If I could link podcasts I would, but Ric Bucher’a new episode has an expert in athletic marketing who works directly with adidas and Nike, and he spills all the fucking details on big shoe and what’s too come, and it’s not pretty.
Essentially Nike hired a new CEO from e-commerce during Covid and he’s shaken up the whole industry. He essentially doesn’t look at Nike the same as how the previous CEOs, he views it as a business and e-commerce guy. What Nike has realized is that in terms of ROI, that skater’s and athletes in general do jack shit for them, and the only way they actually make money is through visibility. Like unless your a dude like LeBron or KD, u essentially dont make jack shit for these companies since your visibility as an influencer isn’t great enough, since Even LeBron and KD in terms of shoe sales are negative ROIs.
I highly highly highly recommend the podcast. It was prolly the most informative thing I’ve seen on the current state of the shoe industry from an athletic sponsorship perspective I’ve seen in literal years for those guys.