Those are definitely the coolest looking golf shoes I've ever scene. Not so different than Nike ID I reckon but the logo design element is super. Customization is a thing that's been talked about for ages in marketing and only starting to come alive in this age of ME. This is a nice find!
Tom - StandOutBlogger.com
· 1 year ago
Wow! That would be awesome to have custom golf shoes!
Ciri Fenzel
· 1 year ago
Having spent eight years working at Reebok, I appreciate the analogy between customizing footwear and customizing our marketing messages. Marketers working on mass retail / brands are already regionalizing and in some cases offering small group communication. It is a must as product assortment plans become more defined by store. In my opinion, retailers have a tremendous opportunity to now start truly personalizing their relationship with the customer by merging social media, brand presence online, RFID and new media in-store. Shopping online and picking up a product in-store is a start; but we have so much still to delve into. Thanks so much for a thought provoking post.
Steve Garfield
· 1 year ago
I think custom is cool.
Just this morning I was looking around for a keyboard skin and found these guys.
They'll put a skin on almost anything AND you can upoad your own image. I like that.
I also upoaded a custom image on my Dunkin Donuts card. It's fun to use because the people in the store are almost always excited about seeig what I've done.
It's a Barack Obama sutome image and you can see it here:
In addition to getting the cool image on my card, the Dunkin Donuts support people called me on the phone to make sure I was happy after having to reprint my card because of a design issue.
I was very impressed with their follow up AND the end product.
I think a lot of products would benefit from custom options.
I could easily think of a few more right now:
Beer, Wine, Newspapers...
Darren Daz Cox
· 1 year ago
now if I could just get my art on some chucks then that would be awesome!
Peter Renton
· 1 year ago
Chris,
Personalization is the next big thing in retail products. It has already started happening with shoes as well as products like Heinz ketchup (www.myheinz.com), Kleenex (www.mykleenextissue.com), even Pringles chips and Sharpie markers can be personalized. My company has printed personalized labels for wine and cookie jars.
This trend is only just getting started. With today's digital printing technologies many retail products lend themselves very easily to personalization. It is pretty easy to setup a simple web site to allow your customers to personalize the packaging of your products. I expect in the next decade this will become a common option for most retail products.
Peter Renton Lightning Labels
Jay Salyers
· 1 year ago
Custom has been around for a while. Granted, we've made it more accessible and more individualized, but the 80/20 rule still applies. It's important that we offer customization in our products and marketing strategies, but we can't rely on it.
P.S. I can't wait to order a pair of custom University of Kentucky golf shoes. Just in time for basketball season. Go Cats!
Joann Sondy
· 1 year ago
Interesting. I'm on the fence about this one.
For sports teams I embrace the customized shoe. For individuals (not Tiger Woods) I'm not sure. Is this just another vanity item in an already over abundant "ME" society?
Mass customization has been talked about for a long while. Do a search on Amazon (http://bit.ly/o1Wh) for Mass Customization, and you find lots of titles, even one called "Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition" from 1992. But for some reason, it hasn't taken off large scale yet. It's still very niche, although besides FootJoy and NikeID, here are some others:
For $150, there's 2007's "Mass Customization and Footwear: Myth, Salvation or Reality?", which I'm sure would be very interesting. http://bit.ly/cgU
Finally, Dell Computer is one of the (if not the largest) success of mass customization. Michael Dell has a book called Direct From Dell (http://bit.ly/JawL) and it's a great read for those interested in the topic.
I think social media might be the key that unlocks the opportunity, and hence the willingness, for marketers and companies to embrace mass customization on a much larger scale. It helps unlock "small is the new big" or "the long tail" concepts. Is it any coincidence that Dell is the company publishing how much money they've made from Twitter? http://bit.ly/lX2d
Ciri Fenzel
· 1 year ago
One of the reasons that personalization has taken off recently is that it taps into two "defining needs" that consumers look for in apparel and footwear. The opportunity to be "inclusive" (associated to a certain brand) while also remaining "exclusive" (unique in their appearance and choice of look).
Heather Kennedy
· 1 year ago
For that price, I'd make a sticker and slap it on something that wasn't so fugly. What demographic looks and comments on another's shoes though? You'd get more by paying some kid to walk up and down the boardwalks in the summer in a custom tee.
Shay West
· 1 year ago
Chris: Custom product/service and social media--essentially custom relationship--go hand in hand. Thanks, as always for your laser-sharp insights!
Paul Miser
· 1 year ago
Great post Chris! I'm the type of guy who hates to run into someone with a shirt or shoes or hat like one I own. It's very frustrating. I was just thinking this morning that with all the technology we have in manufacturing and the marketing power transition from marketer "pushing" messages to the masses to consumers "pulling" messages and wanting a brand to be malleable to form in their personal life, why don't we all have our very own wardrobe? I think you are exactly right that customization is the future in both product offerings as well as marketing.
