Ch. 12-Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Unlike a good, a service is different because its the result of applying human or mechanical efforts to people or objects. Because service quality is a very important part of the Doc Marten brand, tangibility is one of the most important things customers look at. The tangible parts of a service include the physical facilities, tools, and equiptment used to provide the service. The Dr Martens made in England range is creared at the Cobb's Lane Factory, which has been making footwear for over 100 years, and is where the original Dr Marten was created. 
The website specifically says they would exchange any defective boot/shoe for a new one, which creates a reliable relationship between the company and the customer

Ch. 11- Developing and Managing Products

Dr. Martens does not have new products as often as other brands but its widely known when they do.When there is a new product it is widely advertised online and in stores. They have sections for all there different products on their online store, including their "original boot". There website is very specific and offers a search so the customer can find exactly what theyre looking for. In their retail stores they are sure to present their new designs in a stylish manner, usually on  fancy glass tables. The original boots are usually placed by the door, because its the shoe the brand is most known for .

When Dr. Marten introduces a new product, they also use the AIDA concept (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). Attention is brought through the product through advertisements, Interest is brought when loyal customers see the new product in advertisements or when they see their favorite celebrity wearing it, which results in desire, or the need to posses the product. This all results in action, the most important concept. Action is where the brand needs to convince the customers to actually purchase the item . This is usually done through special discounts and warranties

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Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Doc Martens is known for designing and producing high quality boots. Originally they were only sold in England but eventually expanded to America as well as many other countries. Although the U.S. makes up 65% of Doc Martens sales. making it their biggest market, they continue to target people in England for security reasons. Regardless of the country though, their target market description is still the same.
The brands main target market is teenagers and young adults, from ages 13 to 25, both male and female. Because the brand knows that their target market aren't usually making an extremely large amount of money they make their product reasonably priced to make it more accessible. They also target to people of certain professions such as writers, painters, musicians and fashion designers. even though  Doc Martens has a specific target market, people of all ages and countries love this brand because of how high quality, timeless and in style these boots are.

someone in doc martens target market

someone out of the brands target market 

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Doc Martens has many different promotional strategies. These include ads, billboards, music, models and promotions by celebrities seen wearing the product. Because the brand was popular during the punk era the brand has become known for their "sticking it to the man" attitude, this generates promotion through its notoriety and punk reputation. The brand has many famous loyal customers who wear the shoe in public and at events. The brand mostly sells through their history rather than regular advertisements. However they do also sell through advertisements. Here are some ones that stick out.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Because Doc Marten are usually bought to satisfy an individuals wants they are considered a consumer product.  It is not a product used to manufacture other goods or services, It is a specialty product that customers research extensively for and very reluctant to accept anything else. Doc Marten have been in the business for 50 years, It is a product line that has one purpose which is to make boots that have the Doc Marten brand and is of quality. Today, the Doc Martens brand name and it's registered trademark are internationally known. It has become a Global Brand which generates brand loyalty. Doc Martens do have a warranty for their shoes that says it can be used for up to 10 years without needing a replacement. It is also an implied warranty since the products have a history of serving working men in the past and their shoe quality is durable by word of mouth. 

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Sales Promotion offers an incentive to buy. A majority of Docs sales promotion occurs through social media, which is an easier and less expensive alternative to traditional advertising campaigns. They also advertise their shoes by having celebrities wear them thus deeming the brand desirable.They use this method to stay desirable and keep their existing customers while recruiting new consumers. This is an easier and less pricey method to win over your competitor's customers all while keeping existing customers.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Advertising is a huge part of the Doc Marten brand. Through the use of the internet and social media sites the brand has maintained their name and market share. One major platform that the company uses is YouTube. Doc Marten has their own YouTube Channel where they feature videos of bands they sponsor performing in their shoes and videos from music festivals they have sponsored.
Another way the brand gets their name out to the public and to their target market is by celebrity endorsement.  For Example, North West (child of Kanye and Kim Kardashian) is regularly seen wearing her Docs. Sasha Obama has also been seen wearing a pair at White House functions. This publicity helps bring the brand to new generations of people and increases their sales. They use celebrity endorsements to stay cool and get new customers.

north west in a baby pair

Miley Cyrus sports a pair

sasha obama in docs

Lily Rose Depp wearing shoes by the brand

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Doc Martens is an international brand that specializes in making shoes, they're most known for their classic work boot.  They're sold in stores like Famous foot wear, Urban Outfitters, Macys, Nordstrom. They have their own brand name stores all over the world as well. Their stores are typically located in the "hot" parts of whatever city they're located in. For example, in Minnesota the Doc store is located in the Mall of America. 
In New York there is a store in Soho, which is very stylish and neighborhood. Many brands (Zara, Steve Madden, Michael Kors, etc.) have stores located here, making it a very popular shopping destination for tourists and locals alike. 

