Shoe Dogs and Underdogs: Paris 2024
Who took home the gold in Paris?
As the world’s premier athletes battled for gold in Paris, major apparel brands vied for a gold medal of their own: representation on the global stage. The shoe and attire sponsorships of Team USA’s track and field roster at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 2024 Paris Olympics provide an intriguing case study into this battle of the brands. The field events and foot races become arms races for brands to sign athletes to promote their brand and place their product in the limelight.
Historically, Nike, the creator of the original track-specific shoe with deep roots in American track, has lapped the competition in the sponsorship race. Of the thirty-five unique medalists on Team USA in Paris 2024, twenty-three of them were sponsored by Nike. In fact, Nike has sponsored the majority of Team USA track medalists since 2004. While Nike’s superiority is not in immediate danger, it’s hard to deny the recent emergence and increasing exposure of challenger brands. One important example is New Balance, who went from sponsoring their first medalist in over 20 years in the 2016 Olympics to striking gold as the shoe sponsor of Team USA’s most dominant female track athletes, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas, for Tokyo 2020. As the pair became Olympic champions on back-to-back days in Paris last week, New Balance’s website saw its highest traffic in history.
Meanwhile, Adidas shines through crowd favorites Noah Lyles and Anna Hall. Two of the biggest names (and personal brands) in track and field in recent years, who may have formerly been a “shoe”-in for Nike, have brought their talent and the attention that comes with it to its competitor brands. With sixteen athletes representing them in Paris, Adidas is one of 10 unique brands with athletes on Team USA this Olympics—up 2 from Tokyo.
Although the number of unique sponsors trends upwards, there were still 25 unsponsored Olympians on Team USA. These unsponsored athletes present opportunity for challenger brands, and some boldly make themselves known through the Unsponsored Project, which provided unbranded apparel for 35 unsponsored athletes at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. The Unsponsored Project, out of Bandit Running, illuminates athletes’ need for sponsorship and subtly takes a stance against the free advertising brands would otherwise receive from unsponsored athletes racing in their gear. The project points to the growing value on the personal brand, which can help explain why sponsorship patterns are changing.
Why are sponsorship patterns changing?
Again, Nike is still the clear leader in the sponsorship race, but the increase in challenger brand representation might be reason for Nike decision-makers to take notice. It’s helpful to examine the underlying causes of the shift, which points back to the industry-wide trend that places athletes, and their personal brand, first.
Consider the advent of Name, Image, and Likeness. With the Tokyo Olympics occurring only weeks into the legality of NIL, Paris presents the first real opportunity for collegiate Olympians to represent a sponsoring shoe brand. Swiss brand On is a much smaller player than Nike with only .34% of the global footwear market, compared to Nike’s 38.2%. They don’t have the financial or reputational means to secure sponsorships with the top names on Team USA. However, they bet on themselves by partnering with rising stars. A year ago, they signed their first collegiate athlete, Stanford’s Juliette Whittaker, to an NIL deal. Their bet may have paid off sooner than expected when Whittaker brought On to the limelight after running her lifetime best in Paris to make it to the finals. Another young On athlete, Yared Neguse, won bronze in the 1500m.
Challenger brands are also gaining exposure in the sponsorship space by leveraging influencer marketing. For example, Lululemon broke onto the professional sponsorship scene when they signed influencers Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall as global brand ambassadors a few months after the company launched their first running shoe. Although they don’t compete in Lululemon shoes, the Woodhalls’ 820k YouTube subscribers and combined 1.5 million Instagram followers, which were up by nearly 500,000 after Tara grabbed gold in Paris[1], helped raise brand awareness for Lululemon.
Meanwhile, the growing emphasis on personal brand comes with heightened brand-conscientiousness, a growing priority shared by American consumers. Allyson Felix, the most decorated female Olympian in track and field, officially parted ways with Nike in 2019 after the company failed to meet her request for maternity-related protection in her contract. Felix then became Athleta’s first sponsored athlete, aligning Felix’s identity as a mother and activist with the athleisure brand’s mission to empower women. Felix embodies the 84% of American consumers who would rather support brands they feel an emotional connection to.
How should brands respond to these industry trends?
As the sponsorship race becomes more competitive, the time is now for challenger brands to leverage the shifting sponsorship landscape and make a run for gold. Brands should focus on:
- Increasing market share
- Understanding their target consumer
- Using data to identify the optimal athlete partners
- Quantifying brand perception
- Finding creative ways to reach new customers
In the battle of the brands, those that are able to differentiate from key competitors, and find the right athletes or influencers to promote their message, will be the ones that come out on top.
