Two years ago when Nike signed Tiger Woods to a
reported five-year endorsement deal, it seemed "like another
stroke of marketing acumen," but early returns suggest that
Nike "made a vast miscalculation," according to SI's
"Scorecard." Mike Jaffey, manager of a Nevada Bob's in Las
Vegas, said of Nike's Woods line: "None of it is selling
very well." Noting the cost of $225 shoes and $75 shirts,
Matt Brown, of an OR-based golf shop, said, "Young kids like
it, but young kids don't have the money to buy it." SI
reports that Brown's comments "speaks to what seems to be
the main problem with the line: It appeals to the consumer
who can't afford it." Nike would not release sales figures
but "suggested that while off-course sales have been
disappointing, the Woods items are doing better in pro
shops." SI: "That doesn't appear to be the case. Several
pro shops with a high-end clientele ... don't even carry the
Woods line." SI adds that golfers "may have been turned
off" by the "radical" design of Woods' shoes and the "in-
your-face nature of his ad campaign." Bill Grigsby,
VP/Apparel & Merchandising at Edwin Watts Golf Shops: "Nike
tries to use the different-is-cool theme that works well in
sports. But in golf that formula doesn't work" (SI, 8/24).
