Participants: Tom Warren (20), Chris Tancock (21), George Liversidge (22), Eliot Firth (20), Si Mason (21), Tobi Cieslik (20).
This focus group was carried out as soon as Si was given his trainers, with five of his flatmates. The aim was to see what his peers original opinions were of New Balance, how much they knew about the brand and what they generally look for in adverts in order to try and understand the Tier 2 consumer. The idea is that a second focus group will be carried out at the end of the project to see if Si endorsing the trainers has had any effect on the original thoughts of those that took part.
The focus group has revealed that generally the Tier 2's do not know a lot about New Balance, but have heard of the brand and know that it has been around for a long time. This fact seemed to give the brand credit in the boys eyes, "They're cool because they've been around for years" (Elitot Firth, 20).
From the focus group, it is clear to see that they boys all wear the same brands, with Vans being a heavy influence on them. This seems to suggest that they get their trend inspiration off of each other, and are influenced by what their friends are wearing (even if they do not like to admit it!). It is clear that all the boys are precious of their trainers, with a few being collectors. If one of these boys could collect a New Balance edition then the New Balance craze would be likely to trickle down to the rest of the house and their other friends. "If the lads come home with some really cool stuff from the same shop then it will make me want to go in and see if I can find anything there too." (Chris, 21), "I do tend to follow along with what everyone does" (George, 22)
When they boys were asked their views on the shoes that Si had chosen, there was a mixed opinion. The retro look was something that they said they liked, but the main issue was the style and the bright yellow colour! Judging by what the boys were wearing on their feet for this group, they either liked sleek, slim, sexy styles or chunky more statement making styles, and this New Balance shoe in particular is not really either of these, therefore not really fitting into the trends that they are currently wearing. The boys were asked to present us with their favourite pair of trainers for us to photo and this is the result:
Tom's trainers:
"I will wipe these Supra's clean for hours. I love the whiteness. I love the sleek chunkyness."
Tobi's trainers:
"My Trimm trabs! I watched 'The Firm', that 80's inspired film and it made me realise just how cool 80's trainers are! I went and got these Trimm Trabs, my favourite part is the thicker sole with Adidas written on the side. It's just little details like that that can really make a pair of trainers stand out to me."
George's trainers:
"My Vans. I like them as they just go with everything.I don't really go for bright ones like Tobi."
Chris' trainers:
"They are cheap and go with everything."
As these few shots reveal, the boy's favourite trainers are either slim, small and subtle or high top chunkies. The colours they like are quite dulled, none of them own any bright coloured Nikes. They say that they look for small details in their trainers rather than something too 'loud'.
As the New Balance brief asks us to raise the brand awareness in the UK, it is important to know what adverts the currently like so that we can analyse what would make an effective advert. The boys pointed out:
Reebok, Bellies Guna Get Ya
After pointing this out, I noticed that they were all singing "bellies guna get ya"! Very catchy, even ten years after the advert was launched in 2001!!
Evian Roller Babies
Another humours TV advert was selected by the boys! Not because any of them would spend their precious student loan on bottled water, they just thought that the skating babies was a funny image which stuck in their mind more than the tagline itself.
Heineken Walk In Wardrobe
The boys seemed to love this advert because they could relate to it in a humorous way. They all would love a walk in beer fridge, and described it as their dream house, so by Heineken actually creating a walk in fridge, the boys adore this advert and therefore the brand for creating this illusion.
Skoda Cake Car
Elliot pointed this advert out as he thought it was creatively interesting, and that is the kind of thing he looks out for in advertising. It was interesting that he noticed a Skoda advert, as Skoda launched this advert in order to be a 'cooler' car to have, which seems to have had it's desired impact.
Continental Tyres
I must say I was very surprised that the boys pointed this advert out. I was beginning to think that they only remember humorous adverts, but this simple advert seems to have captured their attention. As it focuses on nothing but the performance of the tyre, making the message very strong and clear.
We noticed that all the boys mentioned TV adverts, none of them even slightly brought up any print advertising they had seen. Later on, we asked Si about this, he said:
"If you really want a boy's attention then TV adverts are the way forward really. It's because we don't really spend a lot of time flicking through magazines and if we do we pay close to no attention to the adverts in them! Ever! If I read a magazine its to read articles, not to look at pictures.The reason we all talk about TV ads is because we all waste so much time slobbing on sofas, watching any old crap that is some funny, clever or sexy advert appears, it will instantly grab our attention. Boys like to see something happen in an advert, we get bored easily, with print advertising, a picture is not really enough to make us go 'Ooh did you see that?' Also, a boy is more likely to talk to his friends about TV ads than magazine ads as it is kind of less geeky to find out about something on TV or YouTube or something like that."
This focus group has therefore flagged up some very interesting and useful points for us to consider when creating our marketing strategy. From this we should:
1. Consider creating a campaign that does not involve print, that is clever, humorous or sexy and that could involve the all important video marketing (as New Balance do not want to pay for TV advertising other options will have to be thought up).
2. Look at limited editions and collaborations that the boys find interesting that New Balance could adopt in order to achieve the trickle down effect of introducing New Balance into this consumer type.
3. Consider creating a new New Balance style from what the boys have outlined that they like in their favourite shoe, and what they like and do not like about Si's shoe.
All of the information is very valuable and will be very helpful when coming up with our idea... I look forward to talking to the boys again in a few weeks time to see what their New Balance opinions are now, and what they think of our campaign.
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