Section 1
The tipping point refers to the moment in time when an idea, trend, or even a social behaviors goes beyond the threshold or and then spreads so fast beyond unprecedented levels. A clear example of a successful company that had its product tip by itself without the company’s particular influence is the Wolverine which makes Hush Puppies (the classic American brushed-suede shoes having lightweight crepe sole) (Gladwell, 2000). The Tipping Point of the company’s brand happened in the period between late 1994 and early 1995. before that point, it is believed that the brand was all but dead. In most of the backwoods and small-town family stores, the sales of the shoes were as down as 30,000 pairs annually. It had reached a critical stage where the company contemplated doing away altogether with the brand that had once shot it to popularity. The tipping point came when a couple of Hush Puppies executives learned that their classic brand had all of a sudden become hip in almost all clubs and bars of downtown Manhattan (Gladwell, 2000).
A number of top designer begun placing order for the shoes along with other famous actors. As such, Wolverine sold 430,000 pairs in 1995, then four times that the following year. This repositioned Hush Puppies as a favorite wardrobe for young American male. So much so that the brand won the Council of Fashion Designers Award as the best accessory of the year. The revamp of Hush Puppies shoes was triggered off by a few kids in the East Village and Soho who wore them because no one else would. Then a couple fashion designers picked it up to peddle the haute couture. Without the intention of promoting the shoes, the Hush Puppies exceeded a certain point in popularity and then tipped.
Section 2
Indeed advertising can cause a product to tip. For example in book, Gladwell gives the rise and decline of the Airwalk shoes. This was a brand that was initially meant for skateboards in Southern California. It got its national recognition from consistent advertising techniques which served to paint the “coolness” of the shoes. This fad styling enabled Airwalk to create a product which was always right on target besides being exactly what the public desired. Accordingly, the advertising agency devised a series of dramatic images, single photographs depicting an Airwalk consumer relating to his shoes in some bizarre manner (Gladwell, 2000). Yet in another, a young man wore an Airwalk shoe on his head while the laces hanged down like braids which were being cut off by a barber. The ads were mounted on billboards as well as on construction-sites walls together with alternative magazines. The advertising company also tapped into television. The power of the Airwalks advertising campaign was in greater than the true state of their work. Finally, Airwalk tipped owing to the fact that its advertising was built entirely on the principles of epidemic transmission.
Reference:
Gladwell, Malcolm. (2000). The Tipping Point. New York City, Little Brown.
