The World Cup is officially underway, and it’s a big one for the sportswear giant Nike.
Under the leadership of new CEO Elliott Hill, Nike has been enacting a new strategy called the “Sport Offense” that sees the brand putting sports, teamwear and sports merchandise back in the spotlight. With soccer being the biggest sport in the world, and this year’s World Cup held partially in Nike’s home country of the U.S., Nike is going all out. Its plans include new products, in the form of collaborations with big names like Jacquemus, and a flashy marketing campaign featuring dozens of soccer legends like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ronaldinho, alongside celebrities like Travis Scott, Channing Tatum, Jason Sudeikis and LeBron James.
At a recent Nike event, Glossy spoke with Nike’s global vp of football (soccer), Camilo Andrade, about the unique opportunity this year’s tournament provides and his philosophy on how Nike is approaching the moment.
What’s special about this World Cup for Nike, especially given that it’s partially here in the U.S.?
“The biggest opportunity is that we believe in America. You have amazing infrastructure that promotes football at the early stages, but there’s a dropout of participation in the sport in the teenage years, when you stop playing. This moment helps us create a spike of interest and foster the next generation of footballers. So we’re working with our partners, U.S. Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League on how we capitalize on all this energy around the moment.
It’s also just a great opportunity for us to highlight things like Toma [Nike’s youth street soccer tournament program] and shine a lot on what we’re doing in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Dallas, Miami and New York. This moment creates a swell of interest and people are engaged, and I think they will stay engaged.”
What’s more important, product or marketing, in your World Cup strategy? Which comes first?
“You need all elements to be authentic and to move in this portfolio. So for us, we have to make sure both dimensions are clicking. The marketing and the product have to work together.
We lead with product innovation. The new product has to be good, and then we execute it in the marketplace. So that means making sure that the experience in retailers like Pro Direct or Pele is all good, although they should not all feel the same. And then the marketing is just about being the brand that has our finger on the pulse of football. So it’s a tremendous balancing act, but ideally all of these things surround and increase participation in the sport itself.”
Does Nike have a similar approach for other sports, like basketball?
“The Sport Offense is actually creating the ability to run independent business units. So that means we have independent strategies, independent approaches to the different sports. Every sport has a different team. We don’t share resources, and each unit has end-to-end responsibility and accountability.”
How do you cater to different levels of engagement with the sport? There are people who are excited about the World Cup but may not stay engaged with soccer when the tournament ends.
“Our strategy is actually built exactly around that. We are trying to create a universe around football with on-ramps for every single level of interest and part of the ecosystem.
So if you’re a fan, but not an obsessive, maybe you know Travis Scott and you come across this through his world — or through the ultimate soccer mom, Kim Kardashian, or through Ted Lasso.
If you’re the obsessive football fan, you know the players, you’re going to buy the Mercurial and be super engaged. If you’re not that obsessive, you have the Mad 90 collection, which is more for sneakerheads and just inspired by football.
Between product, the marketplaces, the marketing and all the way we’re telling stories around the World Cup, we have built an entire universe that is going to bring more people into the game through different lenses.
