In The Two Big Sports Giants, Brooks Has Become The Biggest Winner. Why Can It Be The Only Winner?

Recently, the 122nd Boston marathon fired a gun.

In extreme weather, elite runners from all over the world fight hard.

Finally, in this attention marathon race, Japanese player Sendai Yuki won the men's group championship. The US native DesireeLinden won 2018 Boston marathon women's champion in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds, and this is also the American woman who won the Boston marathon again after 33 years.

DesireeLinden, the elite runner who won the runner up in the Boston marathon in 2011, has received great media attention. With the help of Linden, Brooks, who successfully broke through the containment of Nike and Adidas, is once again shining in the spotlight.

With the popularity of running style in recent years, the marathon has already become one of the platforms for sports brands to compete.

In this year's Adidas, Adidas is the main sponsor of the event, and has directly printed its logo on the number plate of its players. Its rival Nike has sponsored a large number of players, including the 2017 New York marathon women's champion ShalaneFlanagan, and last year's men's champion Geoffrey Kirui, as well as the popular American seed Galen Rupp.

It is estimated that few people want to get it. Under the attack of these two sports giants, Brooks, who has not invested much in it, has become the biggest winner.

For sports enthusiasts who like running and marathon sports, Brooks is not an unknown brand.

This professional running product manufacturer, founded in 1914, is the most popular product in the world.

One of the brands.

But for the vast number of Chinese consumers, both Brooks and its Chinese name "Brooks" are hard to name.

In China, Brooks's most well-known move may be its most depressing.

Last July, Brooks entered China to prepare for the development of the world's largest running shoes.

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In August, Anta formally prosecuted Brooks on the grounds of infringement of trademark rights and unfair competition.

In December, the news came out that Anta won the lawsuit and Brooks products were off the shelves.

Up to now, the formal channel to purchase this brand product is only the global purchase of the major electronic business platforms.

Stopping in the Chinese market is a great blow to Brooks.

As the major sports brands around the world regard the Chinese market as one of the key points to boost their performance, Brooks, which is unable to enter China, is already lagging behind.

But throughout the history of the brand development, such a big setback will not even rank the top three.

One hundred years ago, he became famous.

Traced back to its roots, Brooks was founded in 1914, named after the founder's surname.

The earliest Brooks produced bath shoes and ballet shoes, and later introduced gymnastics shoes, roller skates and many other kinds of footwear.

At that time, there were many shoe factories in the United States, and Brooks was hard to count.

60 years later, Brooks designed his first running shoe, which became famous.

In 1970s, jogging began to be popular in the United States.

The need for running shoes.

Nike was founded in 1972, and Brooks joined the elite runners in 1975 to begin designing their first running shoes.

This professional running shoe is named Villanova, and it is also the first running shoe made of EVA technology.

After the launch of this product, EVA technology has become popular in every major sports brand.

Later, Brooks launched another Vantage, a cushioning, flexible and durable running shoes, which directly put Brooks on the altar.

Vantage ranked first in the annual running guide of runner world.

Brooks's products have also been approved by consumers.

By the end of the 70s, Brooks, together with Nike and Reebok, became the top three sports brand in the United States.

In 80s, bankruptcy changed hands.

In the 70s running boom, Brooks won first prize for its excellent technology, but the scenery was not long.

In 1980, Brooks broke out defective products in Puerto Rico's factories, nearly 30% of his shoes were returned, and a number of other problems broke out. Brooks declared bankruptcy.

After bankruptcy, the American footwear giant Wolverine WorldWide, which is determined to enter the sports shoes industry, has won the auction at the auction of WWW WorldWide.

In 1982, Brooks launched the pursuit of stable running shoes, Chariot, which has become an important turning point in the history of running shoes design with its unique design.

Over the next few years, Walter Flynn intends to let Brooks take the running shoes market as the foundation and enter the whole category of sports shoes market.

