CONVERSE - ONE CHUCK AT A TIME report

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CONTENTS p.3 p.4-5 p.6-7 p.8-9 p.8-9 p.11 p.12

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Introduction

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

In the recent years Converse has noted a significant decrease in sales and performance with their, by now, main audience - teenage girls. The brand has admitted that it hasn’t done much to show up in the world of these teens so the new strategic approach needs to be found in order to stay relevant to this target group.

Converse prides itself to be understanding and serving their audience in a useful way. The main focus and core of the brand has always been the youth culture. For over a century, Converse has been celebrating the daring spirit of youth - the unchangeable element of the youth culture with changeable meaning of this expression for each generation.

To identify possible solutions for Converse to reconnect with its desired audience, we conducted an in-depth research on the young people of today to understand who they are, what they want and what the daring spirit of youth means to them. We dedicated special attention to the reality of living in London as a teenager, learning about teens’ on- and offline behaviour as well as brand preferences and the most efficient way to approach them.

In addition we analyzed the brand itself to find Converse’s biggest strengths, which are the foundation for any new strategy. To reassure the relevance of the new tactics we took a closer look at the recent market trends and strategies, which proved to be successful with the young demanding consumers.

Our research findings are followed by the key insight, recommendation for a new strategy to approach chosen target audience and the overall conclusions.

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BRAND 4

Brand

Converse, once an iconic brand being an ultimate symbol of youth and rebellion nowadays struggles to connect with the young audience and bring the same value to them as it did in the past to the previous generations.

Despite recent attempts, the brand fails to succeed with creating a strong relationship with the youth of today - Generation Z and make Chucks cool and popular amongst young teens of today.

To identify the essence of the brand and its core message, we analysed a few biggest marketing campaigns of Converse from the past 10 years. The aim of this analysis was to capture how the meaning of Chucks had changed throughout the years and to determine possible direction for the future.

Campaigns

Face of the campaign: Iconic (mostly music) idols: Sid Vicious, Ian Curtis, Billie Joe, Pharrell Williams, Julian Casablancas and many more.

Feel of the campaign: Strong connection with music, inspire originality, creativity, pioneerism, independence.

Face of the campaign: Millie Bobby Brown, Maisie Williams, Alisha Boe, Alton Mason, Cole Sprouse, Sabrina Carpenter, Rowan Blanchard, Taylor Hill and Selah Marley.

Message: Converse is the connecting element between people who share pioneer and rebellious attitude.

“Connectivity”, a campaign created to celebrate brand’s heritage and the meaning that Converse’s shoes had earned throughout the years while staying true to its iconic design.

Featuring musicians from the past decades and the contemporary ones connected by their Chucks, the campaign showed similarity in attitudes of people wearing Converse today and in the past.

The aim of this campaign was “to inspire originality and be an advocate and catalyst for creativity”1. “Connectivity” was also strongly attached to music, with its own song created specially for the campaign and featuring musicians who wore Converse and dared to break the rules of music.

The campaign showed the rebellious attitude that Chucks had represented throughout the years and what kind of people wore it, presenting an aspirational image to the audience. It showed diversity of times and music genres connected to Converse, proving that Chucks are above all the differences and connect people with a certain attitude.

“Connectivity” inspired individuals to come together and connect on what is common for them - the rebellious spirit.

Face of the campaign: Widely-known and local artists and musicians, to name a few; Andy Warhol, Futura, Patti Smith.

Feel of the campaign: Individual style, music, art, being true, authentic self, creative self-expression.

Message: Chucks are the shoes, which you tailor to your personality - it is a mean of self-expression.

This campaign was made to celebrate Converse’s wearers and their unique, individual style. Chucks become the reflection of its owner, gaining distinctive appearance and stories while being worn. The campaign was accompanied with gallery exhibitions showing the most iconic shoe pairs worn by famous and local artists and musicians.

“Made by you’ originated from a simple human truth – we all want to be our true, authentic self in this world. Fans of Chuck Taylor are the ones who have made Chuck Taylor an iconic badge of creative self-expression. It’s time we celebrated them.”2

Feel of the campaign: Underground, dangerous, self-confident, hip, tough individuals, street style, nightlife.

