Source: NEXT WAVE: INTRODUCING PRO BOUNCE & MAD BOUNCE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION
While the obvious fact that basketball shoes no longer dominate footwear sales would lead many analysts and observers to overlook adidas basketball’s latest shift to the sport it seemed they had basically given up on when they gave up sponsorship of the WNBA and NBA; the Pro and Mad Bounce is possibly one of the smartest moves the brand could make at this time.
There isn’t any secret that adidas is still showing growth in North America, but that growth is really a carry over from the momentum of the last two years. The brand isn’t growing at the premium end of sneakers and while any growth is good, long term… adidas is in trouble. As brands like Vans, Fila and Puma begin to eat into the casual footwear market, smaller startups like Allbirds, Sonra, No.One, Vor, Coliquy, Clearweather, and Rockdeep are combining to take away small chunks of the market which can actually hurt because margins at the low end of footwear are so small.
adidas has in its arsenal a play that I can see taking shape with the introduction of the Pro Bounce and Mad Bounce. Both shoes utilize Bounce cushioning as opposed to BOOST. This is important as one of the primary reasons adidas has seen a decrease in interest is that the brand relied too heavily on BOOST and in doing so they created silhouettes that catered to that technology. The result was a series of shoes that looked the same. The response was that people grew weary of the same design and silhouette fatigue set in. Bounce was being utilized in Damian Lillard’s signature shoe and in the AlphaBOUNCE trainer, but very little attention was given to the tech and there wasn’t any marketing to coincide with the releases. These new releases look like the adidas basketball of old with modernized performance tools:
Built with full-length Bounce cushioning, both Pro Bounce & Mad Bounce models are designed for ultimate court feel, superior comfort and versatility in movement. Constructed with an application process utilizing TPU-coated yarn, adidas’ FORGEFIBER is mapped across high force zones in the Pro Bounce model for strengthened support along the upper. Finally, force mapped zones on the outsole enhance traction for explosive drives to the basket and quick cuts against defenders, finished with an articulated comfort collar for support without restriction.
The models retail for 100 and 110. adidas has created a hoops shoe that is perfect for the upcoming basketball season and perfectly priced to compete against Nike’s team bank models that will be arriving in the next few weeks. When I coached high school ball my teams wore adidas:
If adidas had offered a uniform package we would have worn adidas uniforms. As a matter of fact a couple of years later I recruited a coach and his top 100 player to play at my school and the team wore adidas from head to toe. The team became a sponsored program because of the high level players. That honestly doesn’t help adidas. What adidas has is the ability to pull together a true grassroots campaign around the Mad Bounce and Pro Bounce. As always teams are getting their Eastbay catalogs together. Small team uniform operations are beginning to send flyers out to hoops coaches right now. Coaches are organizing fundraisers to make their teams look good. What never ceased to amaze me was the lack of interest sneaker brands paid to the teams that were like my original squads before the top 100 players. I coached in San Diego. There were at least 100 high schools. 12 players on both JV and High School teams. The same with the girls’ programs. That’s 24 players and 4 coaches who need gear at one school for boys alone. In San Diego that means 2400 uniforms, warm ups, bags and kicks. Add Los Angeles with its 200 plus schools and Central California as well as the Bay Area and in California alone there are at least 10,000 players to outfit. If we only look at footwear with a 30% discount on all items with the Pro Bounce we’re talking almost a million dollars in revenue before adding in the uniforms and accessories.
A lot of attention has been paid to the lack of retail sneaker sales for basketball and performance footwear. What continues to be overlooked is the opportunity in grassroots which for basketball has two seasons, high school and travel basketball. The majority of these teams don’t have elite, sponsored athletes. The players who aren’t going to high major D-1 schools are just as valuable, actually much more valuable and adidas has just delivered a couple of shoes that have the potential to be game changers for the brand. Maybe this time they will reach out to me and listen to what I wrote in the article below. adidas could rewrite basketball, but they would have to place the same emphasis into the sport that they’ve done with IG and influencers. I’m waiting on the phone call:
Insider Ties: The Next Wave Is Here: adidas Adds Eight to 2016 Rookie Class