Last week Nike began auctioning off their special edition back to the future nikes on ebay. As seen in the Back to the Future part two; these shoes have LED lights through out the sole, heel , and instep. Their official name is nike MAGs and they will be auctioned off on ebay everyday through september eighteenth. The bidding starts at only $0.99 but if you check here the bids are rapidly increasing. All proceeds go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation to help those with Parkinsons Disease. Nike has seemingly engineered this event perfectly. Nike is a signature brand heightening the paradox of value in their favor. Also heving only made 1,500 pairs Nike has added scarcity to the equation; further heightening the value of the shoes. Lastly they made the event an auction which allows Adam Smiths theory of competition to further heighten the bidding. So far this event has been a huge success and there is still plenty of time.
3 comments:
Why would a company knowingly spend money to produce a product for charity? Is the company truly selfless or is there an ulterior motive?
Consumers have been asking Nike to release the Nike Mag 2011, since Back to the Future II released back in 1989. Although Nike isn't collecting any profit directly from the Mag 2011, the shoe has created quite a stir in the media. The bigger sneaker release of all time is expected to generate around $15 million, to produce the shoe it is estimated to cost Nike only $40. That's only a $60,000 loss to a multi-billion dollar company. This release will mostly attract hardcore sneaker heads, hardcore Back to the Future fans, and most of all celebrities (Kanye West, Brian Wilson, and Kid Cudi who bought four pairs), increasing the demand and the price of the product. Most pairs have sold for around $10,000 but there have been outliers. One pair sold for just over $75,000, there were many other pairs others pairs in the same size that were much cheaper than this particular pair. The only reason why the price was so high was just so the winner could say they spent more than anybody else on the shoe.
They also pay their respects to a movie that solidified them as one of the leading sneaker companies in the world since throughout the 90's to today.
I agree with Deven the sale of these shoes is mainly a media stunt. However this idea still helps people in need, which is fairly rare for media stunts. There is a slight paradox of value for Nike in the loss of money. They lose money in the production but they gain notoriety. This notoriety is seen as more valuable, considering they already have a steady source of income. Overall Nike gains notoriety while the Michael J Fox Foundation gains money for research, which give Nike even more positive juju.
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