Message: Chuck has been an iconic shoe representing the underdogs and people who do their own thing. Wearing Chucks represents your individuality, desires, dreams and character.

The campaign made for the 100 years anniversary “Forever Chuck” was a very self-confident one celebrating coolness of the brand and people who wear it.

The series of campaign videos put an emphasis on what hip individualistic people wear Converse. The stars featured in the campaign make bold statements throughout the video about who they are and what they want in life but it hardly feels authentic in the overload of movie effects and cinematic-like look.

Overall, the campaign gives an aspirational image of people who wear Converse.

“Through the debut of our Forever Chuck film, we will have officially introduced our collective of exciting people, who share our brand values and are driving the spirit of youth culture forward.”3

Ian Stewart, Vice President of Global Marketing.

The CMO of Converse, Geoff Cottrill about the campaign, “Our whole mission is to inspire originality and be an advocate and catalyst for creativity.”

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Statement by Julien Cahn, Chief Marketing Officer at Converse.

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Face of the campaign: Millie Bobby Brown.

Feel of the campaign: Butterflies kids get building up to the first day of school.

Message: Everyone had experienced variety of common feelings on the first day of school.

This campaign highlighted the different feelings that kids experience on the first day of school and expressed wide variety of emotions it excites.

The gifs were a major part of the campaign, as they are widely popular amongst teens and has become today’s way of expression. The aim of this campaign was to resonate with the young audience in a more authentic way. The gifs memes in opposite to the video, are highly shareable content, which made the campaign so successful and popular.

Brand

Personality

Looking at these four campaigns we could clearly see many similarities, which helped us to portray brand’s personality. To visualize our conclusions, we decided to consider who would Converse be if it was a person.

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Converse’s tone of voice: Excited.

Straight-forward.

Inspirational.

Fun. Creative.

Informal.

If Converse was a person it would be:

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Strong support from the parent company; Nike - which provides a big boost to elevate Converse.

Rich heritage of Chuck Taylor shoes.

Collaborations with famous and influential artists, who are also big fans of the brand.

Over 100 year history.

Massive and loyal customer base.

Wide brand recognition: the star logo is recognizable internationally.

Iconic and timeless design, which can easily be adapted for special occasions and limited editions.

Much more affordable in comparison to competitors’ prices.

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Demand for statement shoes (to express one’s beliefs, financial status and personality).

Capitalize on nostalgia: Elements from the 80’s & 90’s are coming back as trends from flared jeans, platform shoes to gifs.4 Generation Z looks for emotional benefits and relatable stories and Converse has many to tell.

Growth in online shopping. Today consumers prefer to shop online because of convenience. Companies can focus more on their website, which also help to lower distribution costs.5 Using e-commerce platforms for more aggressive advertisement and promotion.

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Conclusion

As investigated, the brand essence is the creative, inspirational power to push boundaries, dare to break the rules and experiment. What is more, for the past years Converse had been strongly associated with music industry and creative people of all walks of life, who have the courage to be their true, unique selves. In result, Chucks had also become a symbol of individual, unique style, as the shoes - all the same looking - gain after some time of wearing, a very unique look reflecting its wearer’s lifestyle.

Converse has a long and rich history and throughout the years it gained itself a massive, international and very loyal customer base. It is recognized internationally and admired by many. However, with their long tradition comes its price, which is the risk to be perceived as outdated and irrelevant to young people. The brand needs to work extra hard to keep up with rapidly changing customer mindset of young generations to become part of their culture instead of falling out of favour and being labelled as “Your mum’s/grandma’s shoes”.

Bowsher, E 2018, “Online retail sales continue to soar”, Financial Times [online] Clark, N 2015, “In today’s disruptive world, brand heritage isn’t what it used to be”, AdAge [online] 4.

Fisher, L 2018, “#TheLIST: The Cringeworthy Throwback Trends Ruling 2018”, Harper’s Bazaar [online] 6.

Unknown, 2018, “Converse: Chuck Taylor All Star Low Tops”, The Counterfeit Report [online] 5.