Squasher98
· 1 year ago
The market for custom products will definitely be enormous. One of my favorite companies innovating in this space is Infectious.com. Not only is Infectious making custom products, but they crowd source the designs and allow the contributors to profit from sales helping the product get traction/distribution (Threadless-like).
I have a sneaky suspicion that if you can customize the product, consumers have more incentive to buy multiple items, increasing sales and repeat customers. No data to back this up, but I'm sure it's the case
Custom used to be too expensive (read: craftsmenship). Various pressures including war brought about the assembly line and mass production. Technology destroyed craftsmenship and individuality. Technology is now bringing it back.
The ability to target long tail custom markets qualify the cost of small numbers. This is a good example. Etsy is another good example. It's amazing the number of craftsmen and women on Etsy and related sites - good for culture.
Jimmy Martinez
· 1 year ago
Great Post! The price of individuality was insane. Nice to see more people will be able to express what makes them them. I am looking forward to a future with a lot less clones now!
Blog Expert
· 1 year ago
I think getting something customized has been coming on for many years. I really do not think that it is anything new. I know for the past six years I have been able to customize my basketball shoes if I choose to do so. I think it just depends how many options you have when you are customizing something.
365 Hustle
· 1 year ago
Customization costs. It's nice to customize your stuff, but like I said...it costs. As for business, I do believe in providing a quite personal service...people really appreciate it. I guess I customized my bizz.
Brad
· 1 year ago
I believe customization has a very bright future. With the proliferation of drop shipping companies can leverage the value add and pleasant margins that customization can offer. Adding a Red Sox or Yankees logo to something (anything!) shouldn't cost much but your everyday rabid fan is likely to pay a bit more for a unique brag piece.
Wendy
· 1 year ago
My first thought was 'how cool would it be to get some with my logo!' And then I read "Quick geek moment: how cool would it be to have a pair of shoes with my logo? Cool. "
Everything else on the web is about finding a niche market, which can now be quite big. I think providing products that can be customized for that niche, or even at a more individual level gives people something to identify with. It's another way to build your brand.
Jeremy Hilton
· 1 year ago
I love the idea of customization and what that means from a brand perspective -
Traditionally, brands present a limited offering of products, and the brand loyalist is expected to morph in order to use the brand.
Nike and FootJoy are demonstrating the idea of a brand morphing to fit the individual.
Jeremy Hilton
· 1 year ago
@chrisbrogan
I'm really interested to know how much resistance these initiatives were met with in their organizations. Perhaps you know.
Did this product have an easy road at FootJoy? Or was there an "old guard" who resisted the idea of walking on unfamiliar ground?
GeekGiant
· 1 year ago
Let me know when they make size 18s that aren't grossly expensive ;)
I think that custom work is an application of micro blogging and micro formats in the real world. Here in the tech space, we look for ways to condense input. Here, FootJoy is condensing outputs.
Craig
· 1 year ago
@steve I have been to skinit.com before as well. A great site although I have never purchased anything myself. Seems like more customizable is the way. People are willing to spend money if they can customize and the quality is high. With the internet, you can find anyone who is willing to buy. The internet breaks down barriers.
Jeff Brunelle
· 1 year ago
Customization expenses are high now, but as manufactures continue to improve their processes we'll see more and more services like this - even from big brands like FootJoy & Nike. Threadless' concept is a bit different than Nike's, but I think they prove that customized JIT manufacturing is the wave of the future. As more consumers begin to migrate to those companies offering expanded choices, It will be interesting to watch other brands adapt and try to regain their share.
Lee Frank
· 1 year ago
I like my Nike IDs so much. It sucks that they're getting beaten up though now. I work in the customized clothing industry also at http://www.cutandsewn.com. We like the threadless idea, but it sucks for the people who are below the line of top 3 designs. Everyone's design deserves to be made.
Mark Smith
· 1 year ago
The hurdle of customization is getting the customer involved the process.
That is, designing something that they think is worthy to put on something. I have been working Mikons.com for two years now http://mikons.com and http://mikonmixers.com A mikon is a symbol about you - like my icon. Users can design their own image and put them on stuff, or connect with others at parties with iconic stickers (mikonmixers).
It is easy to imagine that everyone wants to be unique and express themselves in a custom way. But difficult to facilitate that.
Co-branding with the larger companies is one way. However, the entrenched big guys are presently afraid of the implications and the threat to their own manufacturing processes.
Mike Lowe
· 1 year ago
Jeremy --
Great question. MyJoys began development in late 2002 and was launched in September 2003. The directive for the development of a mass customization program came from our company president, so his support cleared the way to get the process rolling.
Development went very well, but was not without its speed bumps. MyJoys was built with a trade and consumer-direct component, so this addressed any Sales concerns. Our reps see this program as an incremental opportunity and have passed this enthusiasm down to their accounts.
