13 Comments
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Dr Bob's avatar

Nike forgot Rene Gerard‘s philosophical theory of mimetics which suggests that we all want to mimic (or at least buy what they’re wearing) our celebrities and sports heroes 🤔

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Trungphan2's avatar

100%. Athletics is a specific realm too, where it's easy to see what is "best".

Nike's previous commitment to only highlight super talent is also why they dropped the ball on Steph Curry and Leo Messi (amazing athletes but didn't *look* like amazing athletes): https://www.readtrung.com/p/nikes-marketing-blindspot

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Egwuom Victory Delight's avatar

I disagree slightly with the new ad Nike did. It feels very unlike them. Yes, it's edgy and fun, but is it Nike? If that's what they're doing to get their sauce back I think they will have other issues.

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Trungphan2's avatar

I agree that its not their *best* or most *on brand* work. A bit of a breath of fresh air though from their recent dry run. We need those old MJ-quality ads back!

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Joseph L. Wiess's avatar

I have never understood why someone would use Twitter/X or other social media, and still try to give copywrite strikes out for content that's used by the TV stations.

Do they want coverage and for people to talk about it, or not?

If I were going to use something from the Olympics, I'd attribute the source.

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Arjun Ghosh's avatar

Wrt to Nike story, That's been always the problems with KPIs and the obsession with many management as well as managers - all boils down to those dreaded QBRs and Monthly/Weekly status reports which becomes an end to itself rather than measuring true value and having a path to true success!

As a business coach and a consultant I have always tried to help and teach my clients this differentiation, though not sure how successful I was 😎

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Trungphan2's avatar

Appreciate the read Arjun and couldnt agree more with: "dreaded QBRs and Monthly/Weekly status reports "--

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Michael's avatar

I missed your posts! Since I detoxed from Twitter I don't know what's going on. I rely on you to provide the top memes on a weekly basis...

NKE dropping so hard just shows that nothing lasts forever- a few bad decisions by CEO or too-large operations and new competitors can encroach very fast. Also shows how much of CEO decisions are mostly gambling...

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Trungphan2's avatar

Thanks for read, Michael!

Happy to be back and very true re: CEO decisions. A handful of bad bets is all it takes.

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Mitch's avatar

Great post as always. To add to the Nike story, here in New Zealand they pulled the online store, we can’t buy online and we have a handful of Nike franchise stores that carry a limited range, and a few chain store retailers that also carry a small range of street / casual.

As a runner I have gone from 100% Nike and switched to ASICS. It feels like they DGAF and have completely turned their back on us. I have nothing but contempt for them.

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Trungphan2's avatar

Wow! I had no idea how bad it was in NZ.

Have you done On or Hoka?

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Mitch's avatar

Not yet, but after Alex Yee stole our gold 😭 I’m looking at New Balance….

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patrick.net/memes's avatar

Thank you for using the correct term "Turkey" for the country of Turkey.

I absolutely loathe being told to change what I say, over and over, in yet another a transparently woke passive-aggressive power play.

It's Bombay, not Mumbai. It's Burma, not Myanmar.

Never give in to any woke passive-aggressive demand for power, not an inch.

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