The decline in footwear sales among sports companies
and its impact on those companies' endorsement rosters was
examined in "The Endorsement Game," a four-story feature
over two-issues by Jeff Manning of the Portland OREGONIAN.
In a front-page, above-the-fold piece on Monday, entitled
"Slump Speeds Slowdown of Spending On Athletes," Manning
reported that at Nike's quarterly meeting in January,
sources said that company Chair Phil Knight said he would
rather cut athletes than lay off a single Nike employee.
But, Manning added, while companies debate whether they can
afford the luxury of paying athletes to hawk their products,
Nike "is the most reluctant to cut back." Nike has been
"particularly tough on track and field athletes, in part
because there are no Olympics or other" major events this
year, and is also "cutting many of its ties to bicycling,
particularly road racing." Other shoe companies "are
pulling out of some sports nearly entirely," including Fila
which is getting out of the football shoe business. Fila
VP/Advertising Howe Burch: "Kids just aren't as inspired by
athletes because a) there are too many of them, and b)
because of their behavior." Reebok VP/Sports Marketing John
Frascotti: "[W]e've hit a salary cap. We sort of lost track
of the reason for doing these deals" (OREGONIAN, 5/25).
NIKE CHANGES? Nike critics argue that the company needs
to take a "more selective approach to sports marketing," a
department that some insiders "long had argued needed
overhauling." Manning reported that a "vocal faction within
Nike is dissatisfied with Nike's mass-endorsement approach,
which they said is 'see 'em, sign 'em.'" A former Nike
insider: "Phil [Knight] agrees this needs to be more
strategic. But Phil's the one who throws a fit if they let
an athlete go" (Jeff Manning, Portland OREGONIAN, 5/25).
THE DEBATE GOES ON: Among other aspects of Manning's
report: Sunday's front-page feature ran under the header, "A
Sports Marketing Juggernaut At The Crossroads: Nike and its
competitors built their empires in an unprecedented
partnership with athletes, but now the wildly successful
strategy is in doubt." In a sidebar on Sunday under the
header, "Forget Research: Endorsements Just A Lot Of Fancy
Footwork," Manning wrote that Nike spent $300M last year
"largely on gut instinct." While Nike and other companies
know what they want from an endorser, they're finding it
"more difficult to determine whether they're getting their
money's worth" (OREGONIAN, 5/24). On Monday, Manning wrote
a sidebar under the header, "Scandals Don't Keep A Shoe Firm
From Celebrating Its Superstars" (Portland OREGONIAN, 5/25).
