Source: SLOW DOWN FAST: ADIDAS & JAMES HARDEN CREATE SPACE WITH HARDEN VOL. 3
In May adidas chose to stop running ads on Facebook. I wrote about that in this article:
In it I explain that Facebook, IG and all social platforms are obviously places where brands have to be, but they have to really nail down their use and be as specific and concise as possible, or that 10 dollars per day will turn into 100 dollars per day. Now, I’m sure adidas spends much more than 10 dollars per day, but you get my gist.
If you visited this site last year, you know that adidas was the best marketing team in footwear, in my opinion. That opinion was confirmed as well. From 2016 to 2017 the company outdid Nike in the quality of ads produced. They won the prestigious Entertainment Lions Grand Prix for “Originals is Never Finished”, but since then the marketing has taken a nosedive.
I’m signed up for job notifications from adidas and the company recently posted two positions in basketball:
Manager Sports Marketing – Basketball – Portland, US
Director, Advanced Concepts – Basketball – Portland, US
I typically share these with the readers of the site because I’ve been an advocate of getting more diversity in these jobs. To be honest, if these jobs were remote I would consider taking one of them (yes I’m that arrogant to believe that I would get either job if I applied for them, lol).
Seriously, it becomes obvious that the marketing department in basketball has some serious work to do. I’ve written extensively about the lack of interest in the brands basketball shoes and that is reinforced by the fact that the shoes rarely appear in accounts carrying hyped or more notable footwear. When the shoes do show up, there isn’t any merchandising and eventually the footwear is moved to another location, rtv’d or marked down considerably.
What is this post about? The little things. As I wrote at the start, adidas shut down Facebook ads in May. This is a campaign they are running right now:
What’s wrong with this picture? It’s a sponsored ad, but that’s kind of okay. What’s wrong with the adidas picture besides the fact that it only has 1 like?
This is the Harden Vol. 3. The shoe in the ad that’s listed as the Harden is the Mad Bounce 2018. One of the best basketball shoes to release this year and it only rings up at 80 dollars in kids and 100 bucks in mens. That’s the first thing that’s wrong. The second thing is that Facebook drops these ads into anyone’s feed who might be interested in basketball. I use Facebook to keep up with my old students and basketball players. I share the posts that I write on the site “TO” Facebook. I may spend 15-30 minutes a day popping in to check messages. Facebook should have an algorithm that measures time spent on the platform that would remove my profile from the equation. Why? Because an impression may be free, but if I accidentally clicked the ad it would have charged adidas. If the ad is showing up in the feed of a user who isn’t very active, then it’s probably showing up in the feed of any and everybody who says one word about the NBA.
The worst part about this is a static ad in the stream of a feed will be scrolled through quickly. How does the copy work? “Play your most unconventional game.” What in the entire fuq does that even mean? I’ve already discussed SLOW DOWN FAST as a weak tagline.
I’m an adidas fan. I want adidas to win. They are a 20 billion dollar company so they are already winning, but I really like the idea of a competitor to the Swoosh. This doesn’t cut it. It’s the simple things done well that wins the battle.