Nike Inc. won the trifecta this week, with the addition of Kobe Bryant to its player roster. Nike declined to disclose terms of the deal, but estimates put it at roughly $45 million.
Bryant last year paid $8 million to get out of his six-year contract with adidas and bounced around wearing both Reebok and Nike product as both pondered a deal with the LA Laker star. adidas put their commitment behind Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady, inking him to a lifetime endorsement deal.
Bryant has been stuck between a rock and a hard place as potential suitors weigh his star power against his apparent lack of appeal with the all-imporant urban youth community. The world’s attention on high school phenom LeBron James hasnt helped Kobe’s stock either.
“Youve heard a lot being made about street credibility this last month or so,” said David Carter of the Sports Business Group in LA. “I think both of those guys have a tremendous amount of street credibility. It’s just that their streets are in different neighborhoods.”
“Clearly, LeBron is much more important in terms of the direction of Nike,” Carter said. “In terms of the Nike brand name and the persona of that brand, theyre really trying to reach that young audience. LeBron actually speaks to that particular Nike purchaser, more than a guy like Kobe.”
“It is not so much that Kobe has a negative brand connotation. If anything, he’s much more established and he’s done nothing – absolutely nothing – to harm himself”, said Carter.
Nike has now signed the last three big deals in basketball, netting them number-one-draft-pick James, Mr. Bryant and Syracuse standout Carmelo Anthony, who went number three in the draft. And 1 last year snagged Darko Milicic, the number two pick, while he was still playing ball in his native Serbia.
Reuters was reporting that a Nike spokesman Mark Shapiro confirmed the company’s design team and Bryant are working together to come up with new signature basketball shoes that the 24-year-old will be wearing on court. An article in the Portland paper said it will be up to Nike’s marketing power to turn Bryant into a superstar off the court, quoting NKE’s Shapiro that “Bryant will have ample input into the design of products he wears”.
>>> The last Kobe shoe for adidas was a disaster in the athletic footwear market, with much of the blame put on Kobe and his design posse that were supposedly responsible for the shoe’s development…
>>> Nike will need a lot of marketing savvy and a bit of luck with each of their new players, but they appear to have covered their bases well…
