“In a ‘60 Minutes’ piece, posted on (Todd) Durkin’s site, Durkin is working Tomlinson out in Under Armour.”
Wait I thought LT was a Nike athlete? Darren (not Heitner) Rovell of CNBC posted an interesting article on whether consumers are feeling conflicted by the current Nike and Under Armour war. His main case being that LaDainian Tomlinson is a Nike endorser while his trainer, Todd Durkin is sponsored by Under Armour. This case is unique because LT is a part of an overall training system marketing campaign rather than just footwear or apparel. This conflict can cause cognitive dissonance in a consumer that knows LT uses Nike gear but finds out LT uses Under Armour gear while training with Durkin. Under Armour’s vice president of marketing Steve Battista points out, “Everyone knows this guy trains L.T.” “We’ve seen it first hand. When we bring him to speak to kids, we don’t announce who he trains, they all know it and that’s the best way to do it.”
Darren poses an interesting question about the ongoing fight for the cross training “turf,” an issue which will be discussed heavily in the coming weeks and months.
Do you go out and buy Nike SPARQ shoes because the athlete doing the workouts is sponsoring them–or do you buy the new Under Armour cross trainers because the trainer devising the workouts for that high profile athlete is sponsored by Under Armour?
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