Andres Kiger, VP of marketing for Converse’s global partner markets, reveals the crucial points of the brand’s communication in the country
After more than 20 years in Brazil, Converse opened its first official store in the country. The establishment, located in Shopping Cidade So Paulo, on Avenida Paulista, is a milestone in the history of the brand that was born in 1908.
Converse was on Brazilian soil in 2002 and, since then, it has been part of the lives of thousands of people and the most diverse groups, ranging from athletes to rockers.
“Converse has been embraced in sport, music and culture for generations. We believe this is driven by an obsession with youth culture and product designs. Our cultural longevity comes from our desire to celebrate and reinvent our classics alike,” said Andres Kiger, vice president of marketing for global partner markets at Converse.
As a brand that can be found in hundreds of countries, the company does daily adaptation work to talk to the most diverse audiences and, according to Kiger, the strategy established to talk to the Brazilian public mainly uses digital media.
Consumers in each market have different needs and perspectives, so we make a point of leveraging local insights to adapt our approach. We leverage many channels to reach our consumers, especially social media platforms where we know GenZ is very active and engaged with the brands they love, explained the executive.
Kiger also highlighted that it was through digital media that the brand identified the need to have an official physical space in the country.
The opening of the establishment completes Converse’s plans for Brazil and aims to deepen the connection points between them and Brazilian consumers as they build a collection in retail and e-commerce.
Furthermore, the brand has a product design team based in Brazil, which works together with the global team to understand the trends and products that resonate in the national market. Among Converse’s partners in the country is Coopershoes, the brand’s distributor, which supports and designates the local production of products that are sold in Brazil.
With established and new partners, we also look for new and creative ways to connect with our consumers, like our partnership with Brazilian music icon and rapper Marcelo D2, who produced the Converse All Star Anthem alongside Latin Grammy-nominated producer Nave Beatz, highlighted the executive.
One of the crucial points behind the strategies surrounding Converse is keeping the community engaged with each launch and, therefore, the brand has a strong presence mainly on Instagram and TikTok.
“We’ve seen the most positive response when we develop campaigns that focus on local consumer insights. Converse is uniquely positioned to encourage creativity, self-expression and co-creation and we inspire our communities to support that mission,” added Kiger.
Converse All Star Community
Another point highlighted by him is the Converse All Star Community, which consists of a global brand community with more than 1,500 emerging creatives from 56 cities around the world. The initiative has more than 100 Brazilians and aims to value the voice and perspectives of the people who participate.
We invite the community to co-create local marketing campaigns with us, whether it’s composing musical soundtracks for Carnival or serving as behind-the-scenes talent for a brand photo shoot. We value these voices and perspectives because we know we can’t tell this generation what they want, we need to invite them to create alongside us, Kiger explained.
It was through this initiative that Converse launched, at the beginning of the year, its campaign for Carnival, entitled “Connect with the Unexpected”. The piece, written by Dabba, was performed by the blocks Il Ob de Min, Bloco 77: Os Originalis do Punk and Cumbia Calavera.
Another action focused on the Brazilian carnival was the first edition of the All Star Series, the brand’s global project, in Latin America. With the project, Converse invited young creatives to compose and produce four original musical tracks celebrating the mix of traditional Brazilian sounds.
