Target Market: Settled

Although there does not seem to be as much cross-over appeal for in-line skates as there is for skateboarding, the target market for this project is going to be the non-hardcore skaters - so i am going to be highlighting such aspects as:
- ease
- comfort
- durability
- functionality
- utility
of the in-line skates for my campaign

i am tempted to use the innovative 2-wheel company, but since style is going to be as significant of a selling-point as functionality, i am going to stick with one of the more conventional companies.

so i am going to go with K2

their logo is straight ill and i am looking forward to working with it (although i am still not in far enough to turn back if i change my mind in the next couple days)

on my mind right now is Lupe Fiasco - a lot of sources have been hailing his album and approach to Hip Hop as a landmark in crossing Hip Hop and skater culture

reasons for this are especially evident in his video 'Kick Push':




his other video 'I Gotcha' is also dripping wiff style:




i took a trip to the mall again to check out some other labels in general - but ima save the results of that trip for the next blog post


tomorrow

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Notebook Session

Had a good brainstorming session this evening.

Here are the pages from my notebook.

My tendency is always to orientate myself, and I find benefit in dragging all pertinent knowledge into the situation.

There is a reason why psychology class is part of this course, so I make a attempt to incorporate some of that shit into my methodology.

Discounting knowledge seems stupid at this point.


There is no reason to feel obliged to create something that has already been created.
BUT
There has been successful techniques used in the past.



The intended demographic side of things is a bit of a pain in the ass to me.

I hate targeting only a certain group of people - then again, I'm not much of a salesman.

It is looking like my intended market for this thing will be for people who do not generally use in-line skates or perhaps have never really even considered in-line skates.

I wouldn't mind developing a tag that is cool enough that kids would steal it off the product on the store shelves.

That's not a bad marketing technique, as far as I can see.

Logo exposure is logo exposure.



This was some research on the various brands of in-line skates that are currently on the market. Also some quick sketches of their logos.

Here are the brands and their websites:

K2
Salomon
LandRoller
Fila
Rollerblade

There was this other company called 'Roces' which had one of the most horrifying websites I have ever seen in my life. I am sure there was some good intent behind it, but that joint suffers from some serious communication issues and may want to invest some more time and resources into their net development.

Here is a example of their verbal mastery:

These are the goals for wich we work hard 365 days a year.

Improving our product, our quality, our services to customers and consumers, our image. Improving in order to deliver you the best product yu may need to perform perfectly in the sport we all love: skating.

To do this we develop all of our products with the different types of skater in mind, and we are almost sure we didn't forget any!
Our aim is to give to every style of skater it own product. This may make the line a little broad, but it's a necessity to reach our most important goals: skater satisfaction.

To make this happen we are always out there getting input, we are always living, eating and breathing skating. To do this we have The Spirit and Soul of skating

yikes

Anyway - I'm leaning toward taking on this LandRoller company because their product seems to be the most innovative and their advertising seems to be the most hokey among the other companies. A bit of a challenge. Could make sense to try to advertise this to my target demographic.

K2 might also be a good candidate because their logo could fit what I currently have in mind.

Fila looks cool too.

Also: I couldn't find any info on the Salomon site about in-line skates so I'm wondering if they even produce them anymore.



Things are looking good.

Although I don't think a product tag can tilt the world on its axis, this seems like this will be some good creative exercise.

It's all about creative problem solving.

That's today's lesson boys and girls.

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