The areas where Doc Martens are usually appealing to their consumers (typically young adults) as well as new consumers becuase these places are deemed as "cool" and "hip" to hang out around. By choosing to locate the stores here the company appeals to new and old customers. 

Another interesting thing about the company is that, according to their code of conduct, they only work with suppliers who treat their workers fairly and with out discrimination. They keep an eye on the brands theyre associated with and where they sell their product.

A Doc Marten Store in Paris

Interior Of a Doc Marten Store in Paris

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

The main consumers of the Dr Marten product are young adults and teenagers, who are usually attracted to the connection the company has to past countercultures and the celebrities they see wearing them. But how does a person decide to buy a pair of docs? The process of consumer decision making has five steps involved.

1. Need Recognition: this involves internal and external stimuli. internal stimuli in this case would be when you see a design of a Dr. Marten shoe that you like, then you realizing that you want a pair.  External Stimuli is when an external force recommends this item, like a celebrity endorsement. 

2. Information search is when consumers try to find information to satisfy their desire. They can search internally for info where consumers can found out if they know anyone who've had negative or positive experience with Dr. Martens. They can also search external info, which includes w  ord of mouth, store visits and through media. Dr. Martens has ads around the city in different forms of media such as the TV, magazine advertising, subway ads, etc. this all influences the customer.

3. Evaluation of Alternatives and Purchase, when the consumer decides whether the price the is reasonable. This isnt usually a problem for Dr Martens due to their products durability and their influence

4. The customer then purchases the product.

5.  pos tpurchase behavior happens after the consumer buys the product. The customer usually has certain expectations from the product (such as durability for docs) and if these expectations arent ment hey can become displeased and leave negative reviews.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Doc Martens are very popular all around the world, but iit has taken time for them to oestablish this popularity globally.
When the signature Doc. Marten air cushion sole was developed in Germany it quickly helped the brand become a top seller. After the company found a manufacturer in England the success spread all throughout Europe. Although the brand is considered a British brand, the success and acceptence by sub cultures has helped the company expand and open shops all over the world. Infact, the brands biggest market right now is America.
Doc Martens also does research on which type of shoe sells more in each country. This allows them to individualize production depending on each country's need

CH 4 THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

Doc Marten caters to people around the world, primarily to people of the the ages between 13 to 25 and 60% of Dr. Marten sales take place in the US. They have been associated with life styles of musicians, artists, and writers. The brand is worn by a diverse audience, from teenagers to adults, people from Pope John Paul II (who had a custom white pair made for him) to Pete Townshend. People are drawn to Docs because its not just a practical, comfortable work boot, its also a fashion statement.

Because Doc Martens have always connected with the music scene (bands who have worn Docs include Beck, No Doubt, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, David Bowie, Oasis and more), they continually sponsor music festivals such as AFROPUNK, SXS, READIN FEST, AND GLASTONBURY. They also sponsor up and coming bands, like DROWNERS and SKATERS. 

They choose to sponsor music festivals and musicians  because its a way to get their brand out there to their target demographic with out "selling out" and commercializing, which has been one of their biggest challenges.

 In 2015 Doc Marten celebrated their 55th anniversary. To commemorate this, they held a competition for their customers to win a free pair of boots by submitting photos wearing a pair of boots styled uniquely.  

A PROMO VIDEO FOR THE 2014 DROWNERS TOUR SPONSORED BY DR MARTENS

PETE TOWNSHEND PERFORMING IN DR MARTENS

Ch 18 Social Media and Marketing

In today's day and age Social Media is  big tool for companies to promote their product to their customers. Dr Martens also uses their social media presence to interact with their customers and draw new customers in.
They have a Facebook Profile with over 1,000,000 likes on it. On their profile fans can comment and like on posts that the company shares.Dr Martens post about their latest projects and new customers can look at the product with out even leaving their homes.  
Along with Facebook, Dr Martens is also on Twitter with 143k followers. On twitter they can share posts about their latest product and respond to things their customers say. They can retweet positive reviews and tweets about their products and share promotional photos and videos and even follow people back. 
Dr Martens is also in Instagram. Instagram is primarily a photo and video sharing site. The company utilizes it by posting artistic and promotional photos and information on it. They have over 790k followers and 1703 posts. 
Social Media has played a big part in bringing Docs into the mainstream again and introducing a new generation to the classic shoe. 