For the rest of the organization, we got them involved, developing a feeling of ownership across all departments (customer service, finance, credit, etc..). This approach worked very well for us and continues to bolster the program today.
All Comments
Just this morning I was looking around for a keyboard skin and found these guys.
http://www.skinit.com/
They'll put a skin on almost anything AND you can upoad your own image. I like that.
I also upoaded a custom image on my Dunkin Donuts card. It's fun to use because the people in the store are almost always excited about seeig what I've done.
It's a Barack Obama sutome image and you can see it here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevegarfield/3118384504/
In addition to getting the cool image on my card, the Dunkin Donuts support people called me on the phone to make sure I was happy after having to reprint my card because of a design issue.
I was very impressed with their follow up AND the end product.
I think a lot of products would benefit from custom options.
I could easily think of a few more right now:
Beer, Wine, Newspapers...
Personalization is the next big thing in retail products. It has already started happening with shoes as well as products like Heinz ketchup (www.myheinz.com), Kleenex (www.mykleenextissue.com), even Pringles chips and Sharpie markers can be personalized. My company has printed personalized labels for wine and cookie jars.
This trend is only just getting started. With today's digital printing technologies many retail products lend themselves very easily to personalization. It is pretty easy to setup a simple web site to allow your customers to personalize the packaging of your products. I expect in the next decade this will become a common option for most retail products.
Peter Renton
Lightning Labels
P.S. I can't wait to order a pair of custom University of Kentucky golf shoes. Just in time for basketball season. Go Cats!
For sports teams I embrace the customized shoe.
For individuals (not Tiger Woods) I'm not sure.
Is this just another vanity item in an already over abundant "ME" society?
FYI: you can order customized KEDS on Zazzle.com
Timberland Boots: http://bit.ly/3dkg3Q
Performance Outdoor Clothing: http://beyondclothing.com/
Land's end Customer Clothing: http://bit.ly/urWV
For $150, there's 2007's "Mass Customization and Footwear: Myth, Salvation or Reality?", which I'm sure would be very interesting. http://bit.ly/cgU
Finally, Dell Computer is one of the (if not the largest) success of mass customization. Michael Dell has a book called Direct From Dell (http://bit.ly/JawL) and it's a great read for those interested in the topic.
I think social media might be the key that unlocks the opportunity, and hence the willingness, for marketers and companies to embrace mass customization on a much larger scale. It helps unlock "small is the new big" or "the long tail" concepts. Is it any coincidence that Dell is the company publishing how much money they've made from Twitter? http://bit.ly/lX2d
I have a sneaky suspicion that if you can customize the product, consumers have more incentive to buy multiple items, increasing sales and repeat customers. No data to back this up, but I'm sure it's the case
http://twitter.com/squasher98
Custom used to be too expensive (read: craftsmenship). Various pressures including war brought about the assembly line and mass production. Technology destroyed craftsmenship and individuality. Technology is now bringing it back.
The ability to target long tail custom markets qualify the cost of small numbers. This is a good example. Etsy is another good example. It's amazing the number of craftsmen and women on Etsy and related sites - good for culture.
Everything else on the web is about finding a niche market, which can now be quite big. I think providing products that can be customized for that niche, or even at a more individual level gives people something to identify with. It's another way to build your brand.
Traditionally, brands present a limited offering of products, and the brand loyalist is expected to morph in order to use the brand.
Nike and FootJoy are demonstrating the idea of a brand morphing to fit the individual.
I'm really interested to know how much resistance these initiatives were met with in their organizations. Perhaps you know.
Did this product have an easy road at FootJoy? Or was there an "old guard" who resisted the idea of walking on unfamiliar ground?
I think that custom work is an application of micro blogging and micro formats in the real world. Here in the tech space, we look for ways to condense input. Here, FootJoy is condensing outputs.
That is, designing something that they think is worthy to put on something. I have been working Mikons.com for two years now http://mikons.com and http://mikonmixers.com A mikon is a symbol about you - like my icon. Users can design their own image and put them on stuff, or connect with others at parties with iconic stickers (mikonmixers).
It is easy to imagine that everyone wants to be unique and express themselves in a custom way. But difficult to facilitate that.
Co-branding with the larger companies is one way. However, the entrenched big guys are presently afraid of the implications and the threat to their own manufacturing processes.
Great question. MyJoys began development in late 2002 and was launched in September 2003. The directive for the development of a mass customization program came from our company president, so his support cleared the way to get the process rolling.
Development went very well, but was not without its speed bumps. MyJoys was built with a trade and consumer-direct component, so this addressed any Sales concerns. Our reps see this program as an incremental opportunity and have passed this enthusiasm down to their accounts.
For the rest of the organization, we got them involved, developing a feeling of ownership across all departments (customer service, finance, credit, etc..). This approach worked very well for us and continues to bolster the program today.
Regards,
Mike Lowe
FootJoy