Note: The team at NB reminded me that there is a Blackout according to Rule 40 during the Olympics: Rule 40, a bye-law of the Olympic Charter, states that “Except as permitted by the IOC Executive Board, no competitor, coach, trainer or official who participates in the Olympic Games may allow his or her person, name, picture or sports performances to be used for advertising purposes during the Olympic Games”. The rule was designed to prevent ambush marketing by non-Olympic partners, and the promotional blackout comes into effect 9 days prior to the Opening Ceremony, ending 3 days after the Closing Ceremony. – Voiced Athletics
The discussion still remains relevant as I’m addressing all major events by women athletes, with the Olympics as evidence of the shortcomings.
Brands pay athletes millions to wear their gear. The moments created by sport have the built in emotional components to connect to the consumer. The imagery of victory becomes a reference point utilized in potentially moving a fan into a funnel. The problem is quantifying how much an athlete is worth to a brand and whether it is the athlete, or the design of the product that attracts a consumer.
As sports have become more specialized, fewer people participate in youth leagues and high school. In basketball, if an athlete doesn’t play travel hoops, they rarely make the high school team. Baseball is an extremely expensive club sport. This has completely alienated inner city kids. Track and field lacks the facilities for access to compete. Due to this shift in the sports landscape, kids are now becoming fans of eSports and they want to be influencers instead of athletes. Traditional viewership of sports is down, and it is the last bastion of advertising as it takes place in real time and live tv remains advertising gold. However, digital sports viewership is so prominent that a new league is being born for basketball named the Overtime League. I write all of this to ask the lead question, when should campaigns be launched for athletes and where is the celebration of Sydney’s accomplishment? When Sydney McLaughlin signed with New Balance, I wrote that it was in preparation for the Olympics. 2020 was moved to 2021, but there haven’t been any true campaigns built around Sydney:
New Balance is Preparing for 2020 Early by Signing Sydney McLaughlin
As a matter of fact, there haven’t really been any campaigns for the Olympic athletes at all. I took a moment to visit Instagram, Twitter and New Balance’s news site and there isn’t even a mention of Sydney’s world record breaking gold on any of the sites. There are splash pages and images, but nothing celebrating the accomplishment. New Balance did utilize Sydney in the “We Got Now” campaign which was tied into the Olympics last year, but if you’re reading this, did you know about that campaign at all? Had you run across it anywhere?
I am coming at NB because my household is a girl track and field household. My daughter participates in the sport. We are watching the Olympics every night. I have to say that NB is my immediate reference, but this isn’t a New Balance issue. This is happening throughout the sneaker industry with endorsements, but it seems that when women athletes win big, the rush to celebrate is much slower. When Naomi Osaka beat Serena, she was endorsed by adidas. adidas failed miserably at promoting the moment. Naomi signed with Nike.
Naomi Osaka and adidas Defeated Nike and Serena but No One Noticed
Nike isn’t safe as they have failed horribly at highlighting and celebrating women. Serena has never had a signature sneaker. Her campaigns have all taken place around Jordan Brand drops. Yet Nike stresses the importance of the woman athlete. Interestingly enough, smaller brands are doing respectable work for women in sports. I discussed this in a post about Merrell truly celebrating their athletes:
What is the point in signing athletes if the moments aren’t celebrated in real time by the brands? Why is it that women athletes are overlooked during major accomplishments? Kawhi led Toronto to an NBA Championship. New Balance created an entire tee shirt line and sneakers to celebrate the bounce of the ball against the 76ers and then followed it up with sneakers to celebrate the NBA championship. In real time, they filled their social media with images of Kawhi when he made the shot that beat Philly. The guy is the most unmarketable star in the NBA, but he gets a consistent push by NB. Allyson Felix was so maligned and mistreated by Nike, she created her own brand: Saysh
Am I making too much of this? Am I overlooking these celebrations or are athlete endorsements no longer the most important aspect of creating sneaker fans?