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Limited product range, similar in designs.

The Chucks have been the biggest strength and weakness of the brand as there have been made minimal to no change to their design. Converse thus has limited ability to adapt to changing fashion or technology.

Converse might suffer from cannibalization by Nike, because of their ownership. Loyal consumers may also see this partnership as a “sell out” move. These consumers sees Nike as an industry giant, which goes against the mindset and beliefs Converse has built over the years.

Counterfeiting: Having such an iconic design caused a flood of counterfeits for half the price.6 The industry is very sensitive to price and fashion. Many competitors adjust to trends of the industry, but if Converse changes too much to follow trends, they will risk losing their identity, authenticity and loyalty from their core fan base.

Young generations do not care about brand’s rich heritage and can perceive Converse as irrelevant or old-fashioned.7

Nonetheless, Converse’s unique heritage is also a strong opportunity as is has a long history of standing up with the young, daring people. This mindset (interpreted in many different ways by many generations) is the unchangeable element for all young people across times, cultures and trends. Tapping on that element, the brand has a great potential in becoming relevant to the young audience in a very authentic way.

What is more, Chucks are iconic shoes that throughout the years have always represented a strong mindset. In the recent years, it is highly favourable for the company as the sneaker market and the demand for statement shoes are rapidly growing. Additionally, the fashion trends are also in favour for the iconic Chucks, since the nostalgia of the 80’s and 90’s is coming back to fashion.

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Gen Z

Generation Z is unlike any other before them. These young people aged 6 to 23 years old are highly socially conscious and are more interested in participating in social activism than their predecessors.

They are growing up seeing the full picture of what is happening in the world, hence they believe that with this knowledge they can truly change it for the better. These teens are also much more accepting than any other generation and perceive themselves within the context of a larger global collective.

Mindset

Generation Z is officially done with seeing the-only-right and the-only-existing Western perspective on life, which is awfully idealized and far from reality. Gen Z wants to see diversity and hear stories from different parts of the world as they want to be even more aware, accepting and embracing, so no minority, no other culture and no other person is left unheard or alone behind. They are more accepting and less judging, longing an ultimate equality between races, genders and sexual orientations. “We are more socially aware and faster thinkers... therefore we have more of an ability to make a real change in history.” - Sophia, 16.1

This generation of young people feel particularly misunderstood as most of the older people perceive them as disconnected from reality, lazy, constantly on their phones and as a result indifferent and vain. Whereas it is partly true when it comes to their phones, the result of such online behaviour has a quite unexpected outcome. Research has shown that Generation Z mostly uses their phones to connect with their peers and read about news, but they are likewise happy to disconnect and get an offline experience. In addition, these young people are bombarded daily with loads of information from many different sources, which in result makes them absorb information much faster and be much more critical of any information given.

Generation Z’s biggest concerns are social and political issues, especially; gender and racial inequality, LGBT rights, abortion rights and mental health. Furthermore, economic downfall, environmental issues and threatening political situation are also the reason behind Generation Z’s fear for the future.

Generation Z wants to be engaged in such issues, hence an authentic story that gives them an opportunity to be involved is the key to get noticed and be relevant to them. Tag-a-friend or user-generated online content strategy also proves to be successful, as it starts a conversation and make teens feel like they are a part of a connected experience and their voice is being heard by publishers or brands.

These people are ready to embrace all the differences between them, hence the feeling of a community and “being alone together” is very important. For 55% of Generation Zer’s helping others is a sign of a successful life.2

Online Behaviour

Generation Z values privacy and safety on social media much more than the generations before them. Therefore their use of different platforms is much more thought through.

They use mostly Snapchat to connect with their closest friends (no family).

Instagram to stay relevant to their peers, maintain “social position” and to chat.

Twitter - to read about the recent news and observe other people’s reactions and opinions as well as to connect with favourite celebrities.

Whatsapp and Facebook messenger (not so popular) is used mostly to chat.

Musical.ly is used for fun and self-expression by creating and sharing funny lip sync videos with the wider audience.

