Hasta La Creative!

In today’s environment, with technological advances, marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements, shoes have become much more than just footwear. Brands are scrambling to assert their top-dog status, and today finds Nike is in the midst of launching one of their broadest multimedia campaigns to date, including a :60 spot to air on American Idol and college basketball tournaments asserting that “my better is better than your better”:

The emerging Nike campaign is in direct response to the Under Armour Superbowl spot proclaiming “The Future is Ours,” announcing their entrance into the cross-trainer marketplace. Under Armour quickly rose to dominance in the “compression fitting apparel” category, and after entering the market less than a year ago, has taken a 1/5 market share of football cleats. An interesting article in today’s Oregonian has some interesting info and quotes regarding the Nike campaign and the shoe/athletic apparel battle:

“This was definitely an all-out attempt to stop Under Armour in its tracks,” said John Horan, publisher of trade newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence. “They want to make sure they don’t get surprised on this category.”

Follow the jump for the Under Armour spot, a bit of Adidas, and some Pony action