It turned out that this development direction may be correct, because Nike has actually become a manufacturer of all kinds of sports shoes, but it is more likely to be completely wrong. Basketball shoes, baseball shoes, gymnastic shoes and other new product lines have made Brooks suffer heavy losses. Even signing NFL top four points, Marino and NBA star James VSI, will not help.

In the 10 years, Brooks accumulated losses still amounted to US $60 million.

90s: brand revival

In 1993, Norway's Private Companies Aker RGI took over Brooks, which was already a mess, at a price of 21 million US dollars.

At that time, Brooks occupied only 0.4% of the market share of the US market and slipped to twenty-fifth place in the sports brand.

Subsequently, Aker RGI arranged the former Nike executive HelenRockey management company as its president in 1994 and became the first woman in the United States to take the lead in the Brand Company.

After the replacement of the new management, Brooks refocuses on the field of professional running shoes.

Instead of signing a superstar endorsement, it is sponsoring runners to advertise.

Under the leadership of Rockey, Brooks has achieved brand recovery.

In 1996, Brooks announced that he entered the garment business and gained rapid growth.

On the whole, Brooks's sales increased by 30% in the four years from 1994 to 1998.

In 1998, Brooks's operating profit exceeded $4 million.

Although the brand has achieved a strong recovery, Brooks is still changing hands again.

The Norway parent company has no intention to develop the sports brand market, and will pay more attention to commercial fishing and real estate business. So it sold Brooks's 60% stake to a J.H.Whitney&Co. Vc firm in the US for about $40 million.

In addition, Rockey and other employees of Brooks bought 20% of the company's shares, while Aker RGI still owns 20% of the shares.

In twenty-first Century, a turnaround occurred.

In 1999, leader Rokey, who led Brooks to revival, announced his resignation.

Subsequently, Brooks was once again on the brink of bankruptcy.

In 2001, JimWeber became Brooks's CEO and became another key figure to lead the running shoe brand to a revival again.

Three years later, Brooks was bought by Russell Athletic (Russell).

In 2006, Russell was bought by FRUIT OF THELOOM (that is, fresh fruit cloth and her parent company was Berkshire Hathaway).

Therefore, Brooks has become a subsidiary of Buffett.

In 2012, Brooks officially became a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.

In the process of the multi - wheel takeover, JimWeber has been leading Brooks and still holds the company CEO.

Since the beginning of the new century, Brooks has once again entered the top brand of running shoes industry by virtue of BioMoGo (degradable polymer running shoes) and DNA (new type of shock mitigation technology).

In April 2013, Brooks sales exceeded $500 million.

In the course of more than 100 years of development, Brooks went bankrupt and was on the verge of bankruptcy. He succeeded and failed. Though he changed hands several times, he finally won the favor of Buffett.

It can be said that the biggest failure of Brooks was to explore all kinds of sports products and to become another Nike.

But after a big setback, Brooks can concentrate on running shoes market, but it is the most sensible development strategy.

Inspiration: innovation, innovation or innovation?

Looking back on the development of this century's brand, we find that although many mistakes in decision-making have not even been able to enter the Chinese market even now, Brooks's Centennial brand can get the favor of Buffett and has a place in the world's runner's mind. Its biggest advantage is the two word innovation.

Whether in the early stage of development, after bankruptcy or Hathaway's accession to Berkshire, Brooks's core competitiveness lies in innovation.

EVA technology, the classic design of Chariot, and the top BioMoGo and DNA technology that still occupy the top of running shoes industry are the core competitiveness of Brooks.

These are perhaps the most important values of Brooks, which are even more important than their centenary brands.

In the past decades in the development of Chinese sports brand, one of the most criticisms is innovation.

The quality of products is good and the price is competitive, but it still can not get the recognition of consumers. The main reason is that there is no innovation.

But at present, this situation has been improved. The four domestic brands have produced acceptable and convincing results, and have made great investments in innovation.

But on the whole, Chinese sports brand still has a long way to go in terms of product innovation and technological innovation.