SMALLER BOOT BRANDS OUT THERE FIGHTING

In an exclusive interview with Footy Boots which you can read in full next week, Simon Skirrow, the boss of Nomis, says that the interaction he has and the feedback he receives from amateur players far outweighs the need to spend vast sums of money in securing professional player endorsements.

His approach, like a number of other ‘smaller’ brands may be based on ‘the bottom line’ but it does throw up an interesting point in terms of marketing strategies – what works, what doesn’t, what’s worth paying out the big bucks for and what isn’t.

It also begs the question; can the personally owned football brand make it on the big stage?

With Skirrow, the marketing plan seems to revolve around innovation. Create a product that no-one else can match and let the boots themselves to the talking. Nomis go big on comfort, safety and performance and as you’ll discover in the interview, Skirrow passionately believes that his boots are the best on the market. Add in a sprinkling of technical innovation too such as nomud, Dual Control and most recently, customised digital design as shown on the NXGEN Spark, it’s clear that Nomis are continuing a well trodden and successful path.

Nomis NXGEN Spark

And it’s not as if Skirrow hasn’t experienced the other side of the coin. As a big wig at Adidas and co-creator of the Predator, he’s seen how the big boys work and, probably more to the point these days, he knows just how much that can cost.

Meanwhile, as a newcomer in the market place, it was always unlikely that Concave would sign up masses of pro’s from day one.

Instead, as they explain in their exclusive Footy Boots blog, they went with a limited release of the PT1 which will be followed up this year by the all new kangaroo leather PT+, a mid range of boots and at least 2 new colourways. Plus, a la Skirrow, they’ve kept a keen eye on customer feedback and made some minor adjustments to the existing range as well as sending our replacement boots to any users who had problems.

Concave PT+

They also had to endure a pretty rough ride from the boot ‘experts’ who questioned, and to some extent still are questioning, the fundamental technology of the Concave boot with its enlarged sweet spot.

However, as can be seen from the new range, Concave are sticking to their guns and are still happy with their 4 pillars of performance; improved accuracy, power, protection and control.

How these two brands will fare in 2009 and beyond is of course anyone’s guess, but in a world where mass volume is understandably king, where celebrity endorsements create a seemingly unquestioning following and where large wedges of cash can sometimes be used to paper over the cracks, it’s refreshing that Nomis and Concave are out there fighting.

Read Simon Skirrow’s exclusive 2 part Footy Boots interview next week.