Influx

At the Nike analyst call earlier this week, an analyst asked a question suggesting we were witnessing the bursting of the “Sports Bubble”. Below is CEO Mark Parker’s very smart response.

Suggesting the company knows how to respond to a changing world where new engagement is taking place, as well as new activities.

“I’ll just jump in. It is an interesting thing, a sports bubble that
you mentioned. You mentioned a couple of things. Attendance may be down
in some cases but I think viewer-ship is actually up. So I think that
is something you have to think about a little bit. You talk about
traditional access to events which has been a metric that most people
use, versus really what maybe a new access is which is really more like
immersion. We are seeing kids online anywhere from 20 minutes to 2-3
hours as they immerse themselves in the new access points to sports
whether it is through the athletes, through communities that are
talking about it and it is 24 hours a day. So that has changed
incredibly.

I think the other thing you think about too is the
traditional sports, the stick and ball sports versus the new action
sports and the different communities and environments that are being
created around some of these and some of the things we have talked
about as we build our brand in some of these new areas. For us it is
all about a focused effort around each one of these sports and their
communities. I think we have talked a lot about that consumer
experience and how we continue to build the brand and reinvent the
brand, connecting with these kids. I think the bubble may not be as
much a bubble. Maybe if you are in the old and not transitioning to the
new you may feel like you are in a bubble and it is about ready to
burst. But if you are part of the new it is really almost an infinite
landscape from which to engage with consumer in new and energetic ways.”

Posted by Ed Cotton