Source: American Track League | Party Faster
I recently wrote a post analyzing an Oregon Live article on the hypothetical of Nike pulling funding from track and field. The topic is understandable, but I wrote that Nike removing funding would be unlikely. Nike’s foundational creators (who were Men of Oregon) are beginning to pass away, and Nike is functioning like a tech company as opposed to a group of athletes figuring out how to get sneakers onto the feet of people who want to perform better. Nike is no longer fighting against the powerhouse of adidas, Converse and Reebok. They are Goliath. In the process of reinvention since 2017 the new guard at Nike has removed accounts from long time mom and pop shops as well as established large retailers and chains like EbLens and Modell’s. Nike is a different company, but the brand is heavily involved in track and field and that isn’t going to stop.
In this post, I also explained that Nike would never cut funding to track and field, but they are doing more quantifiable marketing. The brand is moving their marketing adspend as they remove themselves from various shelves. This has created openings and other brands are already picking up the slack. I’ve written extensively about the start-up running clubs being formed by smaller companies. On Running launched OAC and they’ve been making considerable waves in the world of track and field in the distance events. These track clubs run in events and are fueled by the brands. In my original discussion I called on companies to be more active, without understanding that they are actively generating events, but the content and marketing around those events is extremely fractured. My evidence is in an event which took place in Memphis last week within the American Track League (ATL). The league attained a “seven figure deal from Puma.” American Track League’s Seven-Figure Puma Deal Chases Diamond League (yahoo.com) I had never heard of the league. Puma doesn’t carry any information on the event on its website or its news site. The league had an event in Memphis and after watching the videos I discovered it seems attendance was sparse. The ATL, which was actually created in Georgia outside of Atlanta, is symbolic of the disconnect between brands and their marketing divisions.
The Memphis event wasn’t loaded with big names, but coming off an amazing World Championships, Twanisha Terry was there and there was some name recognition throughout the variety of events. Memphis carried the city theme of barbeque and music with food and live bands, and an exciting pole vault event on Beale Street, but overall if a young athlete wasn’t connected to the Memphis Youth Association track program, there wasn’t any early promotion of the event. To make things even more problematic, the ATL uses Vimeo under a subscription model instead of YouTube. Whether this has to do with a television deal of some type, it’s an unfortunate situation when you consider that Vimeo gets a fraction of the traffic of YouTube and alternative funding sources could be created with a monetized YouTube channel. the most troublesome aspect is Puma’s sponsorship but lack of internal coverage. Track and Field is perfectly segmented for the digital viewership of today’s consumer. Each event is pocket sized chunk of digital media which could be branded and developed to generate interest in both brand and event. The ATL and Puma could deliver a much more covered event is the brand was actively involved in utilizing its athletes and collaborating with facilities and hosts. Had you ever heard of the ATL? Would you pay 7.99 for a Vimeo subscription to watch the league? Why isn’t Puma actively covering the event for their social channels?