What are those things on your feet?!

If you haven't seen what the person in the picture is wearing, then be amazed to know that those are running shoes.  These are the Vibram FiveFingers and they are the latest craze in running, i.e. the minimalist running movement.

I've been running for six years now and have generally kept up with what's going on in the running industry with respect to products and services.  I got into running because I had a huge beer gut when I graduated from college and I decided that I should do something about it since I had a lot more time than I did as an undergrad.  I had the attitude of someone who discovered religion again when I started running so I devoted much effort to reading the gospel of Runner's World and visiting the temple of the local specialty running shop.

About two years ago, I read a book called Born to Run, which is about an tribe of Mexican Indians that run ultra distances (50 miles or so) in thin sandals (and slightly inebriated).  The central thesis of the book is that these Indians, the Raramuri, have the ability to do this because of the fact that they are effectively running barefoot.  Christopher McDougal, who wrote this book, is a wonderful writer and leaves you with the thought that "yes, highly cushioned shoes are evil and now I need to go run barefoot everyday."

I noticed a surge in people wearing FiveFingers after the book was published and a Runner's World article suggests that the book did help create a lot of buzz about the FiveFingers and minimalist running in general.  I was also living in Denver, an extremely health conscious city,  at the time the book was written so I saw a quicker adoption of this trend.

Curious about this new trend, I decided to give it a try. I didn't go out and purchase the FiveFingers. I still can't get over how they look and the 90 dollar price point just doesn't seem worth it to me, so I started running in the shoes pictured below.

These are Asics' Onitsuka Tigers.  They were popular in the 60s and 70s and the ones sold now are replicas and are definitely not marketed as running shoes.  It's marketed as a lifestyle shoe that any good hipster should have.  In full disclosure, I have four variations of these.

If it isn't apparent from the picture, these shoes have no support so running in them adheres to minimalist principles. I loved running in these and I still do.  I love the feel of the ground on my feet when running in them.  My foot strike response just feels more natural.  I'm not really doing it justice with my weak description here, but wearing these shoes for me is akin to that feeling people get when they put on a pair or really comfortable jeans.  

It was also really time for me to be running in minimalist shoes.  When I experimented with these shoes, I had been running for five years and logged something like 1500 miles the year before.  The reason I say it was "time" for me to run in shoes like this is because my running form changed so much.  When I was first running I was really pudgy and suffered from severe overpronation.  Basically, this means your ankles roll inward when you run and it causes loads of problems (shin splints, IT band issues).  The shoe I most frequently ran in when I was first started running is pictured below.

This is the Brooks Beast.  A very fitting name.  These shoes had a lot of cushioning and medial arch support that helped me reduce my overpronation. They were also ridiculously heavy.  Over time, I lost weight and I became much swifter.  My foot strike changed and running in this type of shoe started feeling really awkward.  I finally went to a running store and told them about my issues.  They observed me walking and running and told me that while I overpronate when I walk, I no longer really did when I ran.  They told me I could move on to something with a little less cushioning.

The moral of all this is that I eventually progressed to be a runner where I could deal with a minimalist shoe. At least, I think I did because I don't get any of the injuries that novice runners do when they go out and buy a pair of FiveFingers and think they can just jump right into it.  Furthermore, the running community hasn't come to a consensus on whether minimalist running is really good for you.  The Runner's World article I referenced pretty much makes it clear that there won't  be a consensus coming for a while, but the minimalist running trend is going to remain strong in the short-term, at least.

Given all this, the question I want to address in my paper is: "How are specialty running stores going to deal with this new trend?"

Let me give a little bit more context so the question becomes more meaningful.  For decades, the running shoe industry has evolved to give us extremely cushioned shoes with the belief that more cushioning prevents injury.  The industry figured out every possible foot strike for a runner and made shoes that would correct any irregularities.  Thus, the Brooks Beast I showed above was the solution to for the severe overpronator such as myself.

Furthermore, in the last blog topic we talked about customer experiences that were especially meaningful to us.  Another one that I've had and that is relevant to my paper topic is the experience of going to a good specialty running shop.  When you visit one of these places, the customer service is paramount.  You get measured and tested as if you were in a doctor's office.  You get to try on 10 different types of shoes and run around in them until you find one that is just perfect for you.  In general, the MO of a good specialty running store is stocking all types of shoes for all types of runners. The minimalist movement is the antithesis to the MO of the running store: You don't need all these different running shoes nor do you need to be doing all this measurement and testing, all you need to offer a few, simple running shoes.

In summary, my paper will discuss how specialty running shops are going to respond to this new trend if they aren't already.  I also want to address if this trend has any traction and figure out who really is the consumer for these shoes.  Is it the experienced runner like myself, the novice, or a combination of both?

