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adidas may have found the Kryptonite to weaken the Nike hold on basketball-shoe dominance. At least in theory. You see, they've put two different ideas together - a cool brand idea and a trendy alternate spelling of a number.
We like one of 'em... but the other smacks of highscool cool-kid tactics. The adidas brand is being recentered on the idea of a team - a "we, not me" approach. This is a direct attack on the current market leader - Nike. Nike spent millions of dollars pushing the idea that being an all-star is the ultimate goal, and that to be an all-star you gotta be able to humiliate your opponent - freezing them, dunking over them, putting the ball between their legs... The goal was to out hustle your opponent one-on-one. People weren't wearing Nikes because they wanted to be team players, they were wearing them because they wanted to "Be Like Mike." Sure, Jordan was one of the best team players ever, but there's a reason why the posters plastered on the walls of aspiring ballers never seemed to contain thrilling pics of him passing off the ball. Think Jordan and Nike and you get high-flying, toung stickin' out, in your face skill(z). That adidas would go in the other direction and point out that one person can't make a team (as evidenced by Jordan during his time with the Wizards) points to how seriously they're taking this. Not many people go against what Nike does. They've had a magic touch of lately. What I personally like about this is that they're actually going after a larger market than Nike is. Sure everyone thinks that they're all-stars, but
few actually are. At some point people gotta figure out that they're not going to be Jordan even if they wear his shoes. What's left? Being great at what you do - supporting Jordan.
This could even turn into a rebellion against the fake showboaters of the world... Not exactly sexy, but certainly worth trying if the "join 'em" tactic isn't working. And, not that they'd ever bring it up, but let us recall exactly how well the American basketball teams have been doing on the world stage of late. I don't see many Gold medals around the necks of this generation's show-boaters. Even the good ones. Perhaps it does take five. ("Ffffffive." Not "Fiveive") We're not fond of the use of "5" in "5ive." Wanna know why? Well - it isn't original, being derivative of Se7en, a TV show, numerous companies, and yes... even this band. (We think this last one may redefine the word "bling.") And hey... what value does the number add that the letter doesn't - other than making people spend more time trying to explain how to spell the slogan. "Just do it" was easy to spell... "It takes 5ive" is just... dumb. We'll put good money on adidas dropping the spelling but sticking with the basic concept well into next year. Note: How successful do you think Nike would have been with the slogan "Just Do 1t?" with a 1 for the i?" Note #2: Want to see the advertising in action? They're already using it in videogames. Tate Linden Principal Consultant Stokefire Consulting Group 703-778-9925 |
