Welcome Allyson Felix to the Athleta team. Allyson is one of the most decorated track & field athletes in US history & voice for equity in women’s sports. And, Athleta’s first sponsored athlete.
It’s important to avoid hyperbole. Nike is fast approaching 50 billion through a strategic business plan. Athleta isn’t really a disruptive force to the Swoosh, but in a world where fashion and cool is powerful enough and promoted continuously on sneaker websites, the negative stories of Nike never phase the brand.
In the last few years I’ve posted stories about how Nike has mistreated women athletes. It was not to discredit the brand. My goal was to make sure people were informed. The majority of my own sales are due to Nike. If I wanted to really stand with women in sports, I would abandoned selling the product. The reality is, I can’t. Like so many other retail/resale channels, Nike drives our numbers leaving those who are conscious in the precarious position of either losing livelihoods or choosing different careers. It’s the same with athletes endorsed by the brands. Serena Williams can walk away, or she can utilize her fame and reach to educate and empower others. Can mafia money be used for good?
Athleta has come along and pulled two of the most important story lines of the upcoming sports-world from Nike. Simone Biles left the Swoosh for the athletic line from the GAP, but Allyson Felix’s departure happened first and has been more prominent. Allyson explained her reason for exiting Nike in the video above. Her story came on the tail of the horrifying story of Mary Cain:
Nike is Bulletproof for this Reason Although Allyson Felix and Mary Cain Have Horrifying Stories
Athleta is in the driver’s seat
Athleta created a beautiful video for Allyson last year. It would have been perfectly timed to coincide with the Olympics of 2020, but Covid-19 obviously shaped that moment. The video was about resilience and while technically it wasn’t well shot, the meaning was powerful. Power doesn’t always hit the target that it should and Athleta, like most big companies, missed the targets where they should be aiming and striking. The video only has 2,233 views. That’s not a good thing, especially with Allyson nabbing her 5th and possibly final Olympics berth:
But, that isn’t the entire story. Athleta rolled out three versions of the video. The first was 15 seconds, the second was 30 seconds and the final version was the minute long version above. The previous two attained a combined 942,000 views. Which tells me that the channel ran a Google Ad on both of those previous versions. The cost wasn’t exorbitant, but to run ads on those two only to capture 2K on the final longform tells me that there is a GAP, in the marketing strategy. I started this post with a bit of hyperbole, and explained that I needed to be careful. That comment should make sense now. Nike is taking Ls, but they are so unnoticeable it raises the same question I always have about influencer marketing and sports marketing. Athletes and entertainers have large followings, but brands can’t truly know the worth of the partnerships because to reach the consumer with the content, they often have to pay for the reach. This is because brands and retailers aren’t building stories with consistency and through all avenues.
Most of the traffic for Athleta derives from the parent company GAP. Gap hits about 66 Million visits a month. Under 10% of that traffic funnels towards Athleta. Athleta has about 4.69 Million visits a month which is up since the push towards the Olympics has started. The company, like many fitness companies, showed growth during the pandemic. Post pandemic Athleta is going to have to double down on its endorsements of Simone and Allyson. If I’m in marketing I tell the brand to begin a grassroots program for high school track and field. I tell the brand to link up with a company developing sustainable options for workout apparel; a company like NFW and their Clarus product comes to mind immediately. I tell the company to pull an Allbirds and co-brand with Yeezy and adidas for a track spike and a limited collection of footwear. I mean, Ye has a GAP collection coming out. Most important, I get a team of writers and content creators and I give them full reign to interview and create a consistent stream of content for YouTube, and social. Athleta has incredible stories and it would be cheaper to begin creating written content and video content in-house to highlight and profile this journey for both Allyson and Simone. Athleta is in the driver’s seat.
Note to Athleta: You have Allyson’s IG incorrect on your website. It’s going to a broken link: https://www.instagram.com/allysonfelix/