I am down in Cornwall visiting a work colleague who works from home for us. While we worked today his wife and children went to Truro on a shopping trip in preparation for the new school year. They came back laden with bags of clothes, lunch boxes and shoes. The shoes caught my eye.
The shoes came from Clarks, one the best manufacturers of shoes for children, and the shoes in question looked very stylish, very sensible and very trendy. The added extras were what interested me. If you lifted the insole, in the heel of the shoe was a small well. In the well was a doll. In the other shoe there was another well and this one had a box of small toys that were accessories for the doll.
Here comes the best bit! The lid of the box that the shoes came in was fashioned like a pop-up book in the shape of a dolls house. This at first sight looked like a phenomenal bit of added value. On second thoughts it looked like a really cynical marketing ploy - like the MacDonald's Happy Meals toys.
After talking to my friend's daughter (seven years old) I realised that tchildren are very aware of these marketing ploys. I asked her if, next time she went shoe shopping, she would go back to Clarks because of the toys? She replied: "No, their shoes last ages and I only got them because they looked really trendy". It appears that they are getting their messages across through the quality and style of their products already - so why bother with the cheap promos?
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