When I first heard about this from cats I knew, I thought it was a joke. Then here it was in Brandweek: Starbury pushing Dime ‘n’ Five kicks from... Steve & Barry. Now, Mitchell & Ness, I get, but Steve and Barry?
My ample gut's told me that it’s just another sign of a brother falling on hard times. Steph brought the Showbiz to KG in Minnesota. Shoulda been Shaq/Kobe 1 minus the rape trial and infighting. Definitely one of the greatest mag covers ever. (Ups to SLAM!) One of the true and living streetball legends to break an owner’s bank before the salary cap—and back it up on the court. Mostly.
He was like Iverson without the (mainstream paranoid-media-hyped) thug passion. Grip. Speed. Could go baseline or the lane on just about anybody. Better passer than AI. Could give you 40 most any night. (Might require 25 shots but he’s good for 40.) Star’s heart was questioned on occasion. No real love for the game. In short: Typical block to the top hood baller.
Which is precisely why this shoe deal could be absolute genius, the more I think about it.
I’ve balled with NBA cats in my day as a youngin’. Never Star, but others on his level. Perception’s 85% with ‘em, and most of that’s jealousy greed and assumptions. Steph’s seen as a cat who’d rather have 60 points than 60 wins. Thinks you can and-1 your way to a title. Can’t focus enough to run a team; but loves the dough.
Okay, the loot part is usually true. And who doesn’t want the individual shine… My point is lacing up $15 kicks from a relative unknown who’s known for being bargain basement at best is akin to the beginnings of an image makeover.
It shows he’s not selfish and bling-obsessed. He coulda licked his wounds and called up Beaverton or somebody and given them an uptown special. But nope. He running with the local boys.
Genius.
Sneaks that cost less than a pair of shorts. Can you imagine Jordan rockin’ a pair of $15 anything? How about Kobe? Or Shaq? Or Vince Carter? Or Steve Nash? Or anyone with an NBA contract. Okay, maybe Ron Artest… but that’s a big maybe. And Dennis Rodman’s long gone. (Plus he’s retired.)
Here’s my only problem: Downplaying the price. Check this quote from Steve ‘n’ Barry’s:
“The strategy behind the Starbury launch was to get consumers interested in the shoe, to pique their curiosity,” said Howard Schacter, chief partnership officer at Steve & Barry’s, Port Washington, N.Y. “We didn’t want people saying, ‘It’s $14.98, it can’t be good.’
So why are we downplaying this again? Consumers won’t. You think folks won’t realize they can buy 7 pairs of Starburys for the price of One pair of RBKs?! And God help you if the shoes are any good… Ever hear of Payless? Steph could be the new school Chuck Taylor, a baller—one who balls with ability, over money. It’s about skills.
Just as image was everything for Andre Agassi and Cannon Cameras a decade-plus ago, Starbury could be the anti-baller, the anti-bling dude. Truthfully, it’d be an easier sell with someone like Andre Miller or Ben Wallace or anyone from the Detroit Pistons, but why not show the “transformation”.
We’re all convinced that Iverson “grew up”. He didn’t. We did… maybe a little bit of both. Point is. For cats from the hood and masses of folks, buying reasonably priced gym shoes and letting your game do most of the talking is real grown man business.
We’ll proudly buy it… long as you’re not ashamed to sell it.
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http://brandweek.com/bw/news/spotlight/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003017888
No Business Like Shoe Business At Steve & Barry's
August 16, 2006
By Barry Janoff
NEW YORK -- Stephon Marbury has had several homes since joining the NBA in 1996: Minnesota, New Jersey, Phoenix and, since January 2004, in New York where he has been a point guard with the New York Knicks. But Marbury plans to have a more permanent home now with national retailer Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear, which on Wednesday officially launches an exclusive 50-SKU collection of “Starbury” footwear, clothing and accessories.
This is the first sub-brand for Steve & Barry’s. But the retailer said it will not be its last, especially if the line is successful. Steve & Barry’s has grown from one location in 1985 to more than 130 (with a total of 200 planned by year’s end), behind the promise, “1,000’s of items at $7.98 or less.” That will now change to the new tag “1,000s of items,” with Starbury basketball shoes selling for $14.98 and other items priced at $9.98.
The company is so committed to the Starbury line that it is devoting a section in each location to the collection, including flat-screen TVs looping clips of Marbury in action and Brooklyn, N.Y.-themed accoutrements to reflect where the 29-year-old Marbury was born and raised. These sections were literally remodeled overnight to coincide with the Aug. 16 launch so that shoppers on Aug. 15 had no inkling as to what was coming.
Steve & Barry’s has no qualms about pitting its Starbury shoe against the big boys in the industry—Reebok, Nike, adidas and And 1—which “own” almost all of the feet in the NBA and regularly launch products at $100 or more. The retailer already has established that it can grow by targeting college-age consumers with inexpensive jeans, jackets, workout clothes, jerseys and T-shirts, even in shopping mall locations already claimed by the likes of The Gap, J.C. Penney or TJ Maxx.
