look at hunderds of tweets and comments on reddit (trackandfield and advanced running) as well as 100k+ views on EPSN's yt video in a matter of 3 hours. They're overwhelmingly positive. It's a public stunt, and they nailed it. The average Joe doesn't care if she ran 4:01 or 4:06 and they have no conception of that.
It turns out that the whole situation on a woman breaking 4 was fake and fabricated to deceive people. There was no real chance and it was all put together by someone who isn't very smart, just to make themselves feel better. On top of that, the race itself was illegal in many ways. She's basically a big doper too. Just thought you should know.
look at hunderds of tweets and comments on reddit (trackandfield and advanced running) as well as 100k+ views on EPSN's yt video in a matter of 3 hours. They're overwhelmingly positive. It's a public stunt, and they nailed it. The average Joe doesn't care if she ran 4:01 or 4:06 and they have no conception of that.
It turns out that the whole situation on a woman breaking 4 was fake and fabricated to deceive people. There was no real chance and it was all put together by someone who isn't very smart, just to make themselves feel better. On top of that, the race itself was illegal in many ways. She's basically a big doper too. Just thought you should know.
but all you said doesn't matter from a marketing standpoint.
Tate McCauley had the perfect comment of this event. "This wasn't for the die hard tradck fan. It was a marketing campaign aimed at women."
And by that mark it was a BIG SUCCESS. I told several female friends about it and then asked one of them what they thought. They watched it live and aren't even a track fan. "I started to get emotional and tear up. I wasn't paying attention to the time on the screen but the announcers were so excited and she was right with the green lights so I thought she did it."
When I watched it, I had it on mute as I was doing my own show. Thank God I did or I would have ripped them. I mean it basically was false advertising on the broadcast. Was all intentional?
1) They never explained what the lights were and which one she needed to be on - we just got some weird explanation about green lights being extended to her WR time.
2) The splits on the screen were 400/800/1200 splits instead of the more logical 1/4th mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4th mile so everything appears faster. With a lap to go, Paul Swangard falsely said, "3:01.8 with alap to go" (no it was over 3:03 with a lap too go) and then DIljeet started screaming about how "she is with the green lights".
Then when they cut to the shot where you can see how the pacers are miles ahead of her, we were told how it was by design that the pacers were way ahead.
Then she finishes and she runs 4:06. 4:06 high which is quickly moved down.
I have a female friend who is a sub elite runner. To her the most blatant thing was that the men were JOGGING next to Faith. It was a bad look.
I joked it could be a ploy to undermine trans in women’s sports.
Do you work in Nike marketing or something? How do you know this isn't backed by deliverables? Do you have access to e-commerce sales figures after the event? Or perhaps you've quantified the monetary value of the free publicity Nike is receiving? Or maybe you have internal data on signups for Nike Run Club? Do you have inside knowledge of Nike's overarching marketing strategy and how this plays in?
As someone who works for a major household brand, I can tell you that marketing campaigns don't always aim to drive immediate sales. Sometimes you just want someone to click a link, sometimes you're only after data, sometimes it's just about keeping name recognition top of mind, sometimes it's about building an association in peoples' minds.
Meanwhile, from now on every time Kipyegon is announced prior to a race there will be huge enthusiastic applause, much greater than she has experienced to this point.
That's how much of a failure this was. People became aware of it who don't follow track and field at all. My neighbor is like that. I was just out working on my lawn for an hour. When he approached me I knew exactly what the topic would be. He's not particularly sportsminded and only engages me on the topic when something sports related filters into his typical feed.
Eventually a woman will break 4 minutes. And this Kipyegon attempt will be referenced front and center in every article and broadcast and any other type of media is prevalent at that point. If it's within Kipyegon's lifespan she will be invited, interviewed and celebrated.
Today's naysayers will be long forgotten and irrelevant
And that explains the frustration coming from Letsrun. When NBC put a lot of eyes on Athing Mu back in 2021 she hecame an instant enemy. If it's not Parker Valby we will disapprove
Meanwhile, from now on every time Kipyegon is announced prior to a race there will be huge enthusiastic applause, much greater than she has experienced to this point.
That's how much of a failure this was. People became aware of it who don't follow track and field at all. My neighbor is like that. I was just out working on my lawn for an hour. When he approached me I knew exactly what the topic would be. He's not particularly sportsminded and only engages me on the topic when something sports related filters into his typical feed.
Eventually a woman will break 4 minutes. And this Kipyegon attempt will be referenced front and center in every article and broadcast and any other type of media is prevalent at that point. If it's within Kipyegon's lifespan she will be invited, interviewed and celebrated.
Today's naysayers will be long forgotten and irrelevant
Why do people keep saying that eventually a woman will break 4:00 in the mile? It will never happen and a man will never run 3:36, either. Maybe you’re over estimating the possible effects of genetic engineering.
I don't think a woman will break 4 in the mile for at least 20 years, if ever.
Nike gave her all the support they could. Faith ran a world best. Track got some medium attention in the dog days of summer. Good for Faith, and good for Nike.
Way better Michael Johnson vs Donovan Bailey or Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson.