This is the photo used as a cover photo on most of Dr Martens social media profiles.

Dr Martens profile picture on their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

They use their hashtag #standforsomething to make people who buy their shoes like they are supporting a cause

Ch 3 Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Ever since Doc Martens were introduced to the market about 50 years ago they have been a staple in many peoples wardrobe. Many celebrities can be seen sporing the classic work boot when out and about. People like Docs because they're a unique blend of style, durability, and history that no other company on the market has. When Doc Martens first came on the market they were almost exclusively work boot, but during the late 80's and 90's celebrities began wearing them. Celebrities such as Madonna, Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani, and Agyness Deyn have all been seen wearing Docs. The company has used this as a marketing strategy and tool, even having Agyness Deyn create her own line of Docs. 

The company also uses the way the boots are made as a competitive advantage. They have patented their process of constructing their work boot so n other the company can replicate it 

Another strategy that the company uses is to be very diverse. Now instead of only creating the standard black work boot they create multiple different styles of shoes. They also produce many of their shoes in different colors and patterns and also have a kids line of shoes.

 Above and to the left are Agnyness Deyn for Doc Martin

ch 2 Mission Statements

At Dr. Martens we believe it is just as important to choose our suppliers for their fair treatment of their employees as for their performance on cost, delivery and quality.

And yet we don't believe in audits that just tick boxes and demand immediate compliance. Our research shows that this approach can force bad practices underground, leading to false documentation and coached workers. We prefer not just that factories pass audits but that conditions for the workers actually improve.

We encourage, therefore, an honest dialogue with our suppliers. We understand that sometimes it is just not possible for them to comply with all aspects of our code of conduct straight away. But we do expect any critical issues to be remedied immediately and other issues are resolved as part of a long-term improvement plan. We do not work with suppliers who do not demonstrate commitment to our approach.

Where we do conduct audits of our suppliers it is in conjunction with Impactt who are an independent 3rd party company specializing in supply-chain ethics. Our audits are very thorough and include physical appraisal of all work and domestic facilities, a review of documents, and management and worker interviews.

Our attention to ethical issues in our suppliers' factories is on going. We focus on implementing improvements by ensuring that key issues are dealt with by the people who are actually responsible for making the changes.

As well as Corporate Social Responsibility, we assess our suppliers, of course, for their performance on cost, quality and delivery and this information is published in a balanced scorecard to give us an overall measure on how each supplier is doing.

http://www.drmartens.com/us/social-responsibility

ch 1 History of Dr. Martins

The history of subculture is a chronicle of being different. Back in the 1950s, when the first generation of teenagers fired up a youth revolution, their goal was to look and behave differently to their parents. Previously, young people had been stylistic carbon copies of their elders. But with the advent of first-generation rock 'n' roll and also Teddy Boys, a generational schism cracked open that would never again be rendered shut.

On the surface, the Griggs family of Northampton in the English Midlands was seemingly a part of this reviled establishment. Making boots since 1901 in the heartland of British shoe-making, the family was successful, established, respected. Scratch the surface a little, however, and it's clear that the Griggs clan actually possessed certain characteristics that would in the future become essential identifiers of any self-respecting youth phenomenon: they were free thinkers and they were different. 

Why different? Because the Griggs family didn't accept what had gone before as a rigid template for the future. The past was largely a reference book of ‘old' ideas to rebel against. It was this spirit of innovation that coursed through Bill Griggs' veins as he sat in his Cobbs Lane office one day in the late 1950s flicking through an issue of Shoe and Leather News magazine, only for his eyes to fall upon an advert by a German duo looking for overseas partners for their revolutionary new air-cushioned sole. 

Munich-based Dr Maertens and his university friend Dr Funck were also different. Inventors, mavericks, free-thinkers, ditto. In response to a foot injury on a ski-ing trip, they'd invented an air-cushioned sole and were looking for like-minded innovators. Griggs contacted Dr Maertens, a name was anglicized, a plan hatched and a legend born on April 1st, 1960. 

When the first pair of Dr. Martens boots rolled off the production line on that day, it was on to a British high street where youth tribes were still a rarity. Not for long: the next four decades saw the time-bomb of subculture explode across the globe as a series of tribes sprang up from their respective undergrounds, each new incarnation heralding a burning desire to be different to what had gone before. 