Additionally they spend hours on Youtube watching their favourite vloggers, as well as funny and educational videos.3

Awesomeness report, 2018 [online] Belinky, B. 2017, “Capturing what it means to be young and in London in 2017” [online] 2. & 4.

Guthrie, E. 2018, “Generation Z: who are they and what do they want?” [online] 9.

Hanna, E. 2018, “How Xanax Became the British Teenager’s Drug of Choice” [online] 8.

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Gen Z

Befriend Gen Z

The most important factors to catch Generation Z’s attention is authenticity, real stories and working for a good cause. They do not believe in big corporations and their storylines if they sense it is made up solely to make a profit. They demand an excellent product, authentic story and standing for an important cause. “Gen Z expect much more from their brands than those who have come before them: 23% of gen Z boycotted an activity or company based on moral values.”4

Authenticity as well as the feeling of community plays a big role in engaging with Generation Z, therefore the most trending stories are often sentimental or personal. The unconditional acceptance and longing for diversity makes generation Z engage the most with real content that puts real and different people (f.e. their peers) in the spotlight telling them relatable, confessional or extraordinary stories.

amongst Generation Z: 1. Chance The Rapper, 2. Zayn Malik, 3. Lorde, 4. Adele, 5. Beyoncé, 6. Selena Gomez, 7. Ariana Grande, 8. Drake, 9. Shawn Mendez, 10. Ed Sheeran.6

It very much seems like this young generation does not classify people by their music taste as well as it does not do so by gender, sexual orientation or race.

The brands that won the hearts of Generation Z: 1. Urban Outfitters, 2. Nike, 3. Starbucks, 4. Apple, 5. Kylie Cosmetics, 6. Topshop, 7. Adidas, 8. Sephora, 9. Forever 21.7

Teens in Favourites list London

Celebrities admired by Generation Z share a few common characteristics which are: authenticity, courage to talk about important issues and standing for a good cause. The names, which repeatedly appeared in many searches are listed below together with the explanation why they were chosen:

Demi Lovato - for her brave and honest confessions about struggling with eating disorder, body image and substance abuse.

Rihanna - for launching truly inclusive makeup collection, which takes into account all of the different skin shades, providing scholarships to young kids and raising money for the Clara Lionel foundation.

Selena Gomez - for opening up about her struggle with Lupus and being an executive producer of 13 Reasons Why - the Netflix series raising awareness for important for teenagers issues.

CupcakKe - for being hilarious, sex positive, authentic and supporting LGBT community. She won hearts of Generation Z even more when she helped a gay fan who was kicked out from home for his sexual orientation.

Influencers that are the most popular amongst teens are in majority youtubers. Youtube is a massive entertainment platform for Gen Zer’s with everyone having their favourite youtube channel. The Internet personalities are perceived as more authentic, relatable, funny and closer to the teens. They present their own views on life and become their ‘friends’ being admired for their personality. Favourite internet characters varies from person to person, just like the preferences towards friends differ in real life. Everyone got to find their own “guru” who they want to follow and can relate to.5

Music preferences are very different amongst Generation Z. As the emo was the last real subculture of the recent years, there are no clear groups of people religiously listening to the same kind of music. Nevertheless, teens strongly underline their passion for music, it is just that everyone has a different taste.

However, there are still a few musicians, who stand out and are more popular than the others. Below is a short list of artists who were found to be the most well-known

The young adults living in the capital are flooded with scary news about attacks and murders on the streets of London. In result they have become particularly concerned about the political situation and their own safety. The Manchester suicide bombing during Ariana Grande’s concert is a recent example, which had a major effect on many teenagers in the UK. The tragic event left many young people traumatized by what they thought should normally be a fun night.

Research studies have shown an increasing number of young people having symptoms of depression and the statistics are much higher for girls than for boys with only 23% of them describing themselves as satisfied with life.8 Teens in the UK are also much more motivated and competitive at school comparing to any other country, which seems to be one of the possible causes of an increasing anxiety and stress problems within young generation.9

There has been many reports of Xanax abuse amongst the young British citizens. Teens claim that it is much easier for them to get these prescription pills than alcohol. Xanax is a prescription medicine used for treating the symptoms of anxiety and depression but the NHS is unlike to prescribe it for young people, therefore the teens mostly get it from dealers or the black market. Many interviewed teens claimed that they use Xanax to treat their anxiety, cope with stress and occasionally to have a good time.10

The common element for teens in the UK and in other countries is the energy and creativity in their thoughts about the future.

