Apparel Sale :: Dr. Marten's Online Competition

Apparel Sale :: Dr. Marten's Online Competition

Speaking of comebacks, Doc Marten is someone else that is making one; establishing an online design competition to put some focus on their apparel sales.

What started out as an industrial work boot quickly became a popular staple footwear item in the underground punk scene. “They are kind of antifashion fashion,” Kimberly Barta, vice president for marketing at AirWair International’s American operation in Portland, Ore. told the NYT, “We were a practical, hard-wearing, all-purpose work boot before we were ever picked up by the youth culture, and in time we became a design classic.”

For a while now, the brand has seen slow times. Then, this past spring, after running ads depicting dead musicians, like Kurt Cobain, wearing them, they were in the news, but for all the wrong reasons.  After hooking up with a new advertising agency, Exposure Communications, the boots made a few appearances on the runways at New York's Fall Fashion Week. Nothing like being thrown back into the spotlight to make you realize your company needs to catch up with the times.

So, what is the first thing most companies do? Turn to the Internet.  And that is exactly what AirWair International has chosen to do. Following in the footsteps of many other companies trying to get the consumer involved, Doc Martens launched an online competition aimed at getting fans of the shoes to custom-design the classic 1460 boot, online.  Although a winner has been chosen for this year, worry not, the contest will be back.

The premise was simple enough. Participants were given a virtual blank boot as their canvas, and then they choose colors for the leather and laces. From there they were given the virtual equivalents of the tools that fans have always used to personalize their boots: felt-tip markers, White-Out, spray paint and even a lighter to discolor the leather.   Visitors vote for their favorites, and over the next year, the four most popular designs will be produced in limited editions of 1,000 boots that will be sold primarily at the brand’s flagship stores in London and Portland.

Beginning in October, the contest saw over 12,000 designs.

What a great promotion!  Literally, the company took what they knew their customers were doing anyway, and brought it in to the Internet age, giving current fans a new way to show their flair and also gaining new customers by giving them a medium to work in which they are most familiar.

Not only that, there has been a significant increase in Internet searches for the brand.  Take a look at this chart depicting the searches originating out of Germany:

Then again, in this chart.  Notice that the brand is being spelled two different ways……the majority of this search traffic?  Originating from France.  This bring a great side-point that everyone should remember: Always know your customer, regardless of their geographic location!

So, does this mean that we'll be seeing Dr. Martens on feet everywhere, once again?  With over 450 styles to choose from, gone are the days of a company that sells only a chunky combat boot.  In fact, look what I just found over at Zappos:

Apparel Sale :: Zappos.com :: Dr. Martens "Charlie"

Doesn't even resemble a Dr. Marten as you know it, does it?  I think we're in for a whole new era with AirWair International.