Reversing his historically negative image probably wasn't New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury's primary motivation for endorsing a $14.98 basketball shoe, but it will certainly help. Throughout his career, Marbury has been typecast as a "cancer," causing the breakup of a potential championship duo with Kevin Garnett in Minnesota, losing with essentially the same group of Phoenix Suns that Steve Nash won with, and sparking controversy with former Knicks coach Larry Brown in his only season on the bench. The new line of "Starbury" shoes and apparel at discount clothing store Steve & Barry's is flying in the face of conventional industry practices and redeeming Marbury in the process. Not only is the price unprecedented, but Marbury and his team of managers are relying only on free media to publicize the launch, avoiding the multimillion dollar services of someone like Mars Blackmon.

Critics have said that it may be a major business risk of Marbury's to try to sell cheap shoes to the youth market, which is often persuaded by price as a determining factor of "cool." But in the business of credibility, Marbury's counter position is well-executed. The managers of the Starbury brand understood the prevailing perceptions about Marbury and NBA athletes and generated a brand that differentiated him from every other NBA player and attracted attention to a seemingly reborn and rededicated star. While Marbury apparently didn't have many offers from the major shoe companies, he did take advantage of the opportunity to break out of the shoe market clutter, at least temporarily. His new "brand-forming moment" has been generated, but whether he can capitalize on it remains to be seen.

This entry was posted by Ben Shields on Sunday, August 27. 2006 at 08:34. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own blog.