It's Only Money Shots at adidas Basketball
adidas Basketball is telling Nike, Reebok, and every other basketball brand to step aside: 2024 is its year. With bold marketing, a regime change, and a renewed design language, adidas’ basketball sector has done a complete 360 over only a few short years.
The timing is perfect for adidas to make a big push into basketball: other big brands have struggled to figure out the basketball marketplace in recent years. Leading NBA sponsor Nike only increased its overall revenue by 1% in 2023, reflecting a period of financial stagnation. Meanwhile, Reebok recently appointed Shaquille O’neal and Allen Iverson to executive positions, seeking VIP aid in reviving Reebok Basketball.
Plus, whereas it used to be adidas, Reebok, and Nike running the basketball sphere, they’re now sharing signature athlete real estate with brands such as Puma, ANTA, Li-Ning, 361, and New Balance. Only five of the 26 NBA players with signature sneakers are signed to adidas, for example. With the marketplace more crowded than ever, adidas is stepping it up to stand out.
When I spoke with adidas Basketball executives, I compared their resurgence to a reformed sports team that’s now championship-ready. They’re doing everything right nowadays: putting the right people in the right places, releasing new products rooted in adidas legacy, and nailing marketing campaigns.
The main players were first assembled in 2021, when Eric Wise, who’d worked in adidas’ product and merchandising divisions since 2016, was appointed Global General Manager of adidas Basketball. His first act as Global GM was to shift the culture at adidas Basketball.
“adidas Basketball family culture is something we wanted to build,” Wise told me. “It always starts with people, making sure we come together as family and have a clear vision on what we can accomplish.”
Also in 2021, Paul Webber joined the adidas Basketball family to head up marketing. Just like Wise, Webber was also an adidas vet: he’d been with Three Stripes since 2013, working his way up from an intern to the marketing departments for adidas Originals and Pharrell’s Human Race x adidas line.
adidas’ dream team captains were finally assembled in 2023 when Nathan VanHook was appointed adidas Basketball’s Vice President of Design. VanHook’s years of design expertise made him an all-star choice: he’d served as Moncler’s footwear design head for two years and had also spent 12 years at Nike, where he'd worked in the ACG, Sportswear, and Training sectors. Perhaps most notably, VanHook is the man who designed the Nike Air Yeezy 2.
With the proper players in place, it was time to bring to life the new adidas Basketball.
The days of the Three Stripes’ Basketball program can be traced back to the early 1970s but the late ‘90s and early 2000s when Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were adidas’ shining stars, laid the foundation for today.
Now, adidas Basketball has a new class of heavy hitters; Damian Lillard, James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young and the last piece to the puzzle, Anthony Edwards.
“adidas Basketball has always been at its best when it’s is not looking to the past but truly pushing to the future,” VanHook told me. “The work in the late 90s to early 2000s is the perfect example of this.”
You know the feeling of hearing a new song sample a classic? It’s nostalgic but refreshing.
adidas set itself up for the win with the July 2023 launch of the adidas Crazy IIInfinity sneaker, a futuristic take on the adidas Crazy 1, released in 2000 as Kobe Bryant’s first signature sneaker with adidas.
It was a futuristic shoe of the future, inspired by Bryant’s favorite car at the time, the Audi TT Roadster, and nothing like anything we’d ever seen on the court. It was big and bulky, like a Moon Shoe.
adidas maintained the formula for its Mad IIInfinity sneaker, unveiled in January 2024. The Mad IIInfinity was an updated version of the adidas Mad Handle shoe worn by Tracy McGrady during his early years with the Orlando Magic, when McGrady was one of the best players in the NBA. You may remember him wearing these sneakers while soaring through the air for a slam dunk.
adidas Basketball apparel is also leading in sportswear apparel. Its new clothes are stylishly minimalist approach, but that doesn’t mean the athlete isn’t in mind.
As good as its clothes may look, VanHook, the VP of Design, makes clear that function remains the teams’ number one design priority.
“We are leaning into true function for basketball movement, driven by performance insights and letting that drive the process and aesthetic,” he explained.
Here’s where adidas Basketball’s fruitful relationship with Fear Of God comes in.
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship for both brands, with as much emphasis on the apparel as the sneakers. It helps Fear Of God cross over into the sports market and it gives adidas Basketball the clout that comes with the Jerry Lorenzo touch.
And then there’s the marketing: adidas has pumped shade-throwing excitement back into a space lacking the flair of on-court action. “The best marketing is authentic to the subject and when you crack that code, the work becomes more relatable and resonant with our audience,” said Paul Webber, Senior Director of Global Marketing for adidas Basketball.
adidas Basketball’s newfound attitude appears clearly in recent commercials for Donovan Mitchell, Trae Young, and most recently, Anthony Edwards.
In particular, the marketing campaign for Edwards’ first signature sneaker with adidas was, simply, one of the best I’ve seen in recent years.
It was simple, bold, and nostalgic, centered around Edwards’ “Believe That” slogan and set against a peach-hued background, a subtle nod to Anthony’s home state of Georgia. In an ironic twist for a player known for explosive action, the commercials were pretty uneventful. Instead, Edwards’ commentary added much-needed spice.
In his debut ad, Edwards took shots at all of adidas’ rivals. He fearlessly claimed that his signature sneaker, the adidas AE1, was superior to the shoes made for household names like LeBron James, Ja Morant and Luka Doncic. Call it cocky, call it confidence but, to Edwards, it was simply a matter of fact. Immediately, Edwards’ ad was front-page news for every major sneaker media outlet, the first time in years a basketball ad had picked up so much organic traction.
“Sports advertising used to be irreverent and unexpected. Nowadays it’s a bit more safe and familiar,” said Zack Browne, creative director of Johannes Leonardo, the agency that helped bring adidas’ Edwards ads to life. “Sneak Diss is far from safe.”
It may not have been safe but the spot felt true to Edward’s personality, down to the script’s Atlanta slang.
“For us, this was way more than a sneaker release: It was the launch of an icon,” said Browne. “The creative team at Johannes Leonardo grew up on those iconic basketball commercials of the 90s and 2000s. So we tapped into that. ‘Believe That’ is 100% Ant, 100% Atlanta, 100% unlike anything in the category right now.”
The commercial was only an scrimmage for what adidas Basketball has up its sleeve for 2024. “We’re risk-takers and will continue to be confident and bold in our approach,” said Webber.
For instance, adidas Basketball owned the 2024 NBA All-Star weekend in mid-February. There, it showcased a year’s-worth of new products, including new signature sneakers, silhouettes to come, and even a few soon be retro’d kicks like the Crazy 8, made iconic by Kobe Bryant in the 1998 NBA All-Star game and made doubly iconic by Kendrick Lamar at the Chanel Couture show that he directed.
The message is clear: adidas Basketball is locked and loaded, ready to take serious shots at its would-be competition.
“We are looking to create the best performing basketball product in the world. Period,” said VanHook. “All gas, no brakes.” Believe that.