Despite a strong social awareness and knowing that the things, which happen around them are not in their own interest or follow their beliefs, these teens do not feel hopeless. They want to make a change and they want to build a better future.

“There are a few quotes [...] that showed many of the kids had a sense of being overlooked by the older generations. There is a feeling that the decisions being made will affect their generation the longest and hardest – not the old, who voted, but the young, who did not have a say.” - Julian Mährlein, the photographer capturing London’s youth.11

Irregular labs report, 2018 [online] Stokel- Walker, C. 2017, “The secret online world of British teens: how streaks, deep likes and ghosting define young lives” [online] 5.

Stryker, S. 2017, “I Asked A Bunch Of Teens To Tell Me Which Celebrities Are Cool And Not Cool And Here’s What They Said” [online] Weale, S. 2017, “British teenagers more competitive than peers but more likely to bullied” [online] 7.

Wolf, J 2017, “These Are Coolest Brands in the World, According to Generation Z” [online] 1.

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Conclusion

Generation Z is highly socially aware and hence scared for their future. Growing up in a diverse environment and seeing the world at its ugliest, they believe that they have enough knowledge to truly change the world for the better. These teens are much more accepting of all differences between people in terms of their race, gender and sexual orientation.

These young teens struggle with the perception of them being lazy, indifferent and having attention span of a goldfish. They are in fact very fluent in absorbing and processing information, which bombards them everyday from every corner. They do use their smartphones to document their life, take selfies to get more vitamin C+A (compliments and admiration) but at the same time they are smart enough to make a good use of being connected and educate themselves about things that happens around them.

Generation Z is extremely tech savvy hence their social media game is like any other. They have the actual tactics in curating their profiles and who they share it with. They do not commit to one platform but rather use different apps for different purposes dividing what they show only to their closest friends and what they expose to public. These teens value their privacy and are much more aware of all the dangers of the Internet than the generations before them.

In their daily life they value authenticity and a true will to act on important issues and so they expect from brands. Generation Z demands excellent product and an authentic storyline. They can easily sense if the campaign is made solely to make a profit and they do not buy into this anymore. Many of the young teens have admitted to boycott a campaign based on their moral values, which made many companies rethink their strategy.

Teenagers living the the capital of the UK experience even more fear for the future and are highly concerned about their own safety. They are particularly prone to depression and anxiety due to a big amount of stress in their life. Nevertheless, they are willing and ready to change the situation for the better.

The way teenagers listen to music has drastically changed when comparing to older generations. There are no clear subcultures tied to a certain kind of music. Instead the teens unite on the common beliefs and ideas.

It is particularly important for Converse, which for many years was strongly connected to the music industry, hence today, their old ways of communicating became irrelevant and ineffective.

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Market Trends

MARKET TRENDS An ever-increasing band of advertising agencies have argued that brands need to become a part of culture to better connect with its customers. The young generation is looking for more than just a product.

Consumers invest in brands that resonate with them, share relatable stories, similar beliefs and values.

According to David Parry - chief operating officer of global brand and consultancy Saffron; “Having a clear sense of purpose has never been more important for business; the role of marketing in delivering that message has never been more vital to ensure meaningful messages don’t get lost in translation.”.1

Cause marketing:

An increasing number of consumers strongly believe that brands should not simply “do less bad” but actively “do more good”.

In result, cause marketing is becoming a big trend within the industry, as consumers no longer want to support brands who care only about their own business.2 Young consumers are particularly convinced that with great power comes great responsibility, hence being involved in a good cause is a must for industry giants. What matters to them is that the brands demonstrate a purpose that benefits both local communities and the world at large.

Many companies started to realise the necessity of implementing cause marketing in their strategy in order to stay relevant to their customers and keep up with the current market trends. According to research there is an increasing number of companies introducing marketing activities involving corporate efforts of business and non-profit organizations for mutual benefit.

