The 40 Yd Dash: Nike v. Adidas

Would you rather have the fastest football player alive, or have your own island? These are tough decisions in the world of Sports Marketing…and one that John Ross faced in 2017.

This past weekend we had the NFL Combine, New Era is the current sponsor. Back in 2017, Adidas cared a lot about the NFL Combine, and so did Nike. I was a football brand manager at the time, and we launched a speed cleat for the NFL Combine. It was not commercially available, and it was only available for Combine athletes to run in a modified Vapor cleat. This is the type of thing that brands do to push the boundaries in achievement so their brand is associated with speed. This time, it worked out.

The previous 40 yard dash record had been held by Chris Johnson, who was an Adidas athlete. Adidas got really into speed at the time, that was their main focus. This is generally the focus of most football companies. It’s harder to market battling in the trenches…even though that should be done more often.
Adidas created lots of hype by offering an island to anyone who could break the 40-yard dash record…but there was a catch. That person had to break the record in their cleats.
This is likely done by taking out an insurance policy on the slim chance that someone breaks the record. They get the PR, but never have to pay up.

Now at this point, the record had been held by Johnson for about 10 years. The likelihood of anyone doing it was slim until John Ross came along. He wore the Nike cleat and broke the record, but since he didn't do it in Adidas, he was not eligible to win the island.
He did get signed to a Nike endorsement deal that day, which was already in the works. And we did have a little fun on the weekend, taking a shot at Adidas. I remember pitching this line to my boss, who was anxious to make any kind of splash possible. We did and it did, and this was a fun one.

And while he didn't get an island, he did get a top 10 NFL draft pick.

This record held up until Xavier Worthy broke it last year…in an adidas cleat. But this time, no island was up for grabs.
Xavier ended up signing to Nike anyway.

Education:
The BrandFathers new episode is out NOW: this week we share how Brands & Creators can break through on social media. This is one of our most valuable episodes yet.

Blessings:

How to Buy Happiness…thanks to my good friend Noah for sending me this.
I’m taking Arthur’s advice here. I’m headed out for a week vacation with my fam, buying experience with my family. I’m nearly burnt out. Been cranking for a couple years now, with little downtime. I’m going to throw my phone in the ocean and spend some time in nature.
See y’all on the other side.