Nike is investing more in the Olympics than it has in any previous Games. This is because the American sportswear company is launching a marketing campaign aimed at boosting sales and fending off competition from upstarts, according to top executives of the company.

With Paris 2024 marking a return to normalcy following Tokyo 2020, which was postponed until 2021 and held without spectators due to the global pandemic, sportswear manufacturers are hoping to rekindle demand.

Nike sponsored athletes, such as American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge, modelled their Olympic uniforms on Thursday at a demonstration in Paris. The company also presented thirteen futuristic shoe designs that were created in collaboration with athletes.

“This Olympics will be our biggest… it will be our largest media spend,” Nike’s president of consumer, product, and brand Heidi O’Neill stated in an interview. She continued, “This will be the biggest moment and the most investment for Nike in years,” without providing an estimate of the total budget.

Nike spent $1 billion on marketing in its most recent quarter, 10% more than the same time the previous year. When asked if expenditure will keep increasing, O’Neill responded that marketing was “the number one priority investment” for the business.

She continued, “fewer, bigger” marketing efforts are Nike’s general focus. The $139 billion business, which aims to strengthen its brand in the very competitive sportswear market, appointed a new chief marketing officer at the end of the previous year.

While Nike’s closest rival Adidas and its low-profile ‘terrace’ shoes are profiting from a trend away from clunky basketball sneakers, newer running companies like On and Hoka are stealing market share from the former.

Adidas has different plans than Nike. The German company has been spending less on marketing; in 2023, it will spend 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion), an 8.5% decrease from the year before. Nike spent $4.3 billion throughout the last four quarters, a 6% rise.

Executives claim that despite pressure from customers around the world, Nike’s investment should help boost demand.

“In almost every market we operate in, consumers face challenges,” stated Craig Williams, President of Global Geographies and Marketplace at Nike.

According to Williams, despite this, people still view the Olympics as “the epitome of sport” and react “very positively” to it as an event.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)