Further research indicates that 58% of consumers say it’s important to be able to have a tangible impact on an issue.3 It might be a reason why the big brands have chosen to tap into the cause marketing trend. However, there is a downside to it, which is the “bandwagon effect”. This happens when less principled brands confuse real good purpose with “faux empathy” made up solely to increase the profit. It is important that brands think twice before using a moral stance as a marketing tactic, even if it is well intentioned. Consumers can see right through it and can develop a negative connotation with the brand. However, if the cause marketing is done right, brands can experience a boost from their strong stance.

How to do it:

Brands such as Dr.Martens has seen the effectiveness of such tactics with their #standforsomething campaign. It intended to create a platform to express individuality through showing what their target group stands for. From Dr.Martens perspective it was an authentic move, as the brand has always been a symbol of self-expression and individuality. This strategy proved to be effective as it gave the target group an opportunity to celebrate not only their unique way of dressing but what really matters to them: their culture, identity and beliefs. This genuine consumer connection contributed to the brand’s most successful sales month in its history.4

“Girls skate India” campaign by Vans was created to bring awareness to gender inequality in India. The Brand explored the theme of empowerment through the eye of the young girls whose culture discourages them from playing “non-feminine” sports. To establish the message that the passion for sport has no gender, the brand created relatable and authentic stories documenting the life of young Indian skater girls. This campaign proved to be successful as Vans has tapped into the subject, which has always been the core of the brand the skate culture.

Cause Good 2018, “The Case for Cause Marketing — Statistics for Businesses & Nonprofits” [online] Kemp, N. 2017, “Why brands get political” [online] 3.

Lellahom, M. 2017, “Cause-Related Marketing: A Win-Win For Brands, Charities And The Consumer” [online] 2.

Moodie, A. 2018, “Consumers are more likely to spend money on companies that care, a new study finds“ [online] 4.

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Market Trends

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Conclusion:

“Young consumers are convinced that with great power comes great responsibility, hence being involved in a good cause is a must for industry giants.”

Nowadays, consumers are much more socially aware and therefore, they demand the brands to contribute to bettering the world. In result, cause marketing is a growing market trend, which proved to be successful for many brands. However, tapping into any important issue is not enough to make it relevant to the consumers, “As a brand you have to ask yourself: ‘Is this a fight you really want to take part in? Are you simply adding noise to an already saturated crowd or are you truly adding value?”.5

An increasing number of brands are creating campaigns that bring awareness to important issues by creating shareable and authentic content, which in hindsight benefits each individual cause but is also just a lot of talk. Converse has an opportunity to differentiate itself by inspiring real action and giving their consumers the tools to enable real impact. Converse has always been a symbol for change, pioneer way of thinking and living out the shoes by experiencing and doing. Having a campaign that promotes real action will not only connect with the target group’s need to act but will also connect to the brand’s values.

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Strategy

STRATEGY

To connect with the young audience in an authentic and meaningful way, it is crucial to uncover the superficial layer and gain a deeper understanding of what is really going on in the heads of these teens; who they really are, how their upbringing has shaped them and who they aspire to be.

Growing up in a digital world and having unlimited access to information, these teens feel much more connected, accepting and socially aware than any other generation before them. While using their smartphones, they absorb massive amounts of information a day. In the times when political situation is far from stable it can cause lots of stress, anxiety or even depression. It also causes them to be more critical and suspicious of any marketing action directed to them. Living in such demanding times these teens do not feel hopeless but they deeply believe that having all this knowledge about the world, they can one day truly change it for the better. They are very determined, action-oriented and ready to shake up the world.

Therefore for these teens the daring spirit of youth means:

Having the balls to act.

can help these teens to feel empowered, less stressed and in charge to make this world a little bit better with the most precious resources that they have: Their drive, time and passion to make things happen.

Research studies have shown that helping others make people more satisfied with life, happier and improves health. And what’s the most important, it makes a significant impact in the life of people in need.1 Involving in voluntary work is therefore a win-win situation for anxious and depressed teens, their need to act and make the world better and the world at large.