Big Money, Big Stakes

I struggled writing this post because I think it’s been a while since I’ve had a meaningful customer experience.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I’ve had them, but given my current situation as a student, I’m not really purchasing anything other than food, textbooks, school supplies, and beer. 

In our core MBA marketing class, we learned about “high-involvement” products, i.e. products that require a lot of deliberation before purchase and are usually high-priced.  I feel these are the types are products that lend themselves to the holistic experience Schmitt emphasizes. I think customers seek holistic experiences from high involvement products because of their high prices.  From an economics perspective, this makes sense because when you decide to purchase a $3,000 road bike as a recent undergrad graduate with a $50,000 a year pre-tax salary, you are forgoing the opportunity to purchase $3,000 of other potentially important things.  In this particular context, I better damn well be getting a holistic experience from my road bike if it means I’m forgoing an awesome two-week trip to Europe so I can sit on an uncomfortable bike seat wearing funny-looking shorts.

On a side note, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, in his book Stumbling On Happiness, links happiness to ability to make a decision and not worry about the alternatives.  Thus, a generally happy person will purchase the $3,000 road bike and not think twice about his or her decision.  Unhappier people always think “what if,” what if there is something better out there?  So, which person are you?

I think marketers should always think about where their products lie on the involvement plane (my own phrase, patent pending) before they try to create a holistic customer experience.  For example, if you’re selling chewing gum, a low-involvement product, do you think you can really create a holistic experience?  I think it’s dangerous to assume that you can and I think that’s the problem with Schmitt’s approach.  I think what actually does happen is that companies focus on a few SEM’s but not all of them.  Thus, a marketing director at Wrigley should be focusing his or her resources on Sense and not so much on Think.

Anyway, back on topic. I had to write all of the above to think about the last holistic experience I’ve had.  I’m actually experiencing it right now, i.e. being a student in the MBA program.  It doesn’t get more high-involvement than this.  I gave up a high salary (relative to my peers) and took debt to be unemployed for two years all on a hunch that I would possibly learn something and have some kind of life improvement because of it.

As of today, I can definitely say that I’ve definitely learned a thing or two and I think the program has definitely set foundations for a positive impact on my life.  It’s done this because it really is giving me a holistic experience.

From the Sensory perspective, I just have to say it’s been overwhelmingly positive. I went to the University of Chicago as an undergraduate so using that as a reference point, the sensory experience here has been absolutely wonderful.  I no longer have to endure atom-stopping, sunshine-less winters and the brutal pace of the quarter system that created a “sink or swim” environment.  And wow, UT has nationally renowned sports teams.  Did you know that the University of Chicago had the first Heisman trophy winner?  That was back in 1919 when it was actually good at sports.  Also, how about Austin?  What an amazing city.  Maybe revealing too much here, but man, it’s much easier to get a date in this city than anywhere else I’ve lived.

On the emotional side, I think the school has served me well.  Some context: I turned down a full scholarship at another program to come here so the decision to come here was almost insurmountably emotional.  For the program to meet my emotional needs, I need the school to validate my decision in various ways.  Most importantly, I need to be surrounded by people that I like and I need classes that challenge me to the extent that they fundamentally change the way I think (incidentally, also tied to the THINK SEM).  For the former, McCombs admits incredible people and I have already made some friends I know I’ll have for life.  For the latter, wow, I’ve realized that business is extremely complex and I’m actually really confused about some aspects of it.  Personally, the fact that I am really confused and have so much fodder for thought demonstrates that the academics are top-rate.  I’m not here to memorize formulas.

With respect to Act, boy, does this program get you to act.  The program provides so many opportunities that you will overextend yourself.  The program office tells you that you shouldn't take on more than you can handle, but they probably just say this because they don't want to get sued for sending you to the hospital after passing out from exhaustion.  I think the program office secretly knows that trying to do it all is a part of the MBA experience.  As I type this now, I have to meet with a team for a healthcare case competition that I got roped into at the last minute.  I’m probably not going to sleep until 4 am today and there’s a chance I may miss my 8 am class. Eek!

Lastly, on Relate, I feel that it’s my professors that do an excellent job of this.  One goal I have is to get a better sense of what it means to be a manager.  So I always appreciate that my professors always preface statements with “As a manager, you should think about this.”  I feel that the program office and my own peers lose sight of this.  The program office is overly career-centric.  Justifiably so, rankings and whatnot matter.  And of course, my classmates and myself included need to get jobs, but I just hope that people don't forget the whole point of a Master’s in Business Administration to learn how to do business administration.  You're not going to be an Excel jockey your entire career.  At least I hope not.

In conclusion, excellent job McCombs School of Business for providing me with a holistic customer experience.