Westbrook, Jordan, and Sneaker Wars: Nobody's Bigger than the Jumpman

Sneaker Wars have dominated the basketball world for over 30 years. However, the landscape is more complex now than ever. As companies battle growing their brand, athletes battle for leverage. As the industry changes so does the way of doing business. Westbrook represents the crossroads between individuality and brand loyalty.

Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Last season, Westbrook’s former teammate, now Houston Rockets shooting guard, James Harden signed a 200$ million deal with Adidas for 13-years.

He was the newest addition to the Adidas roster. Harden joins Damian Lillard, whose deal is estimate to be worth over 100$ million, as the two biggest basketball stars on Adidas brand. 

Especially, after John Wall didn’t renew his deal with Adidas. His previous one was worth 7.5$ million per year. Wall felt as though he was underpaid and wanted more money.

Remember folks, Wall also didn’t like that he makes the same as Reggie Jackson. He has a history of getting the short end of the stick with his contracts. But, he’s a sneaker free agent now.

This isn’t great news for Adidas considering their other big star name in Derrick Rose has barely played the last two years. Rose deal has been a huge drain for them. His deal is for 13-years and worth up to 180$ million dollars.

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As a brand, Adidas is gaining ground in the sneaker market place. However, they are still second to Nike.

Nike has remained king by still having a roster consisted of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James. The company spent big bucks to secure these guys with Durant’s deal worth up to 300$ million and LeBron’s deal reportedly worth over 500$ million.

Nike has been the premier brand since the sneaker wars began. But, the landscape is changing. Despite John Wall not resigning with Adidas, their company is on the up swing. The Adidas brand has gotten tons of attention the past two years from Kanye West and his Yeezys. Their definitely expanding their brand to work with entertainers in a way that Nike is not.

Also, Nike missing on Steph Curry a while back is coming back to haunt them. According to Darren Rovell of ESPN, “Nike failed to match a deal worth less than $4 million a year” a few years back for Curry’s services.

Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Curry’s expected value to Under Armour is huge. Nobody saw Curry becoming the 2x-MVP, NBA Champion, and household name that he is today. Business Insider reports that Curry’s value to Under Armour will be around 14$ billion if his popularity stays consistent. Not bad considering Curry’s deal with Under Armour was reportedly only around 4$ million per year.

The three main competitors in the basketball sneaker world are currently Nike, Adidas, and to a much lesser degree, Under Armour, in that order.

But, there is a third brand that we all know too well.

The Jordan Brand.

Michael Jordan is the most successful athlete ever in the sneaker world. What he has accomplished is unprecedented. The brand is still bringing in around 100$ million per year for M.J. almost 20 years after his last game with the Chicago Bulls.

May 2, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Chicago Bulls former player Michael Jordan in attendance before the boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

While the Jordan Brand has brought M.J. himself great personal success, their athletes are often overshadowed.

There are the big problems with the Jordan Brand.

First, is Nike.

Nike owns the Jordan brand. The issue with this is there is no competition. They clearly have little interest in developing and prompting athletes on the Jordan brand as individuals.

On Nike side, they sell shoes based on the popularity and marketing of the individual athlete. As a result, they get more unique shoes made, have a variety of branding concepts, and bolster each athletes’ profile in the media.

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This doesn’t happen on the Jordan Brand. The athletes there all are no bigger than M.J. himself. They are all pushed as extensions of Jordan and what his brand represents, instead of their own individual brand.

This causes many of their athletes to get lost in the shuffle. When you consider the names on the Jordan Brand roster, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, and Blake Griffin, it is surprising how they never utilize their individual brand potential.

Second, since the Jordan Brand is under Nike their athletes don’t get paid as much. 3 out of the top 6 NBA players sneaker earnings per year come from Nike athletes. The other three are James Harden (Adidas), Steph Curry (Under Armour), and Michael Jordan himself at number 1.

The Jordan brand has had only one athlete to really grab the reigns of the consumers.

Westbrook signed with the Jordan Brand in 2012.

When it comes to branding sports stars are usually pushed in creative ways that highlight their athletic abilities and greatest. Usually promotional campaigns by the sneaker giants don’t stray to far from this formula, which is understandable. It’s an easier sell to the public.

For example

or…

But, this appeal comes with limitations. Especially, for players on the Jordan Brand. Strictly marketing players with campaigns centered around basketball work…

if your selling a basketball shoe.

The Jordan Brand released Russell Westbrook’s signature shoe and to no one’s surprise it’s not a basketball shoe.

