Not to beat a dead horse, but this roll out of the Kawhi 1 (I refuse to call the shoe the OMN1S) hints at either the most measured cool I’ve ever seen out of a brand, or the most inept brand at capitalizing on opportunity. If I had to choose one, I couldn’t. Whatever Kawhi was paid after leaving Jordan Brand hasn’t generated enough brand interest and will probably never lead to enough sales to justify signing Kawhi, right? When you consider the shoe for Kawhi has yet to have an extensive release this can also be seen in two ways:
- New Balance understands that Nike/Jordan Brand dominates sneaker sales and store merchandising. Dropping a ton of the OMN1S at retail when basketball sneakers aren’t selling like they were during the signature heyday… Wait, that’s the thing, basketball sneakers only dominated in the 90s and 00s because they were basically the only sneakers available and they were attached to superstars. Today there are sneaker brands springing up all over the place and more casual styles are in demand. New Balance doesn’t have the doors to take on RTVs and deal with a shoe that might not sell quickly forcing retail outlets to diminish the perception of the brand with promo.
- New Balance realizes that Kawhi may not be the most vocal pitch man, but he is the most intriguing. His classic quiet on court demeanor recalls the legacy of guys like Bernard King and James Worthy. That blue collar attitude resonates with all cultures and in today’s atmosphere paying the Board Man, creates cache with a variety of segments. Paying Kawhi isn’t about New Balance basketball growing in sales. Paying Kawhi is about establishing the direction of the company as a silent disruptive force in the industry. Kawhi is New Balance… at least that’s what the marketing team wants you to believe. That team doesn’t want you to wear hoops shoes. One look at the link above and you realize quickly the brand wants you to wear New Balance. The hoops shoes are so limited they don’t even show up on the “basketball” page on the site.
New Balance understands that the window in basketball isn’t wide so the goal isn’t to climb through the window at the same time Harden, LeBron, and Zion are climbing through the window. The goal is to let those guys fight it out to get to and through that window, while Kawhi grabs his tools and builds a door that opens into the same house in a different room where the noise isn’t as loud and no one has to yell that they are home. Does this ad work? Yes.
