“In a ‘60 Minutes’ piece, posted on (Todd) Durkin’s site, Durkin is working Tomlinson out in Under Armour.”
Wait I thought LT was a Nike athlete? Darren (not Heitner) Rovell of CNBC posted an interesting article on whether consumers are feeling conflicted by the current Nike and Under Armour war. His main case being that LaDainian Tomlinson is a Nike endorser while his trainer, Todd Durkin is sponsored by Under Armour. This case is unique because LT is a part of an overall training system marketing campaign rather than just footwear or apparel. This conflict can cause cognitive dissonance in a consumer that knows LT uses Nike gear but finds out LT uses Under Armour gear while training with Durkin. Under Armour’s vice president of marketing Steve Battista points out, “Everyone knows this guy trains L.T.” “We’ve seen it first hand. When we bring him to speak to kids, we don’t announce who he trains, they all know it and that’s the best way to do it.”
Darren poses an interesting question about the ongoing fight for the cross training “turf,” an issue which will be discussed heavily in the coming weeks and months.
Do you go out and buy Nike SPARQ shoes because the athlete doing the workouts is sponsoring them–or do you buy the new Under Armour cross trainers because the trainer devising the workouts for that high profile athlete is sponsored by Under Armour?
4 replies on “Is LT down with Nike or Under Armour?”
If you’re around players enough, you’ll find that they’ll wear anything that’s (a) handy and (b) free. That’s why I think the money thrown at so many NFL players — notwithstanding LT, of course, who draws lots of eyes from adoring fans — is folly. All it’s doing is exposing shoe companies to the embarrassment of seeing their rivals’ products on players they’ve paid good money (or at least, have provided lots and lots of free gear) to endorse their own products. But hey, I’m just one voice in the wilderness.
How many stories are there like the LT situation? I would imagine that a big sponsor like Nike would not let one of its marquee players remain in this type of predicament for long.
It is ironic that Nike has there endorsers wearing competing brands, because most time endorsers of OTHER brands are caught wearing Nike gear. Let’s see where this goes.
If you want to see a company that is gaining recognition quickly and will be UA’s competition in the very near future visit http://www.everyoneplays.com –
May be the next company for investors to watch as Guardian Wear is getting ready to launch.
I here they are giving away video ipods as well. Check it out.