Honestly, your idea was so wildly out of touch, it's as if you set the stage for an epic disaster from the get-go. How you thought that this harebrained scheme would somehow pull through is beyond comprehension. It's clear as day, you're utterly clueless about reality. It was doomed from the start. Now we're left picking up the pieces of your monumental screwup.
I've been complaining about "shorter event success" ad nauseum on this site only to be downvoted but I'll be downvoted again. Listen - regardless of technology, if you can't run 1:50 in the 800, you can't run 3:59 in the mile. Sorry. If there is ANY event or race that supports this, it's this one! When will people learn?
I had someone I coached run a 3:58 mile with a 1:54 800 PR. He was better at longer events. Probably could have run faster than 1:54 but made the finals of the Olympic Trials in another event.
Use ur head. The idea wasn’t to go sub 4, it was to draw attention to a huge name Nike athlete and cement themselves as having the superior super shoes. No one *actually* expected her to do accomplish it, but they did expect a ton of marketing buzz.
The name is the event was “Breaking 4”
Nike screwed this up, literally everyone I know thought it was a sad attempt for Nike to get will.
This is the full time job of the marketing department and ad agency.
They succeeded in drawing attention to brand, athlete, her new shoe and idea that a woman is quite close now to a 4 minute mile.
Nike actually having a shoe for a Kenyan woman is pretty positive.
This will be deemed a success, and team will now need new ideas for 2026 marketing calendar.
From a coaching perspective, it was actually a brilliant idea.An athlete of Faith's calibre needs a different kind of motivation to stay focused and continue performing at the highest level. She has achieved everything else upto this point. So what else can you use to keep her motivated?You come up with a sub 4 min mile attempt. She did not achieve it yesterday but you can see that she is now in top shape for the rest of the season.That is a win for the athlete and the coach.
For Nike,they gained too.The publicity in Europe heart-land where they have been facing tough competition from Adidas. You can be sure Nike will milk this and make alot of sales out of it.
Both Faith and Nike gained. They didn't loose anything at all.
I've never seen so much whitewashing. This event was clearly a huge failure - no offense to poor Faith Kipyegon, but the idea was that she was supposed to break 4 minutes for the mile, and she didn't come close, despite all the rules that were broken and the event being tweaked to try to move every factor in her favor.
Which is fine - sometimes things don't work out - but don't come back with all this "but it was still amazing!!! Courage!!! Womanpower!! Nike genius marketing!! Got the average Joe talking about track and field!!!" So many of you, after the fact, are acting like it was never really about breaking 4 - it was about daring to dream, and proving that Nike's marketing team is chock full of geniuses, and getting people interested in track and field as if it might become a major sport someday.
No. It wasn't a success, either on its own terms, or at changing public perceptions. A 4:01 might have been a borderline success. 4:06, no way. Intrinsically, it wasn't as good a performance as her world record, or many of her other races - so don't give me the line about "it was a truly amazing run, record or no record". And sure, it might have gotten a fraction of one percent of the American public momentarily interested, because somewhere in the recesses of their brains resides this meme about a 4 minute mile being something important for some unknown reason - but will it make track and field more popular in any useful way? Absolutely not. In fact, I would argue that seeing this tiny wisp of a woman surrounded by about a dozen (apparently) gigantic guys jogging along beside her as if it was a walk in the park while she strained and failed to break 4 will only make the sport seem ridiculous, especially on the women's side. Way to go, Nike marketing geniuses!!
Honestly, your idea was so wildly out of touch, it's as if you set the stage for an epic disaster from the get-go. How you thought that this harebrained scheme would somehow pull through is beyond comprehension. It's clear as day, you're utterly clueless about reality. It was doomed from the start. Now we're left picking up the pieces of your monumental screwup.
I think this just goes to show that Faith is a better athlete without all the added stuff. She’s a rightful legend and will always have a place at the top of the list as woman athletes. I think I might share the same thoughts as others, I wonder how fast she could go in a woman’s only race with the right conditions and on the right day. Don’t get me wrong, I always love seeing support from those around but she’s probably one of the few athletes that ever graced this planet that does better by pushing her own limits on her own.
Using comments the comments on letsrun as a barometer, seems like this was a hugely successful event for Nike. It's about time shoe companies started realizing that something that is pleasing for die-hard track fans is the exact opposite for the casual fan. The casual fan wants to see Tyreek vs ishowSpeed, not Lyles vs Bednarek. The casual fan couldn't give a rats ass if Kerr or Nuguse wins worlds. Sponsoring the likes of Hoppel/Hocker vs. hosting a Breaking 4 event? The return on investment is chalk and cheese. If track and field is to survive, the die-hard fans better wake up and smell the coffee...
Tate McCauley had the perfect comment of this event. "This wasn't for the die hard tradck fan. It was a marketing campaign aimed at women."
The average normie thinks of 6 seconds in the same way we here think of 0.6 seconds.
My daughters thought she was super-close. I had to explain that she wasn't.
Bingo. In fact, National Geographic fed me an article that is titled “Faith Kipyegon almost breaks 4 minutes in the mile”. people who don’t know any better, will believe this.