Source: adidas Originals CRAZY BYW
When a product gets a description on the brands own website that reads, “the CRAZY BYW silhouette features the first ever black BOOST heel POD,” you have issues that have to be discussed:
- If a brand has to tout a color change on the outsole of a shoe as an advancement, that brand is reaching to build a highlight that could attract new fans.
- If a brand is using caps to describe the pod as if having a black pod is something to be excited about, that brand is selling short the knowledge of the buying public.
Neither of these points are very good. Last year when adidas began reintroducing their retro line featuring updating materials and outsoles, I said they were going about it the wrong way. I realize now that the entire project was doomed as the Crazy line should have never been revamped. I wrote this post about the direction of marketing that adidas was taking:
Win Like 2K vs adidas Crazy | Jordan Brand vs adidas: A Tale of Two Marketing Visions
At the height of adidas’ surge from 2015 to 2017 the brand took the time to develop and create an incredible narrative around its footwear and it resonated. By the time this Crazy line launched I started seeing cracks in the pavement of the foundation. One of my primary issues with the line up is that utilizing the retro release of footwear based on an athlete who is now one of Nike’s franchises in the making was counterproductive to the future of adidas. What do I mean?
The Crazy lineup stems from Kobe Bryant’s time as the face of adidas. Prior to Kobe the brand’s basketball lineup featured big men like Patrick Ewing and Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The Crazy series is inherently linked to a Nike guy and if I’m sitting at the marketing table I’m screaming, “Nah B. We aren’t bringing back anything tied to dude.” The conversation would have prevented a current situation where the recently released BYW is already being marked down.
It’s not even that the Crazy BYW is wack… I think it’s distinctively adidas. I like the silhouette. In limited quantities the shoe has performed well. As a general release there aren’t any broken sizes on adidas’ site and in store at Foot Locker and other locations it’s already marked down.
Now take the same concept and name it The Connect. Use the Kareem inspired Lo 70s or Top Ten as the base model to be updated. Build the upper based on Kareem and then take the outsole and use the BYW and build it based on Brandon Ingram. Tie it back into the “Your Future Is Not Mine” campaign where Brandon and adidas appear as shout outs from the past to the present and you have an entire Connect concept for Earl the Pearl to Damian Lillard (Pearl is no longer with us and he wore Jordache at one time, but he did play in adidas), or Adrian Dantley to D Rose (Yes D Rose… I happen to think he will be a sixth man of the year candidate).
The “Connect” series offers a heap of opportunities not based on the 90s era contract with a guy who left you to build a legacy with another company. It also avoids adidas making a shoe that they have to give to rappers who wear Nike when they aren’t in front of the adidas lens. Most important it builds a generational connection for basketball fans with kicks from players in the 80s to players of today. It makes for some compelling content creation and soundtrack opportunities as well as countless artistic creations that could be born.
Right now the Crazy BYW concept as a GR is not the business. The brand would do a lot better if they updated this concept, but I said this before:
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