It should be stated that supply chain issues are hindering the work which could be taking place at this time.
There are several moments where sneaker companies are able to generate considerable interest around the basketball segment:
The holiday season – This is traditionally the moment when Nike drops a Jordan 11. They released the Cool Grey in crazy numbers, but outside of the Cool Grey 11, everything was par. There were Yeezy, Lamelo Ball Puma kicks released, and Dunks and Jordan 1s were in abundance. Nothing outstanding.
Black History Month – In the past, brands dropped basketball sneakers honoring Black athletes like Arthur Ashe and Kareem. Nothing really very bold this month which is the same thing for the next moment.
NBA All-Star Weekend – This year brands continued a recent trend of not really going all in on basketball. I expected a revelation from adidas since they’ve had Fear of God on board since 2020, but there wasn’t anything from FOG. Brands held activations in Cleveland, but even with the roll out of Nike’s 75th Anniversary sneakers, All-Star didn’t provide any real heat.
March Madness – During the NCAA Tourney, teams are rewarded with new kicks. College exclusive kicks show up in a variety of flavors and brands use the colleges as their marketing teams. No brand has really taken advantage of this moment. There have been commercials on social and during games, but once again nothing outstanding. If the trend holds true, there won’t be anything exciting around the NBA Finals either.
Why have sneaker brands abandoned the traditional moments where elevating basketball could bolster the brand? Hoops sneakers simply aren’t the driving force behind sneaker culture the way they once were. There have been conversations on social media that Yeezy is more successful than Jordan Brand because Yeezy doesn’t have to use collabs to remain relevant. This would have been blasphemous in the past, but in today’s climate it’s a real argument.
Nike has improved their basketball division with the G.T. Series and Puma is doing very well with basketball; but it seems that the brands are forgoing any opportunities to shine a light on basketball even in the midst of one of the wildest NCAA tourneys in years. In the picture above of St. Peters, an adidas sponsored program who knocked off Nike sponsored darling Kentucky and Murray State who produced Nike’s latest showman Ja Morant, there is an energy there to be capitalized upon even in a small window. adidas most definitely should be doing some type of quick social content creation around this moment. I mean the University of Miami, another adidas school, made it to the Sweet 16 unexpectedly. adidas is having a moment, but so is Nike with Duke. The only thing I’ve seen is Nike’s appropriation of a Black-owned company BALL’N with their Tournament shirts BALL IN: