There is speculation about whether Nike’s Breaking2 sub 2 Hours Marathon event will generate interest in performance footwear and running again. The consensus is that casual and retro will continue to dominate and people won’t be moved to buy running shoes again since they only use shoes for style and walking.
I’m of the smaller market that can see the Sub 2 Hour Marathon campaigns as a very good marketing tool that will generate interest in performance footwear again even if it isn’t used for running.
adidas has been consistently countering Nike with their own footwear. When Nike dropped their Flyknit Racer multi color, adidas released a multi-color UltraBoost. Is the release of information countering or simply a timing thing? I think it’s a little of both.
Let’s look at the juxtaposition here.
- Nike is launching a pure performance model with Zoom X in a very serious event.
- adidas is launching a shoe that is: Engineered to Deliver a Raw, Real and Adaptive Street Running Experience
It should be noted that Nike’s event is taking place on a closed circuit. There is nothing “real and raw”. adidas is launching a shoe that is targeted at the community experience. An experience that gives those involved a gritty, realistic running experience which is what happens when a person hits the pavement. The accompanying video is an aggressive marketing material that is in line with the much of the content adidas has been producing throughout their current rise. The content is always raw, stark, and has a sense of urgency… it’s this urgency that Nike isn’t capable of creating with their clean corporate image that feels disconnected.
Here is the video from adidas use the source link to download or view larger images of the DPR.