What does it take for Signature Shoe Success?📈

Ja Morant just launched his second signature shoe with Nike, and it got me thinking that Anthony Edwards and Adidas represents what Ja Morant and Nike were supposed to be: fun, irreverent, youthful, viral and a playofff success. Instead? We’re left with a whimpering return from a man hounded by controversy & injury.

I had the great fortune of working on one of the big campaigns with Ja Morant right before his signature shoe.
It was one of the last projects I worked on at Nike. I want to see Ja win, but it's hard to imagine any athlete whose brand has suffered more than Ja Morant since 2020.

Right before his signature shoe launched. He got in trouble again.  This is one of the many pitfalls for trying to craft a successful Signature Campaign with an athlete.

And as we've gone over this chart below, once an athlete has performance AND charisma, if you make a compelling product, then you get the marketing and creative down, it ultimatley becomes about behavior and health. 

 If an athlete can behave and stay healthy AND have a team who can help them win… all of these things happened to fall right for Anthony Edwards last year and his team made it to the Western Conference finals.

I hope to see Ja Morant on a road to redemption: physically, mentally, spiritually.

Ja Morant and Anthony Edwards actually both represent something that the NBA has desperately been wanting, a American born star who can rise up and take a smaller market team on a really fun playoff run. 

I hope that both of them can have success because it makes all of this more fun.

For Ja, I think the product is there. He's got the backing of a big company whose continued to stick with him. Now, it will be on him and the people around him to continue to try to improve his brand, so that he can connect and inspire kids all over. 

Anthony Edwards has certainly provided a playbook over the last year.

Education & Resources:
Ethan Strauss has written a couple of critiques of Nike, and when I take my internal bias hat off, I think he’s right.

Subscribe to My YouTube for a full breakdown of the tricky factors in the Signature Shoe Business.

Blessings:
In life, we can give of our Time, Talents or Treasure.
Which phase are you in?