Track and Field Could Be the Next Driver of Sportswear | Part 1

Which Brands Won Track & Field’s Diamond League 2022?

• Nike 16 wins
• adidas 7 wins
• Puma 5 wins
• New Balance 3 wins (Femke won 2)
• Mizuno 1 win
• Orlen 1 win
• Asics 1 win
• Jako 1 win

Nike dominated the World Championships in 2022, but the irony was an event at Hayward Field wasn’t marketed or promoted extensively by the Swoosh. This is important because Nike was founded by the Men of Oregon. Track and field is the foundation upon which Mount Swoosh sits… or sat. The brand that delivered inspirational moments which moved sneakers from the field of sport into pop culture and fashion, has become removed from the heart of the business. Nike currently controls the market due to nostalgia and not because of innovations rooted in running. This doesn’t mean that Nike isn’t creating new technology. The brand is constantly innovating, but in the past, you could ask any consumer what makes Nike great, and the answer would be “Air”. Today, Nike is best known as an app/tech driven sports company delivering content and “L”s to fans of the brand on product designed and created at the height of the company’s growth. An Air Max 1 (made in 1987) sells out before Nike’s new Invincible Run or ZoomX product. Most fans of the brand have no idea what Next% or ZoomX are. With an overinvestment into e-commerce technology and the Nike Direct strategy, gone are the beautiful campaigns that appealed to the consumer and applied pressure to the emotional center that moves people to purchase. Nike has become big enough to no longer care and, in the process, they opened the door to brand equity and opportunity. It’s not a missile through the wall that crashes a kingdom. A missile is big enough to be seen and preventive measures can prepare for impact and a team can be sent to patch the hole. What begins the fall of an empire are cracks in the mortar of the walls, eroded by time and consistent pressure. When leaks are unseen it leads to standing water and rot. When a sinkhole happens, there isn’t any indication of a problem, it just happens. Track and field was once Nike’s passion and the heart of the company. Today Nike continues to be a growth driven company as opposed to a company built for the athletes and that isn’t more evident than in track and field.

The Irony of the 2022 World Track and Field Championships Landing in Oregon | Nike’s Tarnished Legacy on Display

Digital Sports Viewership

There isn’t a discussion on the growth of sales via sport without establishing Nike’s prominence. In making a claim that sportswear sales can be improved via track and field, there has to be a “why”. Why now? Nike’s marketing machine wasn’t strong in the 70s as the brand grew, but the company had foot soldiers. There were people on the ground where running mattered. In the 80s the Swoosh marketing was so strong that the Los Angeles Olympics by default became the Nike Olympics although the brand didn’t sponsor the event. Nike’s growth in sport shifted the dynamics of how sneakers were worn. As the company has grown in basketball and culturally, it has become so distant from running and the sport has diminished in presence that Nike has seemingly let go of the control it once held. This couldn’t come at a more different moment. Nike’s maturation arrived in the time of a three-channel media network (ABC, CBS, and NBC) and the beginning of cable. Sports remained a bastion of viewership growth and a captive audience tuned in to watch events. The Olympics in the 80s produced legendary performances from Florence Griffith Joyner and Carl Lewis. The 90s saw the rise of Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan and Nike remained the control in the sports experiment with Tiger Woods, Kobe and LeBron in the 2000s. Nike has always had an inescapable bond with sport, but today things have changed. In the post above on the “Irony of the 2022 World Track and Field Championships,” I wrote the following:

Niche sports are no longer niche. As traditional television ratings slide, the idea that the next generation isn’t as engaged in sport appears to be true. The reality is much more complex and should be considered by sports brands, who in many instances, allow niche sports to exist. Here are a couple of comparisons to consider, looking at sporting events and the highlights associated with the events taking place at approximately the same time, shows that digital viewership of niche sports often dominates traditional sports although niche events aren’t covered as well:

US Track and Field Team Trials 

I created this small data set to explain the importance of Digital Sports Viewership. I followed up this quote by explaining that all brands are media companies and should function as platforms for sport. Making the claim that track and field could shape the growth of sportswear requires continued research and proof. This claim also requires an extensive breakdown because of the variety of sports in track and field. This is just an introduction to the topic. The tentative breakdown will be on Sprint athletes, High Jump, and Distance along with other field events will be discussed. In the 80s and 90s proudly sponsored the fastest male sprinters in the world. Since the 2000s things have changed considerably and today the shift is even more drastic. Track and field has only influenced sales during Olympic years, but there is an opportunity for brands and athletes in the sports to move the needle and Digital Sports Viewership is at the heart of this potential.