SEE NOTHING BUT YOUR GOALS. Curry 7 Focus Colorway Represents Precision And Tenacity.
Source: Introducing the Curry 7 Focus Colorway
I have to walk to the back of the store at Finish Line Wolfchase to see any version of the Curry 7. As Finish Line has taken a hard shift towards apparel and a redesign that reflects this strategy, from the front of the store you can hardly see any models, let alone the Curry buried at the back wall, and that’s really the only place the shoe is carried.
I’ve written about the updated content development from the UA News team and that they are doing a solid job but it’s still not enough. The PR from UA doesn’t matter when I can’t walk into all stores and see the Curry model without doing an in-store scavenger hunt. Damn, this post took a quick turn…
As Nike prepares to rollout the Bred 11, again, Under Armour is beating the Jumpman to the mark on Black Friday by releasing the Curry 7 Focus. Honestly, and I know this won’t be popular, by these pics the Curry 7 Focus looks better. The thing is there isn’t any coverage of the Focus by any ‘sneaker culture’ sites.
I have only held the Curry 7 once so I don’t have a video of any of the shoes and my network peers, basketball scouts and squads (https://901prepscoop.com and http://athlution.com/) aren’t sharing the teams rocking the shoes. That doesn’t mean UA isn’t doing the right thing in PR. The description on the UA site explains that this model will:
“…Help get him back to the court, ready to win. Because when he sets his sights on a goal, nothing can stop him.”
I like that, but UA needs a dedicated basketball PR team. A short mini-doc series of Curry’s rehab and a discussion around the players rocking UA would be a nice weekly feature at a moment when the best player wearing the Curry switches back and forth each night between Nike and UA as a sneaker free agent. I’m straying again.
UA is rolling out the Curry with limited launches and then diving into a bigger release later. I like the bold position of dropping a Bred colorway prior to the Bred 11. It’s a confident position to take when the model seems to be destined to be reviewed by YouTubers who are given pairs, but really don’t have love for the brand. Love is difficult though and it is imperative that Under Armour recognizes that love isn’t built sponsoring teams where kids have no interest in wearing the gear once the game is over. Love doesn’t happen because a kid played at grassroots tournaments where college coaches attended. Love happens organically with a consistent connection and commitment to creating the narrative.
The shoe looks incredible and while I probably won’t get to hold it or wear it, when I see it my mind strays back to when I ran the CCB Sports Network. When I used to put on my own Sho-Shot gear and go to 5 basketball games a week sometimes dressed as cool as I could be in an unknown brand. I lugged my video camera and notepads with me to JUCO and High School tournaments. I recorded and edited video to drop highlights of unheralded players. Those unheralded players had a fire and determination. They came to my little known camps and played their hearts out because it was their last chance to keep playing the game they loved at the next level. That was love.
UA needs to find a way to be present. Not at the big time recruits basketball games, but in the car driving on dark Mississippi roads and unfamiliar city streets in basketball crazy high school gyms where kids end up at Davidson and Stephen F. Austin, or at NAIA and D2 programs or in JUCOs where the squad takes a bus hours away to compete for a chance at Hutch. Right now UA is chasing the ghost of old love with a strategy created by people who never had to work outside of the system to connect.
The Curry 7 Focus is dope, but not enough people are smoking it (alright that was pretty wack, lol) Info on the Focus is below.
The Curry 7 Focus colorway will release globally on UA.com, at UA Brand Houses and at select retail partners for $140 USD on November 29, 2019. Limited pre-release pairs of the new colorway will be available for fans on November 25, exclusively at the SC30 product wall within the Chase Center Warriors Shop at Thrive City in San Francisco. Under Armour will continue to release limited adult and grade school pairs of select Curry 7 colorways ahead of global launches at this retail location.