Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Selling more than 500 thousand pairs of shoes a year at, some will call it "ridiculous prices", you'd assume Senor Christian Louboutin has no need to keep an eye out on the marketing environment. People just crave his brand. Fun fact - Christian Louboutin's target market is not an ethnic group, nor a gender group, his target market is anyone who craves fashion, fashionistas! However, because his brand is so outrageously pricey, Louboutin, was catering only to high and upper middle class fashionistas/woman because woman are the major factor. It wasn't until recently that his strategy began to change.

According to interview by Lauren Collins, Louboutin states that "Self-serious monochrome fashion people are not Louboutin’s target audience. (Shawna Rose, his head of communications in New York, refers to them as “the black-and-camels.”) He gives his designs onomatopoeic names, like Toutenkaboucle, or raunchy ones, like Zigounette (“tiny dick”). Once, he made the straps of a sandal out of tape measures. Another time, he put pockets all over a boot, like a safari jacket, and called it CNN Girl. Occasionally, he goes overboard with the jokes. For example, he designed a shoe with a trompe-l’oeil heel that made its wearer appear to be standing on a curtain tassel. “It was a big failure,” he recalled".

But as we know that basic demographic patterns are influencing marketing mixes. Because the world is ever changing it is impossible for them not to have a strategy. Given that the world population rate is growing slower Louboutin has had to cater to the "basic world" including young girls, who in the end do not make sufficient income to purchase one of his non "black-and camels" shoes including myself. What does this mean? Because someone cannot afford a $25,000 pair of shoes does not mean that they won’t settle for his $1,000 basic black or camel shoe. Remember it's his shiny red sole that steals the fame, it’s the shiny red sole anyone can recognize in a dance floor at a club after a hand full of drinks. Sad but very true! As Louboutin has stated himself "even men are attracted to his shoes. Because men are like bulls and bulls like red". I'd like to call him a genius!

Given the dynamic impact his "red sole" has made on the market, it has made even 10 year old's aware of the luxury it stands for. This red sole is so magical Disney has partnered with Christian Louboutin when they asked him to bring Cinderella's iconic slipper to life. Barbie has also made a doll with Louboutin slippers. Louboutin has also began fabricating shoes catered to men, nail polishes, jewelry, and hand bags. All much cheaper than his shoes, just so that "regular" people can afford the brand.

   

Ch. 3 - Ethics and Social Responsibility

How much ethics and social responsibility can a brand have when the inspiration comes from everything from exotic dancers to exotic travel, incorporating elements of burlesque and unashamed feminine glamour for its customers. In fact, if you just take a quick stroll through Senor Louboutins shoe names, you’ll find things like Frisky Girl, Sex and candy, Tiny .. well you get the point. In an interview by CNN Christian stated that “growing up in the French capital, he became intoxicated by the glamour of the Moulin Rouge. And at just 16 years old, he went to work for the famed cabaret Folies Bergère, where he began by sewing sequins onto costumes before honing his skills as a cobbler under legendary French shoe designer Charles Jourdan. "Yes, burlesque and cabaret has always been a big inspirational thing for me," said Louboutin. "I have this thing for sure that women, in every woman, there is a showgirl in a way." So how much morality, ethics, and social resposibility can this one man empire hold?

Well, truth be told, Mr. Louboutin does think outside h is friskyness. In 2013 he offered Marie Claire readers his gold-studded, suede Geo Pump from his fall collection, with a percentage of sale proceeds going to the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen foundation helps microfinance institutions in communities around the world alleviate poverty by making loans and providing financial services to people, especially women, in need. The foundation was inspired by Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' book Creating a World Without Poverty. Louboutin first worked with Grameen in 2010, when he created the limited-edition Peace of Shoe pump to benefit the foundation as well.

Louboutin also regularly donates exclusive pieces to be auctioned out in fundraisers and worldwide events including the partnership with UNAIDS where they did a fundraising Gala to raise funds to stop new HIV infections among children. He also recently collaborated with friend Elisa Sednaoui who established a cultural center for Egyptian children hoping to alleviate the pressure of the economic crisis and revolution on children. Anyone can go on mygoodness.com to help raise funds, but not without getting back something spectacular! The campaign works like a combination of a kickstarter program and a lottery. For every donation, which can be as little as $10, you are entered to win a grand prize. A VERY grand prize to some.  You enter for a chance to win a weekend in Paris, all expenses paid and a stay at the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal with a friend. You also get to meet Christian Louboutin and Elise Sednaoui in his studio. You receive a relaxing treatment at Spa Darphin and party at the Crazy Horse. There are also Louboutin books and shoes to be won. A pair of red soles is an investment, certainly in this case, it's an investment in someone's future in some cases too. How's that for emotionally uplifting?

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Does a brand that is so well known the designer signs its shoes, like an author does books need strategic planning? Like the designer, Christian Louboutin says, “a shoes has so much more to offer than just a walk”. 

Louboutin currently sells more than five hundred thousand pairs of shoes a year, at prices ranging from $300 - $75,000 for a shoe covered in thousands of crystals. His patent red sole attracts woman from all around the globe, it is every woman’s fantasy to have a pair of “red bottoms” in her closet. The red soles offer the pleasure of secret knowledge to their wearer, and like Louboutin says, “that of serendipity to their beholder”. They signal a sort of extravagant code, promising a world of glamour and privilege. They’re also a marketing gimmick that renders an indistinguishable product which is instantly globally recognized. It is clear that Louboutin caters to the rich, upper middle class, and fashionistas who can afford them such as celebrities.

Louboutins vision is to make women feel better and more confident in themselves. He’s stated in interviews that he’s always loved how women looked in shoes and the psychological “why” they loved/wear them, but then why doesn’t he cater to a more general target so that every woman can own a beautiful silhouette for their walking? So that every woman can feel beautiful in his shoes? It’s the extravagance he puts in his shoes that doesn't allow him to cater to the average Joe. 

With the brand popularity growing daily, Louboutin is finally headed toward diversification by creating new products such as hand bags, jewelry, and accessories. If you cannot afford the shoes, at least you own a piece of the brand. He is also beginning to grow his men’s collection. 

But what happens to the non-rich who still fantasize about those red bottoms and can’t afford them? I guess we have to settle and hope one day we can be privileged enough. (booo!)

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing - Into the Louboutin World

Christian Louboutin, a French footwear designer whose footwear has incorporated shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature. Christian Louboutin’s trademark glossy red soles are an undisputed stamp of fashion excellence. Launched in 1991 with a mission statement “to make shoes that are like jewels”, the designer has delivered season after season of fantasy footwear, and his expansion into accessories has proved every bit as sensational. From razor-sharp stilettos to lace-up boots and studded sneakers, Christian Louboutin is every woman’s first port of call for outfit-transforming wardrobe updates. While any Louboutin red bottom shoe is every woman's closet fantasy staple, the ever-graceful "Classic Pump" is the shoe Monsieur Louboutin says every lady should have in her 
closet.