Tri-Athlete’s Podcast with Kyler Sager and James Jasperson

I had the opportunity to sit down with Kyler Sager and James Jasperson, two of Western’s Cross Country and Track Athletes, and talk about their thoughts on advertising towards athletes at the collegiate level.

The first question I asked the guys had to do with their perception of the most dominant brands in the running world. They both said that Nike and Adidas were the two front-runners of the industry, but couldn’t agree on the third brand. James, a part-time firefighter for the South Whatcom Fire Department, claimed that Under Armor was one of the top three running brands, whereas Kyler pushed for Brooks as the third in the top three, likely due to his record of running with Brooks shoes throughout high school.

James:

1. Nike
2. Under Armor
3. Adidas

Kyler:

1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Brooks

Nathan:

1. Nike
2. Adidas
3. Brooks

The three of us realized that although we all mentioned Adidas, none of us had personally ever raced in them. We took a second to analyze why we all thought that Adidas was such a popular brand, and came to the conclusion that it was because of their running club. A lot of athletic companies, such as Nike and Adidas have professional runners who compete in events for a club. Take for example the Nike Oregon Project. The Oregon Project is a group created and sponsored by Nike in Portland, Oregon, and is comprised of some of the best runners in the country. When brands like Nike provide gear and “salaries” for their athletes, they profit when one of their runners wins a race. For a current example of this, think of Usain Bolt and his 2008 100m dash World Record. When Bolt one the race wearing Puma spikes, Puma instantly reaped the benefits, showcasing the worlds fastest man alive sporting their shoes. Similarly, athletic companies will create their own clubs to showcase their athletes and better promote their brands.

(Copyright Nike Oregon Project 2019)

 

Athlete Endorsements

Next we talked about the influence of athlete endorsements and who is most influenced by this marketing strategy. We came to the conclusion, that the younger the athlete, the more influenced they are by athlete endorsements. For example, the three of us reminisced about the days of middle school track, where we’d buy the same brands or the same type of shoe as our favorite runners did because we believed it would make us more like them. The older the athletes get however, the less influence the endorsements have over them. With collegiate athletes at D1 schools, most of them receive their gear–including backpacks, jackets and shoes–from their school for free. In this case, the athlete endorsement doesn’t matter to these students because they are using gear provided by their schools. Once you reach the Olympics, most athletes who are going to the finals will have endorsement deals with companies, meaning they have no influence from other athletes. Take Tyson Gay for example. As a competitor to Usain Bolt in the 100m and having a partnership with Nike, Gay will never buy Puma spikes for himself. This is true of a lot of professional athletes, where they are less concerned with who is wearing the spike, and more concerned with what the spike can do for them.

Nike is the Most Innovative Brand (According to Us)

The last topic we covered, after discussing that innovation is the key factor professional athletes use when buying spikes, was which brand was the most innovative. For most track and field athletes if you ask them this question, they will respond with Nike. Having created the first version of the spike using a waffle iron, Nike has, and continues to be, the leader in spike innovation. Due to their large market domination, they are able to afford the research and development necessary to create multiple new versions of the same shoe every year. This is what drives athletes to use Nike instead of others brands. Since athletes are focused of the innovation and how fast the shoe will make them, they throw out quality and price.