Under Armour's bet on Stephen Curry has proved to be a genius one.
事实证明,安德玛当初在史蒂芬·库里身上下的赌注是极为明智的。
Curry is the reigning MVP on the NBA's best team, the Golden State Warriors, he's the new face of the league, and, according to a Morgan Stanley analyst, worth perhaps 14 billion dollars to Under Armour.
如今,在NBA最棒的球队--金州勇士队,库里成为了MVP,现在的他也是NBA联盟新的招牌人物。据摩根士丹利公司分析,库里为安德玛所带来的价值高达140亿美元。
But before Under Armour signed Curry in 2013, he was a Nike athlete.
但是在安德玛于2013年签下库里以前,他曾经是耐克旗下的运动员。
ESPN's Ethan Strauss gave an in-depth look about how Under Armour stole Curry — or how Nike lost him — and reveals some embarrassing details about Nike's presentation to Curry when he was a sneaker-free agent in 2013.
ESPN的Ethan Strauss对安德玛是如何截得库里--或者说耐克是如何失去库里的过程进行了一番深入分析。他还详细披露了耐克公司在2013年库里的球鞋合同到期后举行的招募会上犯下的种种令人尴尬的错误。
First, according to Strauss, Curry was already feeling slighted by Nike. Curry hoped to be given a youth basketball camp, like many of the NBA's biggest stars, but didn't get one. When it came to the meeting, Nike dropped the ball by mispronouncing Curry's first name and messing up a slide in a presentation.
首先,当时库里已感受到了耐克对自己的轻视。库里当时希望像其他巨星一样举办自己的篮球青训营,但未能如愿。而在招募会议上,耐克公司在PPT中拼错了库里的名字,彻底搞砸了这一切。
The pitch meeting, according to Steph's father Dell, who was present, kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as "Steph-on," the moniker, of course, of Steve Urkel's alter ego in Family Matters. "I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before," says Dell Curry. "I wasn't surprised. I was surprised that I didn't get a correction."
库里的父亲戴尔·库里当时出席了招募会议。据戴尔回忆,一名耐克的官员在致开场辞时竟然将库里的名字"Stephen"说成了"Stephon"(这名字很明显属于电视剧《Family Matters》中Steve Urkel的挚友)。戴尔说:"我以前也听到过人们读错库里的名字,对此我并不惊讶。但令我惊讶的是他竟然没有做出改正。"
It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured Kevin Durant's name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials. "I stopped paying attention after that," Dell says. Though Dell resolved to "keep a poker face," throughout the entirety of the pitch, the decision to leave Nike was in the works.
随着会议的进行,此种现象越发变本加厉。一张幻灯片中竟然出现了凯文·杜兰特的名字,这可能是无心之失,也可能是出自早已准备好的材料。戴尔说:"打那开始,我就懒得关心会议的内容了。"戴尔在会议全程面无表情,而库里离开耐克这一决定则已板上钉钉。
According to Dell, it was also clear that Nike was placing Curry in a category below their top stars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant.
此外戴尔还表示,耐克公司很明显将库里归档为低于勒布朗·詹姆斯、凯文·杜兰特和科比·布莱恩特的球员。
Few people saw Curry's rise coming, and it's possible that Nike didn't value Curry as highly as their other superstars. When Under Armour, after wiggling their way into Curry's view, as Strauss explains, offered a contract worth a little under $4 million a year, Nike didn't match.
当时几乎没人想到库里有了如今的成就。很可能在当时的耐克公司心中,库里肯定无法与旗下的其他超级明星平起平坐。Strauss表示,后来安德玛进入了库里的视线,开出了每年不到400万美元的球鞋合同。而耐克却并未选择匹配。
Now, Under Armour, which boasts an impressive collection of athletes, is coming after Nike, and Curry is leading the charge. Sonny Vaccaro, a former sports-marketing executive who worked with Nike, told Strauss of Nike losing Curry, "This is Nike's biggest fear. They can't overcome this in the shoe business. This is going to be detrimental to them. Psychologically."
如今拥有了一系列优秀运动员的安德玛成为了仅次于耐克的球鞋品牌,库里居功至伟。前耐克运动市场营销总裁Sonny Vaccaro告诉Strauss:"这成为了耐克的梦魇,是耐克在球鞋业务板块无法解决的问题。这件事从心理层面重创了耐克。"