In those early years, however, there are two distinctive and pivotal moments when Dr. Martens and youth culture became melded together, inseparably as it turned out. First up was the early skinhead, a multi-cultural, ska-loving homage to the British working classes, mimicking the dress sense of the working man with an obsessive attention to detail – style was everything. Up until then, the Dr. Martens boot had been sold mostly as reliable working men's footwear; therefore it made the perfect choice for the skinhead. And so Dr. Martens was wrenched from the factory floor into youth culture and, for the brand, nothing would ever be the same again. 

A few short and volatile years later, Pete Townshend deliberately donned a pair of black 1460s on stage with his incendiary band The Who, as an unashamed indicator of his affiliation with working class pride. When Townshend windmilled and jumped around in his DM's, the young world watched. This was in an era of flower power and dandyish psychedelia; Townshend looked … different. Now Dr. Martens had a torch-bearer who was at the very heart of youth culture. 

Townshend has said that he used to go to bed on tour with two things: ‘A cognac bottle and a Dr. Martens boot.' This almost peculiar personal affection for the boot is not exclusive to The Who's guitarist. It is in fact at the very core of the brand's enduring popularity and it also ensured that over the coming decades, when each subsequent youth subculture feverishly burned the trappings of the previous 'fashion' or 'movement', they frequently saved their cherished Dr. Martens from the flames, clutching them to their collective chest. So when punks came along, angry at a lack of opportunity and defiantly individualistic, they pulled DM's on for the battle; when Two Tone fans spent hours choosing just the right suit, a crisp and clean pair of three-hole 1461 shoes was an essential accompaniment; and when Britpop kids might have kicked against grunge's apparent apathy, a pair of cherry red 8-holers was often the perfect companion. 

Once the genie had been let out of the bottle back in the 1960s, the vapours of Dr. Martens' rebellious spirit could not be contained and the boot seeped into every corner and crevice of youth culture. Consequently, the subcultures who have championed Dr. Martens reads like a Who's Who' of youth culture: skins, punks, two tone, Oi!, hardcore, psychobilly, goth, industrial, grebo, grunge, Britpop, emo … the list goes on. 

Of course, Dr. Martens has not been immune to the brash self-expression of youth: so the boots are often worn with the quarters flapping open, deliberately unpolished and scuffed; or perhaps laced rigidly and precisely, with a military sheen on the toe. Maybe left plain or else customised individually … and so on. Each to their own. Each pair different. This is where that moment of magic back in late 1950s Northampton truly comes into its own – what the Griggs family created was a watershed silhouette, an off-the-shelf design classic that has quite literally allowed generation after generation to paint its own personality on to those humble uppers, sometimes literally. 

With the explosion of technology in the 1990s and into the new Millennium, youth culture changed exponentially. It's fair to say that the so-called ‘tribes' are not so visible anymore, often populating the ether of the internet rather than the streets of the underground. Youth culture in the 21st century is a very much more complex entity, more fluid and certainly more intermingled. Some people claim ‘there are no haircuts anymore' and in a sense that is true. But there is certainly no lack of invention, rebellion and individuality, perhaps now more than ever. 

This post-modern generation is far more media-savvie than their predecessors too. They dip into a stylistic ‘Pick 'n' Mix' of fashion and subcultural history to create a look, sound and lifestyle that appeals. Nothing is off limits. Inevitably, some classic looks become misappropriated and demeaned, that's unavoidable and unpreventable. Increasingly, the brands that survive this potentially fatal mass dissemination are those that are genuine. Marketing cheque books can buy screen time or magazine space, but not authenticity. When I first met the current Dr. Martens chairman several years ago, he turned up in a scooter boy's green parka, driving a Mini with a Union Jack on the roof and wing mirrors. Different, I thought. 

The inventors of the Dr. Martens air-cushioned sole; the Griggs family; every youth subculture that has ever existed – they all have one common denominator, a primal urge to be different. Modern youth culture is now unrecognisable from the 1950s – in some ways from the 1990s even – and yet the next chapters of the history books will be written by exactly the same kind of personalities who penned the memoirs of the first fifty years of subculture. Namely people who want to be individuals, who want to be expressive, rebellious, free-thinking … different. That word again. 

And when they learn from the footsteps of their predecessors and step into a future of their own making, they might just do it in a pair of Dr. Martens 

SOURCE: http://www.drmartens.com/us/history