In a recent Insider Ties, I stated New Balance’s The Track and ASICS’ Meta Time Trials are finally creating the movement to counter Nike’s amazing growth. In a video for that discussion, I stated adidas would also be utilizing a strategy Nike initiated with Breaking2, the livestream of brand athletes competing to break records.
On April 24th ASICS Held Their Own Version of Breaking2 – The META Time Trials – ARCH-USA
adidas launched their Road to Records Livestream on April 29th. The video for the event is below. My video discussing why this is a huge moment for the sneaker industry is below the adidas Road to Records video.
Just as a point of reference, when Breaking2 happened I stated it was groundbreaking because of the opportunity for advertising, sponsorships and the ability to generate revenue akin to professional sports leagues. Right now, these livestreams aren’t utilizing ticket sales for revenue, and they don’t have to do so. They could easily make revenue from a variety of opportunities, but at this moment they serve a more qualitative measurement as marketing. The adidas livestream is at 49,000+ views. That’s a solid number and it will be viewed for as long as adidas makes the video available. The digital aspect is golden. Each brand, Nike with Breaking2, ASICS with META Time Trials and now adidas with Road to Records 2022, all lack a deeper investment into these events to generate a long-term benefit. As the brands begin to understand the need for long-form content as well as continued investment into social, these livestreams will grow. Right now, the majority of marketing is built around social which requires a continuous stream of short burst videos for a constantly scrolling potential fan. Conversions do happen from social but building a relationship in digital requires a commitment to more involved content creation and storytelling. When these live events take on every aspect of community building the sky is the limit.
