And 1 makes the third best-selling basketball shoes in America after Nike and Reebok, but when the company started seeking out promotional partners for its first-ever incursion into Canada, no one even knew who they were.
In a way, that’s a good thing, because it shows that the more-street-than-street Paoli, Penn.-based shoe and apparel manufacturer is still under the radar of the establishment, and that’s exactly where it thrives.
In fact, over the last 10 years, with the aid of its famous Mix Tape Tour – mixing street ball and hip hop – And 1 has quietly grown to become a basketball footwear and apparel giant, with annual sales of over US$210 million. This summer that tour makes its first-ever stop in Canada at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre on July 11.
Until now, And 1’s Canadian presence consisted strictly of street-level word of mouth among the company’s mostly male, 12-to-28, tech-savvy demographic, and bleed-over from U.S. media that has for the past four years spread And 1’s brand via point-of-purchase videos showing top playground ballers set to hip hop music.
This year, And 1 has decided to change that for a couple of reasons.
‘Canada is basketball crazy and there’s no reason for us to ignore them,’ explains Errin Cecil-Smith, And 1’s director of marketing. ‘The second reason is that And 1’s distribution in Canada is very strong and all the retailers were definitely wondering when we were going to bring the mix tape up to them.’
Jonathan Ramos, president of Toronto-based music promotions company REMG, which has signed on to promote the tour in Canada, says the expansion is a no-brainer.
‘They sell a whole ton of gear up here – without lifting a finger,’ he says, noting that And 1 does not even have Canadian-based sales representatives. According to Cecil-Smith, three reps out of the Paoli office handle all of Canada.
And 1 gear is currently available at Sport Chek, Athlete’s World and Foot Locker stores. However, Cecil-Smith says the tour’s arrival in Canada doesn’t necessarily signal a push to increase penetration of the Canadian market.
‘The Mix Tape tour is only four years old and last year was the first year that we did more than five cities. So is it a strategic push to enter Canada? No. It’s a strategic push to add as many more cities as we can support in a very professional manner.’
The event itself features top tour players – including the Toronto Raptors’ Rafer Alston – squaring off against each other and local talent from each city. And of course, there’s lots of music featuring DJs and various hip hop artists. At each stop a large expo area showcases lifestyle elements of playground ball, along with tour partners and their products.
‘This is sort of a direct-to-consumer communication that shows our product,’ says Cecil-Smith, ‘both from a mix tape point of view – the entertainment product – as well as our footwear and apparel. There’s no easier or more economical way to market than to take an event that goes right to your consumer.’
What sets And 1 apart from competitors, adds Cecil-Smith, is the success it has enjoyed aligning itself with the entertainment aspect of streetball culture – which is as much about style, cool street names and music as it is about basketball itself. This has resulted in a perception of authenticity that resonates with a demographic that isn’t as exposed to traditional media as other groups.
Ironically, And 1 has been so under the radar that tour organizers are finding that Canadian companies are almost completely unaware of the mix tape tour phenomenon. Both Ramos and Brad Friesen, managing partner at Toronto-based marketing communications firm Starshot, say they have had to do a lot of educating. Apparently, the Canadian subsidiaries of participating firms such as Nintendo and Pepsi were unaware of, or uninvolved with, the tour’s arrival in Canada.
‘What we’re doing is laying the groundwork for the future,’ says Friesen, who recalls having to inform Nintendo Canada that yes, Nintendo is a tour sponsor. ‘A big part of this is getting the marketing managers out to see the event, and just seeing the reaction of the crowd and the responsiveness. I think that’s what our real goal is this year.’
Adds Ramos, ‘The kids here know everything there is to know about this stuff. They know what And 1 is, they own the gear. They know these [players] from the mix tapes.’ But when it came to potential promo partners, Ramos says he found himself having to explain from scratch what And 1 is. This despite the company’s number-three ranking in basketball shoe sales, according to the North Palm Beach, Fla.-based Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.
Nevertheless, an impressive list of Canadian marketers has been hastily assembled to participate. Media partners include The Toronto Sun, Flow 93.5 FM and The Score. Consumer goods companies include Toshiba Canada, Nintendo Canada, Virgin Music and National Sports.
To help promote the tour stop, print, radio and TV spots will drive consumers to enter a contest on- and offline, dangling various prizes, including a half-hour of court time at the Air Canada Centre immediately prior to the tour’s ‘Open Run.’
But true to And 1’s grassroots ethic, a substantial guerrilla marketing program led by REMG preceded any of the mass advertising. It included teams postering street courts across the GTA, visiting basketball-related events and jumping on chatrooms and message boards to spread the word virally. The budget for the ad buy was a mere $30,000, but the actual value of all the sponsorships and communications is approximately $200,000, according to Friesen.
The ‘And 1 Mix Tape Tour 2003’ began June 6 and runs to Aug. 23. The promotion is expected to reach about 500,000 people in total, according to Cecil-Smith, and Toronto currently ranks among the top-five stops for advance ticket sales on the 33-city tour. Ramos says the event is easily on track to sell out its allotted 10,000 tickets.
Next year, the tour will continue to expand in Canada, with Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax added. Friesen says adding other category sponsors, particularly auto, will be key.
‘It’s really going category by category and then picking up on the brands that kind of get it – that have identified that this is a market which is very influential in what it can do – and then really going after them.’