The unexplored territory here is whether the basketball shoe nation that has kept Air Jordans at or near the top of the best-seller list for more than 20 years will buy into a shoe that can be had for pocket change.
“The strategy behind the Starbury launch was to get consumers interested in the shoe, to pique their curiosity,” said Howard Schacter, chief partnership officer at Steve & Barry’s, Port Washington, N.Y. “We didn’t want people saying, ‘It’s $14.98, it can’t be good.’ When consumers put on the shoe, they’ll love it regardless of the price. So we broke [teaser] ads in August issues of publications including Dime, Complex and XXL that showed a photo of Stephon as a kid in Brooklyn and talked about a new shoe line without mentioning Steve & Barry’s or the [low] price point. Now we are starting to make those connections.”
That includes new ads in the September issues of the aforementioned basketball-centric magazines, via Mastermind Group, New York; Internet presence at Steve & Barry’s home page with a link to Starbury.com; shout-outs on basketball shoe blogs (which are more prevalent and influential than the casual observer might imagine); an appearance on Live with Regis & Kelly on Aug. 2; and an honorary coaching appearance by Marbury last Saturday at the Felipe Lopez Celebrity Basketball Classic at Carnesecca Arena at St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y. His visit there included free samples of his shoe—which he and Steve & Barry’s swear is the same shoe the ball player will wear this season with the Knicks.
That sampling ploy was in keeping with the guerrilla marketing tactics prior to the shoe launch, which has seen Marbury hand out goods to high school-aged athletes at basketball camps, New York playground basketball courts, barber shops and even on the streets of Coney Island, near where Marbury honed his basketball skills.
The deal evolved about a year ago because Marbury’s reps at The Agency Sports Management, New York, which has handled him for about two years, had previously worked with Schacter. “They were looking for a quality partnership and we were looking to expand our brand, and it all came together,” said Schacter.
The shoes were designed by Rocket Fish, Portsmouth, N.H., which is run by two guys whose resumés include more than 20 years of sports shoe design for companies including Nike and Fila. Marbury himself was involved from “concept to creation,” Schacter said.
To help keep costs low, Marbury did not sign the type of mega-money contract usually associated with athletes and basketball shoes, according to Schacter. Instead of getting a chunk of change upfront, a route Marbury had taken during his previous shoe contract with And 1, this is a back-end deal, under which he will be paid based on how well the shoe and other products sell. Steve & Barry’s is translating its low-cost mantra to Starbury footwear (and clothing) so that “we can help teach kids to be responsible, earn their own money and buy these shoes without asking their parents for money,” Schacter quoted Marbury as saying.
Steve & Barry’s already has anticipated that shoe inventory in its Manhattan Mall location, which is across the street from the Knicks’ Madison Square Garden home, will need to be replenished several times during the first month. And when the Knicks’ 2006-07 NBA preseason starts with a home game on Oct. 13 against the New Jersey Nets, Steve & Barry’s will unleash a fresh round of guerrilla marketing moves.
One tack being kicked around could be to have a camera crew follow Marbury into the Manhattan Mall store, watch him take off the shelves of a pair of Starbury’s (size 12) that come in the Knicks’ official orange, blue and white color combination and follow him to the team’s locker room, where he will put on the shoes and go onto the court for a game.
Keeping prices down also is a result of a minimal advertising budget: Steve & Barry’s spent no money on media in 2004, about $525,000 in 2005 and just about $25,000 through the first quarter of 2006, per TNS. And don’t expect this launch to break the company’s marketing bank.
Steve & Barry’s has two launch parties scheduled at its Manhattan Mall store for Wednesday: a daytime event with Marbury, company owners Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, media and fans; and a star-studded evening bash, handled by über-celeb agency Lizzie Grubman Public Relations, New York, that is expected to draw the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Fat Joe. Although Steve & Barry’s relishes the idea of being a low-profile company, the Marbury alliance likely will lead to similar deals with other well-known personalities who will put their names on national sub-brand lines.
There’s always the downside that the Knicks won’t rebound from last year’s dismal 23-59 season and that Marbury could find himself on the trading block (even though Knicks’ president and head coach Isiah Thomas also is represented by The Agency). Or that the street credentials Marbury has in New York won’t translate well in Detroit, Orlando or other Steve & Barry’s locations. “But it’s not just Steph’s endorsement,” said Jordan Bazant, a founder and principal at The Agency Sports Management. “If you’ve got a good product at a good value, people will support it.”
For now, though, Marbury is Steve & Barry’s point guard to the promised land of basketball shoes. “We know what we know and we know what we don’t know,” said Schacter. “We’ve put a great team together to bring Starbury to consumers. So far, everyone’s playing together in the sand box very well.”
