The NBA and Dream Team star Lebron James recently bought shares of the group which controls Liverpool, the English football team.
Lebron has a contract with Nike, including a sneakers collection endorsed by him. A new model based on the team, with the same colours and a dragon (very close to the one in the team badge), has just been released. Check it out:
The link between the shoe and the club is very clear, but Nike does not confirm it. Actually, Nike can´t do it, and the main reason is that Liverpool is sponsored by Warrior, and until recently was sponsored by adidas. And there it goes the first question: why would a brand like Nike bring something that is owned by a competitor?
The answer is simple, and this post is obviously not about a new sneaker model, but about a sophisticated logic that is being adopted by sports companies.
Nike and adidas are both trying to explore its sponsored stars´ stories. A more organic monitoring of their lives take place of old standard advertising process. Brands which support athletes should celebrate their victories, overcoming episodes and personal interests, like Lebron and Liverpool.
Another good example is the adidas´ mini-documentary made to celebrate Derick Rose´s return to the courts, after a long lasting injury. Sadly, after the documentary launch, the Chicago Bulls player got injured again, but, anyway, adidas showed how to support its stars:
Doing this kind of thing demands attention to the athletes´ career steps. Thinking about Nike and adidas, we have to consider hundreds of them.
On the other side we will find brands that sponsor few athletes, sometimes one or two, and most of the time don´t know how to activate them to amplify their campaigns.
Sports brands are usually vanguard in using sports and athletes in advertising and marketing strategy, but the truth is that these examples open a clear path to any kind of company. In times of a more humanized advertising, an athletes´ journey can be a good call!
picture via UGSoles
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