An insurgency against the traditional basketball shoe powers is underfoot as companies like Puma, New Balance and Under Armour compete for a share of N.B.A. culture. (photo via Puma)
Source: Why N.B.A. Stars Are Trading In Their Nikes
The newspaper industry is at a disadvantage when discussing the sneaker business. The only person who appears to have data on the business and a voice is Matt Powell who is interviewed in the source article written by Jonah Engel Bromwich and Kevin Draper. I’ve contended that Matt Powell is out of touch and only has an agenda for his consulting company, which isn’t a bad thing, but what tends to happen in every interview with him is an introduction of data without discussion. In other words Powell makes the statement that performance is slow and more than likely isn’t bouncing back. Journalists, who don’t have the time to seek out other sources in many instances default to Powell over and over because numbers look good in an article. The problem is when he delivers the numbers the story stops. I discussed the problem with the data in this post:
Typically journalists allow those numbers to stand and they never follow up on the discussion with the people behind the sneaker projects. They also fail to find other voices on the matter. This leaves the articles without balance. Jonah and Kevin have created probably the best article on why sneaker companies are returning to the NBA although basketball sales are ‘slow’. This is the article that gives a voice to the executives who have chosen to move their companies back towards what is considered a sputtering business in basketball kicks.
Chris Davis, a vice president for global and sports marketing at New Balance… said New Balance had put together a 12-year plan to become the third-largest athletic brand in the world. It wants to grow from $4.5 billion in revenue to $7 billion by 2023, meaning third place behind Nike and Adidas is an extremely lucrative place to be. And any strategy for global growth now requires investing in basketball.
Davis is obviously toeing the party line, but he is making a valid point. The most visible entertainment business in the world, the only place where live tv can still draw a premium for advertisement, the fastest growing international sport is the NBA. Marketing has become more about product placement than storytelling in many instances as media is now video driven. While marketing is generally a qualitative measurement meaning that it can’t be quantified in most instances, the inherent value in aligning with an NBA athlete carries significant weight. I discussed this in the post below:
The journalists behind the source article utilize data from Powell to allow for rebuttal, but they also utilize the executives to offer a refutation creating what I think is one of the definitive discussions on why brands are once again diving back into the waters of the NBA although the water isn’t deep the ocean is wide and a rising tide lifts all boats. Basketball is a gateway and in sneakers if you don’t have a foot in soccer and in basketball your brand won’t grow to that billion dollar status. For many companies that isn’t the goal. Small companies are just as important as the big guys; they simply have a more difficult time generating coverage and media attention.
Take a second to click through and read the NY Times post:
