Can Nike count on just ONE?
Yesterday, I posted about how Adidas has been going more niche and building equity with smaller categories/communities (eg. barre, pingpong ...etc) - scaling up, by going deep with niche communities.
Nike's approach by contrast looks top-down, too focused around holding onto large category domains - BASKETBALL in this case.
Nike's approach seems so singular by contrast.
As a brand-first person, I love focus and a singular 'big idea' but in today's fractured social-commerce world of marketing, Im not sure it holds up over the long term.
Nike lost one, counting on The One
Basketball is the claim that matters most for Nike. There is no better example of a brand x culture/category ownership that I can think of over the past 20 years. Nike has held onto this space fervently.
Nike let running slip through its hands over the past decade(s).
Basketball though, is the lynchpin for its brand, and featuring Shanghai as the final round of a global bracket puts China at the centre of that culture rather than bolting a local campaign onto the side.
Greater China revenue has fallen for several consecutive quarters, down 12% last quarter. There is brand slippage and category fragmentation on all fronts - Nike is being punished in running and general athleisure.
Basketball however is the culture (category) that Nike holds most dear ...and is going to hold onto for dear life.
About THE ONE activation in Shanghai
Real athletes, real competition, product arriving on the back of it. Deep cultural ownership!
Jordan Brand closed The One, its global one on one tournament, in Shanghai last week. Ten finalists qualified through city events in New York, Tokyo and elsewhere. The Air Jordan 41 was unveiled with a China exclusive colorway.
I continue to be a fan of Nike, so Im glad to see Nike being Nike (even if its with Jordan brand).
Can they hold onto basketball?
Can they use the connection to basketball culture to make gains in other areas?