NIKE - Too Big For Their Shoes

I heard about Stephon Marbury 5th highest paid player in the NBA offering shoes for $14.95 and this is in direct competition to the BIG BRAND names like NIKE who have been marketing their product by paying out to NBA players multi-million dollar endorsement contracts. This has driven the cost of the shoe out of reach for the majority of kids and families who have to have these shoes because their sports hero's suggest you can be like them; a better player. In my community I know of cases where young children were mugged, beaten up and robbed for their shoes by older children. How crazy is that?

I watched a recent news report on TV where I saw them take Marbury's shoe and a $250.00 NIKE shoe and did a cross section cut finding that the only difference was that NIKE had a leather exterior which has no bearing on the performance of the shoe. Congratulations to Stephon Marbury for having the sense to bring the cost back down to reality for shoes and with his name on the product he has already seen the kids lining up around the block.

What I find most interesting about this story is that Stephon found a 'Unique Selling Proposition' for his shoe, PRICE. When shoes were inexpensive back in the 1950's and 1960's then this differentiation would not work, But today, with NIKE, Addidas, and others playing the endorsement game and driving the cost of shoes into the hundreds, this differentiation is perfectly timed. Is it possible that the NIKE bubble is about to burst?

I don't believe NIKE is going to go out of business because of the $14.95 shoe but, I do believe they are sitting up and taking notice. If they don't, this segment of their business will suffer. The public is already excited about this shoe and more importantly, the children who want the shoes are also saying it's about time someone created the $14.95 shoe. If NIKE misses this message and don't react then perhaps they have grown 'too big for their shoes'.

What are you doing to differentiate your business from your perceived competition? In addition, is your USP as significant as Marbury's $14.95 NBA Player endorsed shoe? In other words, will you change the face of marketing today?