  

Week 2 : Strategic Planning

Steve Maddens mission is to deliver fashion forward trends and to keep the costumers style individual.  They started as strictly a shoe company but they later added other fashion accessories and a men line.  But their main target market is young fashionable women.  To reach and make sales to this group of young woman they have created a strategy that seems to be working very well for them.  They increased the product line which will increase sales.  Women who come into the stores to look for shoes can also find a scarf or hand bag that matches that shoes.  Making it seem convenient for the costumer and upping the sales.  All Steve Madden stores are found in the trendiest shopping areas. I have never  seen a Steve madden television ad but most advertising is done in magazines and small fliers.  These are the things that young fashionable woman wear.  There prices are lower than some higher end shoes so that these young working woman can afford them.  They have a competitive advantage over these young woman because they have many similar styles to more expensive shoe brands as well as unique shoe styles. 

Week One: Back Ground and Mission statement

Steve Madden is one of the most well known shoe designers in the fashion industry today.  Steve Madden himself has pushed fashion forward with his unique designs and his creative individuality.  He started his company with only $1,100 dollars.  He began creating his designs and forming his brand at his small queens-based factory in 1990.  In a year Madden had already created a new design to the platform heel which took the woman's shoe industry to a new level. This thick heel became Madden signature design that would be used through out the fashion world in the 21st century.   His line has continued to change and shape fashion over the years.  Steve Madden shoes are about embracing your individuality. Today they offer more than just shoes.  The company also has a vast line of clothing, accessories, handbags, and belts.  Steve Maddens Mission is to always deliver fashion forward trends to the costumer.  They intend to expand their business and to continue to "dominate" the fashion world with their distinctive designs.