Written by Helen Reid
PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. sportswear brand Nike embarks on a marketing push it hopes will revive sluggish sales and help it compete with emerging rivals, executives said on Friday. He said he is spending more money on the Olympics than on any previous Games.
Sportswear manufacturers are hoping for a resurgence in demand as the Paris 2024 Games mark a return to normalcy after the Tokyo 2020 Games were postponed to 2021 and held without spectators due to the global pandemic.
Sponsored athletes including American sprinter Shakari Richardson and Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge modeled Nike's Olympic kits at a show in Paris on Thursday, where the brand developed with athletes They also unveiled 13 different futuristic shoe prototypes.
“This Olympics will be our biggest event…our biggest media spend,” Heidi O'Neal, Nike's president of consumer, products and brand, said in an interview. He declined to say how much the company plans to spend, but added: “This is the biggest investment and biggest moment for Nike in years.”
Nike's total marketing spend for the most recent quarter was $1 billion, up 10% from the year-ago period. Asked if spending would continue to increase, O'Neill said marketing was the company's “top investment priority.”
Nike generally focuses on “lesser, bigger” marketing campaigns, she added. The $139 billion company hired a new chief marketing officer late last year as it looks to strengthen its brand in the increasingly competitive sportswear market.
Emerging running brands like On and Hoka are taking market share from Nike, while the trend away from bulky basketball sneakers is benefiting closest rival Adidas and its thinner “Terrace” shoes.
Nike's plans are in contrast to Adidas's. German brands have cut back on marketing spending, spending 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) on marketing in 2023, down 8.5% from a year earlier. Nike's spending for the last four quarters was $4.3 billion, an increase of 6%.
Nike's investment should help stimulate demand despite consumer pressures globally, executives say.
“Consumers are challenged in nearly every market in which we operate,” said Craig Williams, Nike's president of global regions and markets.
Despite this, Williams added that consumers continue to have a “very positive” response to the Olympic event, which is still seen as “the epitome of sport.”
(Reporting by Helen Reid; Editing by Matt Scafham and David Holmes)
