Make New Friends, But Keep the Old—Expert Says Converse Marketing Strategy is ‘Gold’
ITHACA, NY — Bringing a new product onto store shelves can be fraught with peril, but an expert on nostalgia says Converse has struck marketing gold with the first radical redesign of its iconic Chuck Taylor All-Stars since the sneaker was introduced 98 years ago.
“The people who buy and wear Chuck Taylors tend to be very passionate about them,” says Alison B. Shields, who studies branding and the effects of nostalgia on consumer decision-making. “But that passion has been more about the way they look than the way they feel.”
Dubbed the Chuck II, the new version uses technology from parent company Nike to provide a more comfortable footwear experience.
“The exterior has some cosmetic enhancements, but it’s really the inside where all the change has taken place. It’s now a shoe you can more easily wear an entire day, rather than just slipping on to go out. So someone who may have been put off by the fit of the old Chuck Taylors is more likely to try — and buy — the new one.”
Shields is an assistant professor of marketing and law in the Ithaca College School of Business. Her recent research has focused on the connection between consumer acceptance or rejection of updated brands and the consumer’s reported nostalgia towards the brand.
Where Converse really made the smart decision, she says, was in keeping the original shoe on the market as well — unlike Coca-Cola, which in 1985 famously bombed when it introduced so-called “New Coke,” only to bring back the old formula three months later. “They are getting a lot of attention and are a big part of the consumer conversation right now, so the people who’ve already been loyal customers may be more inclined to buy another pair of the originals. At the same time, Converse is capitalizing on an established brand to reach out to a new generation who previously haven’t embraced the shoe.”
Shields notes that if Converse eventually does phase out the originals, by that time consumers may not even be aware of the difference.
“Part of our nostalgia for a brand comes from a representation in our head of, ‘This is how it should be.’ But every time we see an updated version, we slightly update our mental representations of the product. So a few years from now, someone who at first rejected the Chuck II as not ‘real’ All-Stars will have seen them in the stores for so long that they will get comfortable with the idea that this is what the shoe should be.”
For more information, contact Alison B. Shields at [email protected].
###From day one, Ithaca College prepares students for personal and professional success through hands-on experience with internships, research and study abroad. Its integrative curriculum builds bridges across disciplines and uniquely blends liberal arts and professional study. Located in New York’s Finger Lakes region, the College is home to 6,100 undergraduate and 460 graduate students and offers over 100 degree programs in its schools of Business, Communications, Humanities and Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Performance, and Music.
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