Source: ASICSTIGER x Disney | ASICS Tiger United States
Alright, I understand that Disney is thoroughly integrated into the landscape of Americana. I also realize that Disney is powerful enough to control the television, film and sports landscape in a way that has allowed the brand to even move into the streaming category. In other words, Disney is arguably the king of media and entertainment. The iconic Mouse Ears logo is quickly identifiable and the merchandising around the brand remains an easy road to selling products, or is it?
In the last few months ASICS has launched a Disney collection. Vans has launched a Disney Collection, albeit aimed towards kids, and New Balance has launched a Disney Collection; which is aimed towards fitness, fashion forward people. The interesting thing to me is that several brands are leading with the same collaboration heading into the holidays which is automatically an oversaturation of the sneaker footwear market, but it is also a heavy handed reliance on collaborations.
In a sneaker world where the marketing teams have landed on Influencers as the only path, and collaborations as the best way to reach a consumer they assume is distracted, both formats of advertising lead to a lot of footwear sitting on shelves and being grabbed by eBay hustlers looking to make a dollar off of the flood of licensing of footwear and apparel by Disney and (Insert Company)Paying to Play.
Right now under the search “Sneakers Disney” on eBay, there are over 1800 pair of shoes listed. Only 203 shoes have sold and they are all selling basically below retail which infers that the sellers were able to purchase them at a sale price to begin with.
So what is it that moves brands to consistently align with influencers and to push out collaborations? The marketing teams have come to rely on what appears to be an easy solution. Yes, Disney has an emotional appeal for many and emotion can drive the urge for consumers to purchase, but when there are so many companies driving the same cars and the brand is also driving that car at a lower price, the brand will always win. Which means the customer will always win because contrary to popular belief the consumer is not distracted. They are more informed than ever and simply slapping a logo, or adding a celebrity to the mix for a sneaker isn’t the conversion tool it used to be.