In their recent rebranding of baseball products, Mizuno, a sports equipment manufacturer, began conducting an N1 analysis — a method of singling out individual customers and conducting a deep dive into their data — of the high school students which comprise their target audience.

Within the sporting goods market, high schoolers are a particularly important demographic for the baseball and softball category. According to 2010 data, there were approximately 170,000 high school baseball players nationwide; however, by 2022 there will be only be around 130,000, with the number continuing to decline.

By conducting a quantitative survey of 400 high school students and a qualitative survey of 30 students, the company shifted to employing high school students in their marketing. The names of products were also changed from English to easy-to-remember Japanese names.

This new strategy proved extremely successful, with Mizuno baseball equipment being sold out nationwide at the start of the baseball season.

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Source : https://markezine.jp/article/detail/41991

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