So, if it’s not a basketball shoe why market it as one. But, come to think of it, there was no marketing campaign around his shoe. Just him as a player. Take a look at one of the most recent commercials released by the Jordan Brand featuring Westbrook.

Again, this is a great commercial and it received tons air time during Thunder games in the Playoffs last year. But, so what? What is the purpose of this commercial? To tell us Westbrook’s  a fierce competitor. We already know that. Does this make me want to buy his shoes? Not really.

This type of promotion works to further push the Jordan Brand. We know Jordan as a fierce competitor so marketing one of their athletes this way works. As I said earlier, the entire Jordan Brand is represents an extension of Jordan himself.

Banking on selling shoes based purely on a player’s popularity won’t work anymore. The only three guys to sell this way are Durant, LeBron, and Kobe. All three came into the NBA over 10 years ago. Before social media took off the way it has. Boxing these athletes in to preset templates won’t work in today’s society.

One of the reasons, Adidas has seen such a resurgence in the last few years is because of their outside the box approach. And their most important signing.

Kanye West.

Now we all know Kanye primarily for one thing, music. Although, nowadays you can say being married to a Kardashian as well.

But, he’s now a fashion designer too.

When Adidas decided on marketing for his Yeezy Season 1 collection they appeared to relinquish a large amount of creative control to Kanye. But, more importantly, Adidas didn’t box in Kanye as just a rapper.

For example…

Putting your personal opinion about the clothes aside, nothing about this campaign screams rapper or hip-hop in any way. It stands alone as it’s own unique piece. Even the audio of Kanye isn’t typical music artist promo speech.

Now, understandably, there may not be many NBA players who can afford to swerve off into a bolder direction because they lack the personality or creativity to do so. The consumers wouldn’t get behind it.

However, Westbrook can.

Westbrook shouldn’t be marketed as “just a basketball player” if your goal is to build a long-term signature sneaker line off his brand.

Even the Jordan Brands latest commercial for Westbrook

which is a subtle jab at Durant leaving OKC, is based on Westbrook mimicking Jordan’s iconic free throw dunk to promote a shoe, the Jordan AJ XXXI, that isn’t even Westbrook’s own signature sneaker.

Now before Westbrook got his first signature shoe with the Jordan Brand, he did another fashion collaboration with the high-end retailer Barneys for the release of Russell Westbrook XO Barneys New York.

In an interview with thewindow.barneys.com when speaking about being a designer, Westbrook said “This was my first time doing this, so learning about what goes into the design process and watching something be created from start to finish got me excited to do it even more”.

Barneys has the reputation for being a very exclusive high end brand for wealthier individuals. For them to not only let Westbrook model for them, but design his own collection, which featured zero basketball clothing by the way, is a huge accomplishment for him.

Contrast this with living in M.J.’s shadow on the Jordan Brand, and you see how boxed in their athletes are. With Westbrook’s Barneys collection he was able to showcase his individual style, which is an extension of his personality.

However, their are limitations, because of the type of brand Barneys is, they won’t reach the mass amount of people that Nike and Adidas will. Having one of the sneaker giants behind Westbrook pushing his style would be big.

This presents a new set of problems if your the sneaker giants. Do you want to create another Michael Jordan, someone who takes a large amounts of the profits at Nike. Nike already as LeBron headed down that same path and possibly Durant. Shelling out all the money to athletes after their playing career is over can add up.

The sneaker giants, Nike in particular, have a reputation for not wanting to pay athletes royalties on sneaker sales, which is a percentage of money for each shoe sold. So why would they want to help build an athlete’s individual brand, especially if it’s not based on their on the court play.

Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s say for example, the Jordan Brand let Westbrook design his own collection, market himself as more than a basketball player, and escape the Jordan shadow. If his collection is successful this presents huge problems for them.

In closing, the sneaker wars of new is not between Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour, it’s between the athletes and the companies.

Remember what I said above, Steph Curry’s estimated value to Under Armour could approach 14$ billion dollars.

How much of that do you think Curry will see?

Not much.

The companies are working to use athletes popularity by pushing their greatest, while simultaneously and purposefully avoiding pushing anything outside of the basketball world.

Moving into the future it’s unlikely we’ll see any more Durant and LeBron like deals from Nike to athletes. They’ve seemed to figure out the game. Their no longer relying on athletes to sell their products, but to push their brand.

It’s all about the Swoosh and, in the case of the Jordan Brand, the Jumpman.

And nobody’s bigger than the Jumpman.

Nobody.

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