The comeback of the Stan Smith dominated the conversation in 2014. But it was only a few years prior that Adidas actually took the shoe off the market. So how did a sneaker like the Stan jump back into the conversation so heavily so quickly? If influencer marketing is one of the first things that comes to mind, you aren't too far off. Jon Wexler, Global Director of Entertainment and Influencer Marketing at Adidas, dropped into a speaker series and lets us in on the efforts behind the scenes to truly revive the sneaker.
There are a couple of prongs to it. Wex breaks it down like a spear where the tip is the fashion-forward person and further down are trend adopters and eventually to the mainstream. Part of the reintroduction to the marketplace was actually getting the shoes on the feet of Céline designer Phoebe Philo. Six months later, Adidas introduced personalized Stan Smiths for certain celebs then eventually released the shoe in limited quantities and finally to the mainstream consumer. Philo's endorsement made the shoe a little more appealing to women and bringing in cool guys like A$AP Rocky to show it off also kept the men interested. Now, it's again one of the most pervasive sneaker designs you see walking down the street. Somehow, the forced re-introduction worked wonders and Adidas continues to rise.