Strategy:

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Strategy elements: To show the biggest misconception about the young generation and how much they are actually capable of with the slogan; All the stories are true.

To provide a platform with all necessary information about voluntary work available for the teens.

To let teens get their Chucks for free by doing a certain amount of voluntary work hours.

Message:

You can change the future, you only need the drive to do it. We provide the tools.

To ignite daring spirit of youth by providing the tools to take real action - getting involved in voluntary work to better local community.

Action lays at the very heart of Generation Z. However, nowadays there are more examples of the “passive-activism”; changing the profile picture on social media or creating a post with a hashtag showing to others that you support a certain cause to name a few. While supporting a cause is the first step, according to generation Z, it really is useless if the second step - action - does not follow. They want to do more and talk less.

Consumer insight:

Generation Z is fed up with the “passive activism” of today.

- They want to act!

From the brands, these teens demand authenticity and a sincere interest and understanding of their needs. If they sense that the brand’s storyline is made up solely to make a profit, they are not willing to engage or buy into it. Generation Z wants the brands to use their power to make the world better.

As Converse prides itself to be a brand that serves their consumers in a useful way, we advice to show-up in the teenage girl’s world by giving her the tools to relief her biggest concerns; stress, depression, fear for the future.

As sombre as it might sound, there are many positive solutions out there that

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With this strategy we want to establish the message that: You can change the future, you only need the drive to do it. We provide the tools.

Lohmann, R. 2017, “Achieving Happiness by Helping Others” [online]

Conclusion

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CONCLUSION

Concluding the research findings, we summed up the most important conclusions, which are crucial to acknowledge when creating a new strategy to reconnect with the teen girls of today.

Generation Z is highly socially aware and hence scared for their future. Growing up in a diverse environment and seeing the world at its ugliest, they deeply believe that they have the knowledge to truly change the world for the better. These teens struggle with the perception of them being lazy, indifferent and having attention span of a goldfish, while in fact they are extremely fast in processing loads of information, filtrating the truth from lies and at the top of it, they really care about the future of the world. They do use their smartphones to document their life, take selfies and are social media addicts but at the same time they make a good use of being connected to the big data.

The daring spirit of youth today is to the have the balls to act and have a real impact.

Teens are completely done with the passive-activism of today, as they see that there is so much to be done and you cannot change the world with just a hashtag. They believe it is the high time to move and really act to turn the world from the scary direction it is heading towards right now.

In their daily life teens value authenticity and a true will to act on what they have learnt, and so they expect from the brands.

Generation Z demands excellent product and an authentic storyline as they can easily sense if the campaign is made up solely to make a profit and fool them without actually taking any real action. Many of the young teens have admitted to boycott a campaign based on their moral values, which make the big companies rethink their strategy.

Teens in London experience even more fear for the future and their own safety.

With their generational peers, they share the belief that they are able to make a change and have a positive impact on the future. However, at this point they feel that their opinion is overlooked.

Nowadays, consumers demand the brands to contribute to bettering the world.

In result, cause marketing is a growing market trend, which proved to be an effective strategy to bring more relevance to the relationship with today’s consumers. Many brands attempt to raise awareness to important issues by creating shareable and authentic content, which in hindsight benefits each individual cause but is also (quite often) just a lot of talking. Converse has an opportunity to differentiate itself by inspiring real action and giving their consumers the tools to enable real impact.

In today’s world, Converse’s unique heritage of being rebellious is a strong opportunity to tap into. The teens are ready to go out there and make things happen and so it is the value that Converse stands for. In the idea of changing and bettering the world there is a big dose of courage and the young power, which is the very essence of Converse. Empowering and providing the teens with the online tools to make things happen in the real world perfectly fits the idea of getting your Chucks dirty, just as you get your hands dirty while doing the real work. Voluntary work will also helps them to reduce their anxiety and depression.

We strongly recommend to Converse to bring its rebellious character back to ignite the daring spirit of youth and inspire real action. It will respond to the biggest concerns of teen girls and be useful for them, creating a positive connection with the brand.

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Sources

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