Following the week’s big injury to top college basketball super star Zion Williams seemingly caused by his Nike PG 2.5 sneaker splitting apart so publicly on court during the year’s highest profile NCAA hoops game between Duke and North Carolina,
Zion's shoe: destroyedpic.twitter.com/LqQ2te0Jay
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 21, 2019
sportswear rivals such as Skechers and Puma trolled the sector’s behemoth.
Skechers chose to exploit the exploding shoe with a series of social and print ads (including in The New York Times and USA Today) that featured copy that mocks Nike iconic tagline: “Just Blew It. Skechers. We won’t split on you.”
Skechers taking shots at Nike for the on court disaster with Zion. The marketing campaign can be seen in newspapers and sponsored advertisements online. Just Blew It @skechers https://t.co/DMXZddRsjL pic.twitter.com/63xPuddTrk
— SneakerBinge (@SneakerBinge) March 3, 2019
Just Blew It.#Nike #Skechers #Kicks #Zion pic.twitter.com/5BJxvfO4DR
— Madhu (@ProfPyarelal) March 3, 2019
Skechers low latency marketing response mirrored that of fellow sportswear brand Puma which reacted to the incident via Twitter with a real-time post claiming ‘Wouldn’t have happened in the pumas’.
Puma has deleted their tweet. pic.twitter.com/7pPitJ20zP
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 21, 2019
Which was subsequently deleted from Puma’s feed, probably due to immediate social criticism from users calling out the brand for trying to take advantage of a young player’s injury.
Wow @PUMA you just deleted an incredibly insensitive & ill timed tweet – and you think it’s done?!? Too late…
— Leo Rautins (@LeoRautins) February 21, 2019
Some beady eyed Twitter users also noted that the top promoted tweet above Zion’s injury came from Adidas and promoting the new Ultraboost 19 – thus leading to further speculation that the German sportswear giant was also trying to take advantage of the moment.
Top promoted Tweet this morning: Adidas. After last night, that’s either quick thinking or great luck. pic.twitter.com/Dyy6WFgxTT
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 21, 2019
Although Adidas subsequently said that the promoted posts were completely unrelated to Zion’s injury and was just a strand of the overall, pre-planned Ultraboost 19 campaign which debuted the same week.
See below for a social summary of reaction.
Good:
So Skechers just won ad of the year pic.twitter.com/SokudLyiKj
— Jordan Wright (@Jwright0007) March 4, 2019
Bad:
Skechers is running ads in The New York Times and on Instagram calling out Nike for Zion’s ripped PG 2.5s.
The brand doesn’t actually make basketball shoes worn by any NCAA or NBA players. Bold. https://t.co/XN2ZTCHUDZ
— Nick DePaula (@NickDePaula) March 2, 2019
i usually wouldn’t implore you to buy the paper for an ad, but you’ll never see shade like [squints] skechers is throwing at nike on page 3 of tomorrow’s nyt sports section again pic.twitter.com/wu9tQGacrf
— Josh Crutchmer (@jcrutchmer) March 2, 2019
Skechers need to stay in they lane throwing shots at Nike @Pendilton99 @Acholll . pic.twitter.com/cMxJRG0zhU
— Taj (@TheMindset3) March 3, 2019
Ugly:
Nobody's gonna buy their goofy basketball shoes, but you KNOW the white dads soaking up The NY Times sports section today are getting a great chuckle before they lace up to go mow their dead lawns.
The Skechers/New Balance/Nike Monarchs battle rages on. pic.twitter.com/UKwOvD4Pwh
— Zach Leffers (@ZachLeffers) March 3, 2019
Skechers calling out Nike is like MGK calling out Eminem https://t.co/7kB41Sv4N9
— Christian Allen (@23Jimmer) March 2, 2019
Comment:
As Williamson is the greatest college hoops phenomenon since LeBron James and a lock for the number one draft pick (if fit), fans are sensitive about criticism a player they long to join their favourite own NBA franchise,
Whilst it isn’t surprising to see competitors seek to take advantage of the live televised product malfunction, making a financially motivated joke linked to the future wellbeing and prospects of a teenager comes with plenty of risk.
However, it certainly has put Skechers within the incident related conversation and has attracted plenty of eyeballs for the brand.
While some seemed to find the Sklechers work amusing, most thought it made Skechers look somewhat ridiculous as it tackled and criticized the mighty Nike.
One post pointed out that Skechers doesn’t even manufacture basketball shoes worn by any NCAA or NBA players.
“When it comes to selling basketball shoes, there’s Nike and a long list of brands trying to catch up,” GQ writes. “At the very bottom of that list is Skechers.”
Strong stuff from a supposedly independent editorial voice.
It looks like most fans on the internet aren’t quite buying into this kind of Skechers and Puma trolling of Nike….and neither are we.
Links:
Skechers
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