Just watching some Diamond League footage from Doha and Shanghai and am annoyed to see that Nike is still doing this. In terms of promoting the sport, dressing every athlete in a race exactly the same is about as dumb as it gets.
Just watching some Diamond League footage from Doha and Shanghai and am annoyed to see that Nike is still doing this. In terms of promoting the sport, dressing every athlete in a race exactly the same is about as dumb as it gets.
You mean like Team USA in the Olympics, or World Champs?
Keith Stone wrote:
You mean like Team USA in the Olympics, or World Champs?
No, I mean the opposite:
Athletes from several different countries who have the same sponsor wearing exactly the same gear.
But I think you got that.
National uniforms or at least colours in DL races would probably be good for spectator attempts to follow the sport, really.
Better than the blue Nike train and the red Adidas caboose you see in most DL distance races.
This constantly gets brought up after big meets and the big-wigs at Nike completely ignore it. What MBA knucklehead is still preaching some brand-identity while the fans/announcers can't tell the competitors apart. Nike, knock-knock, this is track... its a bit different than those other ball sports.
I thought they had the start of the right idea last year with the same basic design but with different colors (silver or gold yokes, green yokes for OTC, etc.).
They need to create a brand identity by making the singlets distinctively Nike using color blocks or something like that and then allow athletes to vary colors within that format. That way you can tell they are Nike athletes but you can also tell them apart.
A bunch of clones (especially if you don't recognize the individuals, which is the way I am with most of non-American runners) just makes the sport harder to watch and hurts Nike.
So, you noticed all the top athletes in these races are running for and wearing Nike products. Isn't that what branding is supposed to do...make people aware of the company?
If you had 10 athletes wearing 10 different singlets, would you notice the brand as much? Maybe, maybe not. As much as people complain about this, Nike knows branding (probably more than anything else they do), so I'm guessing what they do is the most effective way to advertise itself.
two bills wrote:
So, you noticed all the top athletes in these races are running for and wearing Nike products. Isn't that what branding is supposed to do...make people aware of the company?
If you had 10 athletes wearing 10 different singlets, would you notice the brand as much? Maybe, maybe not. As much as people complain about this, Nike knows branding (probably more than anything else they do), so I'm guessing what they do is the most effective way to advertise itself.
Bills is spot on. The fact that the OP and others have complained about this shows that people notice the brand. They know more about marketing than the OP does, despite his objections.
Every other brand does this too. Like others have noted, at least Nike has a few different color kits each year. NB, adidas, Saucony generally have the same kit/color/shoe color
Nike can't afford to make custom singlets. It's a shame that they lack creativity. But then again, they've been lacking creative direction in Run for a while now.
The thing that bothers me the most is that you cant buy the singlet/short their runners wear
They promote something you cant buy, marketing genius
two bills wrote:
So, you noticed all the top athletes in these races are running for and wearing Nike products. Isn't that what branding is supposed to do...make people aware of the company?
If you had 10 athletes wearing 10 different singlets, would you notice the brand as much? Maybe, maybe not. As much as people complain about this, Nike knows branding (probably more than anything else they do), so I'm guessing what they do is the most effective way to advertise itself.
I think Nike should have a tier system.
I think the uniforms should also tell a story. I know in football they do helmet stickers. Maybe put diamonds on the uniforms.
Keep the uniformity, but include something that can help us connect and individualize each athlete.
I just saw the oxy meet and I think this is right on. It was really hard for me to tell runners apart unless they were really distinctive looking. It made it hard to follow the race.
I think running should take a note from cycling and create special jerseys. The olympic champion, world champion, national champions should get special jerseys designed for them. Seems like it would win all the way around. More exposure for sponsors, easier for fans to pick our and cheer for their favorite, and motivating for athletes to feel like they accomplished something.
The worst was the Pre Classic a few years ago. The women's 1500 had 12 of 13 (estimate) with the exact same Live-Strong yellow uniforms. Only Jenny Simpson (then Barringer) had her UC Buffs uniform on. It was impossible to figure out who was who in the race.
I long for the days of Dennis Mitchell with his Mean Green Machine uniform. No mistaking who that was.
two bills wrote:
So, you noticed all the top athletes in these races are running for and wearing Nike products. Isn't that what branding is supposed to do...make people aware of the company?
If you had 10 athletes wearing 10 different singlets, would you notice the brand as much? Maybe, maybe not. As much as people complain about this, Nike knows branding (probably more than anything else they do), so I'm guessing what they do is the most effective way to advertise itself.
It annoys the hell out of me. It makes me just NOT want to buy Nike.
rupp-certified saladbar wrote:
Just watching some Diamond League footage from Doha and Shanghai and am annoyed to see that Nike is still doing this. In terms of promoting the sport, dressing every athlete in a race exactly the same is about as dumb as it gets.
Actually if you pay attention it is not every runner. There are some different jerseys out there.
Sure, most of them are in baby blue this year. Gold medalist get a different color pattern (gold) across the top.
What's weird is that adidas's spies seem to find out Nike's color for the year and copy it ASAP.
rupp-certified saladbar wrote:
Just watching some Diamond League footage from Doha and Shanghai and am annoyed to see that Nike is still doing this. In terms of promoting the sport, dressing every athlete in a race exactly the same is about as dumb as it gets.
Agree.
Though I personally find it nice when people from the same country are in similar looking uniforms. Makes it easy to know who runs for who. It's when people from different countries are dressed the same that is really distracting.
two bills wrote:
So, you noticed all the top athletes in these races are running for and wearing Nike products. Isn't that what branding is supposed to do...make people aware of the company?
I noticed Nike singlets - and was annoyed at them for putting everyone in the same singlets and making it harder for me to follow the race. Is annoying people the kind of awareness they want?
As a paid consultant for this sort of thing the OP is on to something. Top media guys deplore this "branding" because it shows the attempt to keep the focus on nike as opposed to promote the sport.
They (nike)pay, so it's their rules. However, when 12 of 15 guys from 5 different nations compete at the Pre meet wearing the nike same singlet, our testing only confirms that the average viewer who stumbled on the televised meet doesn't care about the event or the outcome because of this type of marketing as opposed to NASCAR marketing. In fact, 68% said they didn't even know which shoe company was featured. (Keep in mind that these are sports fans, not necessarily track fans but these are the people the sport needs to attract.)
When Geb won Boston, why wasn't there a singlet that could be bought that was similar to the American that won Boston? More dropped and missed opportunities for the sport.
Speaking of NASCAR, when Driver A becomes a legit driver does he limit himself to Ford, Chevy, Toyota, Dodge, etc. or does his management look to McDonalds, Home Depot, Pfizer, etc. Oh, and golfers? Do they think they have to settle for Titleist? Golfsmith? Ashworth? or Footjoy?
Yeah it is really stupid and it bothers me too. I can't really think of a solution though that would promote Nike's brand identity though.
never went back wrote:
It annoys the hell out of me. It makes me just NOT want to buy Nike.
Nike is ugly. Their new neon-blue shoes are even uglier than the pink/yellow/green mismatched pairs.
I emphasize the world "ugly." That stuff is a damn eyesore. It is like those bright orange marshmallow-like peanuts sometimes seen, but never eaten, on halloween or easter.
Nike marketers are like male bowerbirds gathering a bunch of shiny crap to attract a mate. They are like saturday morning cartoon and cell phone ads, full of rainbow colors and hype to sell useless products to foolish people.
Nike is a country in a weird kinda way.