At the front of the curve are the early adopters, these are the people who are playing with new ideas in the culture, they are not people who are trying to preserve old ideas. If you are selling, get the value proposition identified and sell to the value. Sell to the customers problem, solve the problem, and then ask for the money, no negotiation required. Now if you are buying then it’s the other side of the coin. As a buyer you have to work out how much you want to spend, what the value to you is and then tell the supplier how much you want to spend, no negotiation required.
The early market
When trying to explain the Diffusion of Innovations theory to students, I always felt breaking it down to a simple analogy made it more palatable.
The first group are the innovators for whom owning the latest everything is a passion and an end in itself. The innovators proactively seek out new products to try them out, requiring almost no marketing efforts from your part. The next group are early adopters in search of competitive advantages provided by new products and services. The early adopters view technology as a means of achieving breakthroughs and aggressively gaining market edge.
The first two groups (the Innovators and Early Adopters) are visionaries. They want revolutionary change, something that sets them apart qualitatively from their competitors. They are the people who buy brand-new technology, before it’s been perfected or proved or before the price has come down. They usually have small companies and are willing to take enormous personal risks.
What do you stand for?
The early adaptors are people who are playing with new ideas in the culture. NIKE are selling to the early adaptors of fashion and make their money at the front end of the curve. NIKE is a disruptor in the marketplace and the brand DNA is so clearly identifiable with “We stand for something”.
c/o Nike
Colin Kaepernick is a symbol who stands for something and the other sneaker companies have been afraid to stand for what he stands for. NIKE helped to transform Colin Kaepernick from a kneeling quarterback to an icon of change. I think when you wear NIKE, you are symbolizing that you also stand for something.