Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

The entire Sports Marketing team should have been fired for losing Stephen Curry.

Nero is busy on his fiddle...

Just looked at the instagram. Insane. I truly wonder if VPs who hold the budget for these trips are even aware.

Sports marketing at Nike is like being a meteorologist in San Diego.
Get 20x the money to spend versus any other brand, then go celebrate the amazing work like Ron Burgundy

@e0 I disagree. Successful companies reinvent themselves constantly, always questioning why/how/etc. Why is Nike spending thousands of dollars on Ed Sheeran concert tix to entertain low level employees who have no business being on a travel budget. That’s the central question here. How is a 40 attending an Ed Sheeran concert on Nike’s dime in week 2 of the US open at all supporting shareholder value?

Sports marketing spends like drunken sailors however it is difficult to tie the spend to ROi. Yes sports marketing worked in the past. Does it still work ? We spend a lot on it and the stock is $37 per share so maybe not as well now that media market is fragmented. It’s mostly about new product and then endorsements. Given the share price it’s time to be fiscally responsible. Nike is not a growth company any longer but a mature company and brand.

@d7+1m2271abr No, sports marketing doing what they’ve successfully done for 50 years is not “what’s wrong with Nike”.

Would you like for me to educate you on how Nike ended up in its current position? I can guarantee it’s not because the sports marketing teams continue to do what they’ve successfully done for decades.

But like the poster before you, I do find your Dunning-Kruger syndrome amusing. It’s always the people who have no clue, who think they DO have a clue. And badly want to share their lack of insight.

@d6+1m2271abr Spoken like someone who literally has no clue what they’re talking about.

• other companies just making better shoes*
  Nike: “We need to be at Paris Fashion week!”

You should see how the marketing and entertainment team for skims travels…

@d3 “has always been like this”

This is what’s wrong with Nike!!!!! And now great companies die!!!

AI should take over that teams role. Useless expense - our tennis roster stinks anyway. LOL.

In case you’re unaware, that’s how sports marketing at Nike has always worked. In the case of Tennis most of the team goes to the four Grand Slams every year (England, NYC, Australia, and France) and mostly engages in relationship building with athletes, agents, and other industry players.

It might sound like “fun”, and some of it is. IF you don’t mind sleeping 4 hours per night while burning the candle at both ends for a week.

I went on one of those trips several years ago and - while parts of it were fun - I didn’t envy all the schmoozing and actual work the team has to do. As someone who also values her sleep I really, really didn’t like the “stay up until 2:00AM and wake up at 6:00AM” schedule they kept. Maybe when I was in my 20’s that was fine. In my late 40’s? Not so much.

If you think Tennis is bad though, you’ll be really disappointed to hear about the annual Football Sports Marketing Super Bowl junket. They haul around 40 Nike employees to the Super Bowl every year and it’s all 1st-class treatment. Super expensive hotels, food, etc. Unlike with Tennis SM, I don’t recall most of the Football SM team doing much actual “work”. That trip is more of a long weekend party.

I’ve heard.

But yeah OP, spending money on “entertainment” is a legit and pretty critical part of what Nike’s sports marketing teams do. Their jobs aren’t typical 9-5 office/desk jobs. They travel a ton and spend a lot of time building industry relationships. Which necessarily looks a lot like “having a good time” even though, again, most of the SM teams also put in a ton of real-deal work hours.

@a4 they might as well have some reward/fun as their RSUs tumble down

Always been like that. The hope is these 'special people' will bring us back to profitability, so wining and dining them will hopes to bring their creative freedoms back. But we all know... thats a dream.

Someone needs to spend the travel budget.

Couldn’t agree more.