PA-based AND 1's "marketing tour," in which it turns
playground basketball players into "salaried bulletin
boards," is examined by Rob Wherry of FORBES. The first
stop on the tour was at N.Y.'s Hunter College recently,
where 1,400 "basketball buffs lined up to watch." AND 1 CEO
Seth Berger "rents the gym, hires postgame entertainment ...
and asks each player to show up cloaked in AND 1 apparel."
An Oakland, CA, stop will feature AND 1's Harlem team
against its "West Coast player-pitchmen," and "after that
there's a dunking contest during the NBA All-Star weekend in
February, when amateurs can compete with NBA stars to win"
$1M. While Nike and Reebok "both tried" to recruit "inner-
city star" Tim (Headache) Gittens, he chose to go with AND
1, which paid him an "estimated" $10,000 and "showered him"
with apparel and the "chance to play in its marketing
league." Gittens: "Other companies aren't keen around the
hood." Wherry notes that AND 1 has "managed impressive
growth, despite a basketball shoe market that's expected to
lose" 5% of sales this year. Berger: "If we do our job
right, we should be able to lock up the number two spot in
basketball, with a 15% to 20% market share and $250 to $300
million in [sneaker] sales" (FORBES, 12/27 issue).
