It has never been more hip to look casual, and celebrities have taken an active role in capitalizing on the athleisure trend, spearheading the comfort craze one tweet or Instagram post at a time.
Tribe Dynamics — an influencer marketing, digital strategy and competitive reporting agency — recently investigated brands within the athletic footwear space in order to reveal just how effective brand ambassadors — official or otherwise — have been in earning appeal. Specifically, the company evaluated differences in influencer strategies between brands and earned media value (Tribe Dynamic’s metric for measuring social media engagement).
Results revealed that from January to June 2017, Adidas (at $422.0 million EMV) was in the lead, with Nike following closely (at $357.1 million EMV). Under Armour ($26.4 million EMV) and Asics ($9.3 million EMV) trailed behind. What’s more, Tribe Dynamics found that Adidas demonstrated 103 percent year-over-year growth, Nike boasted 105 percent and Under Armour came in at 80 percent.
Highlights of Q1, the agency reported, included when Adidas created buzz with the February release of the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 in the colorways “Black” and “Zebra” within its sneaker line collaboration with Kanye West. Another highlight, the team added, was when soccer pro Cristiano Ronaldo showcased his signature Nike CR7 Mercurial Victory cleats on social media in January.
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Q2 also saw a wave of celebrity influencers boosting brands’ value online. Under Armour won a boost in June after NBA star Stephen Curry wore his upcoming Curry 4 shoe (Curry was had just won his second championship, the agency pointed out.) Tribe Dynamics added that Nike collaborated with model Bella Hadid in June to promote the Beautiful X Powerful Collection, which also generated traction.
Needless to say, influencers continue to give these brands a much-welcome boost and their active engagement is especially vital in luring today’s digitally driven consumer.
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