I have to write something about the Puma Beisser special edition sneaker and Nike’s new Considered line.


First, the Puma Beisser. Us English language speakers are going to walk around calling them BEE-SIRS. When it’s really “BYE-SIR,” because of the German pronounciation. (When it’s spelled “EI” you say “I” and when it’s “IE” you say “E”, as in my last name, SCHMEE-DER .)

The meaning of the name, “Biter” (from the German “beissen”) will get lost on most people even though they are “fanged.”

It seems as though the name won’t matter because Puma is only making 500 of them. A very smart marketing tactic because there is nothing like limitedness to drive consumers wild. And that is what increases Puma brand cachet and Puma brand awareness.

As for Nike’s Considered Line, I am happy to see that a company that was so criticized for their human labor practices is actually starting to create a line of shoes that are environmentally friendly. I didn’t read through all of their materials, some of which sounds like it came straight from The Cluetrain Manifesto (specifically, The Conversation as in ‘markets are conversations’), but this blog is about naming and the idea of Considered for a shoe brand, or a sub-brand in this case is not a bad one. It’s got a certain skateboarder, hipster hipness to it. And if that’s part of the demo they’re going for – I don’t think it is – they’ll be in there with Adio, DC, DVS, Dekline, ES, Emerica (a great name and a great brand), Etnies, Fallen, Lakai, Osiris and Vans (the classic!).

If however, Nike’s going up against Birkenstock, then things get interesting because they’re going head to head against the classic “crunchy” “hippie” shoe and a shoe maker that isn’t bragging about the environmental-friendliness of their manufacturing and their materials. PREDICTION: Birkenstock will.

[Birkenstock is also having a fire sale on their beautiful Architect line of shoes. Does that mean theyr’e going to discontinue them?]

[Interesting aside, Nike had a difficult time breaking into the skateboard shoe market because skaters didn’t see themselves in Nikes, because Nike was too mainstream. Interestingly, in the history of skateboarding, there was a period in the early days, post-Dogtown, that skaters were into Nike basketball shoes. The whole way that Nike penetrated the skateboard shoe arena makes for an interesting case study, but suffice to say, they made a great product and hired some great skaters to sponsor and little by little they have made inroads.]

The Tagline says, “Consider History. Consider the Present. Consider the Future.” And maybe the folks at Nike really are taking all of those things into, um, consideration. Or maybe not, perhaps this just a PR tactic. A way of getting post-consumer, enviromentalists and anti-leather vegans into Nikes.

Regardless, it’ll work with a certain niche of consumers. And since we live in the age of niche marketing, the niche can never be overlooked.

BTW, I like the Considered Rock.
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