JORDAN // MARKET DEEP DIVES
How can the Jordan brand maintain relevance with the new school of sneakerheads who didn’t grow up with Michael?
Image source: Unsplash
THE CHALLENGE
As a new generation grows up without witnessing the greatness of Michael Jordan first-hand, how can the brand forge a sustainable path of growth and relevancy when telling stories of its past?
THE TASK
Create deep market overview reports on the state of basketball culture in global cities, mapping the histories of streetwear and understanding market-specific nuances.
the process
As a Millennial cusping the Gen Z cutoff, it was helpful to be in the mindset of the target consumer when embarking on this research journey. Initially, secondary research was conducted to trace the local basketball culture, brand affinity and community involvement in NYC, London, Berlin, Milan, and Barcelona to brief team ‘Space Jam’ prior to in-field work. These overviews were used to identify on-the-ground influencers and map basketball culture epicenters to sharpen the consumer research design.
The playground nature of NYC serves as the primal scene of one’s basketball initiation and education. Harlem’s Rucker Park (pictured above) is said to be the birthplace of streetball–an unsupervised world of childhood where there is more room for creativity and originality on the pavement. This ties directly into New Yorkers’ unique sense of style, especially when it comes to streetwear. (Image source: The Harlem Times)
I pored over pages and pages of in-depth interview transcripts that my fellow team members conducted with brand muses and local experts. Strong, compelling quotes were grouped by theme which led to insight development, comparing how each market’s environment and target consumer differs. For example, the Berlin Wall did more than just separate two political ideologies–it also created a culture of haves and have-nots, all the way down to the sneakers people had on their feet. And yet today, Berliners don’t want to appear hyper-fashionable and instead opt for subdued, more practical looks.
We also found similar values that held true no matter where we went, such as the intriguing tension between being effortless and being effortful when pursuing one’s purpose in life: Good things happen to those who work. Then the work pays off and it seems as though it comes natural to accomplish what was once difficult. A real chicken or the egg head-scratcher.
the outcome
Our team laid out a blueprint for how the Jordan brand can connect with consumers’ passions that are inspired by the values they’ve learned on the court and in their communities. Preservation of ‘timeless’ qualities will further engage current customers and entice prospective consumers to become a part of this enduring brand. Lastly, we synthesized our findings into provocations for a collaborative insights workshop with the client team.
By unearthing insights like, “it’s a journey of greatness, not towards one,” we examined what it means to “be fly on and off the court.” (Image source: Jordans Daily)
Insider Tip: Look up the recent history of Jelly Fam in New York and you’ll be fascinated. You can thank me later.
Agency: Wolf & Wilhelmine
Team: Rebecca Demmellash, Ambika Pai, Suhail Shaikh, and Anjali Wadhwa
Role: Qualitative Researcher, Transcriber