David Rosenthal: belief

Transcript context

…Ironically, it's actually caught on with Gen Z. There's this weird thing now, where people are wearing Monarchs ironically. The Monarchs are objectively a commodity product. They're super differentiated by having the Nike brand on them. Whereas the Vaporfly, for the two years that it came out, the NEXT% that the Breaking2 marathon got ran in, it was by far the best running shoe on the market for two whole years. That is actual R&D product that differentiates itself. Phil Knight has the final word on this. In an interview maybe 8–10 years ago, he said when directly asked the question, are you a product company or a marketing company? "We are a marketing company, and the product is our most important marketing tool." I disagree. I think the athletes are your most important marketing tool. I think the product is a monetization method for the marketing that you do through athletes. But if you admit that, then you're saying that we don't have differentiation in our product. I do think it's quite telling that they started distributing someone else's product. They do lots of R&D. But at the end of the day, they succeed because they have built the best brand in the world, the most amazing distribution in the world, and the most tear-jerking marketing that anyone ever watches. They have a 30-year enduring brand. For 30 more years, I can't predict after that, but Nike will be a brand that people look up to and are inspired by. Yup, totally agree. It's interesting, even telling a little bit of the athlete story along the way here, too, even that story of the product is what's important. That's part of the myth of the marketing of the brand with the athletes, the Jordan 2, the Jordan 3. Yeah, the Jordan 2 sucked, sure. Everything I said, probably true. I think MJ probably really believes that as do many people. On the other hand, it's also a really convenient story, or the Kobe story of, oh, Kobe's Adidas shoe sucked. Sure, it makes for a really good story for the soap opera that is the athlete's life, that is the Netflix show that they're selling. Being a soap opera keeps them in the spotlight and keeps the opportunity to have more impact with sponsor eyeballs. This whole sponsor celebrity thing is both an asset if you do it well and a massive liability if you do it wrong. Nike's strategy has very clearly been celebrate athletes. Adidas has had the strategy that seems to be like celebrate eyeballs, where they'll sponsor anyone with attention. It's rappers, it's musicians, it's some athletes, it's celebrities.…

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