Long-time Adidas marketing guru Jon Wexler was solely responsible for luring in the likes of basketball star Derrick Rose and rapper Big Sean to the 3 stripe sneaker brand Adidas, so baiting a fellow named Kanye West into partnering with them wouldn’t be so difficult, right?
As Kanye’s public dismay for Nike made its rounds, mostly surrounding the release of his celebrated kicks, so went his trust with the brand too –and, in case y’all forgot—lead this classic outburst. As a result, the self-proclaimed Louis Vuitton don and the sneaker line parted ways. And, ladies and gents, this is where Wexler’s plot to attract Ye to the brand come into action.
Sitting down with Complex for an exclusive interview, the Adidas Global Director of Entertainment and Influencer of Marketing, spilled the beans on how the partnership came to fruition (which will be the home of Mr. West’s next sneaker release), along with tidbits about what it takes to be a great fit for Adidas, his start and origins of being a part of the 3 stripe empire and much more. Read the full chat here and check out excerpts below.
How did that partnership come about with Kanye?
We’d been in conversation for a while. Someone in his camp reached out to somebody at Reebok, who gave him my number, and we started talking. From early in our conversations it was clear that he wanted a platform to create. If you were to take what he says [during his tour speeches] and home in on those bullet points about creativity, you could tell why he had real potential at adidas. We’re going to invest in that creativity instead of limit it. During Fashion Week last September, we were launching the Jeremy Scott x A$AP Rocky collaboration and I texted Kanye, “I just landed in New York. By chance are you here?” He hit me back: “Yo, just landed. What are you doing here?” We made small talk, and at the time our CMO Hermann Deininger [who passed away in May 2014] and creative director Dirk Schonberger were in town for the Y-3 show and I said, “Hey, we’re all here. Maybe we should connect.” We met up while he was doing rehearsal for Jimmy Fallon and started to put it together. Things progressed and I remember him hitting me with a text that said, “The world changes now.” That was in November. A minute later, the signed contract came through, and we were sitting on the best-kept secret from that point on, until he mentioned it on the radio show. We issued a statement and have been in business ever since.
When Kanye was spotted wearing adidas Pure Boosts, was there a sales spike?
My piece of the business is on the relationship side of things; I don’t really look at a lot of those metrics as much. But when Kanye shows up in GQ wearing Pure Boosts or Stan Smiths, I’ve got to assume there is an impact [on sales]. Whether it be market share immediately or mind share, that’s a slow burn or quick spike. Kanye is the groundbreaker in his crew. He’s surrounded by a large group of influential people, so when he wears a pair of Pure Boosts, all those other guys are repping it as well. When we were in Mexico a few months ago confirming some product, he told me he was playing ball in Pure Boosts. I told Kanye, “We make great basketball shoes. Please don’t play in those. We’ll get you some real ball sneakers.” He replied, “No, this Pure Boost technology is so amazing. I don’t want to take them off my feet.”- Via IMF Mag
