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Robert Griffin III
Shoe Company: adidas
Current Endorsements: EA Sports (Cover of NCAA Football 2013), Castrol Motor Oil, Subway, adidas, Gatorade (PepsiCo), EvoShield Protective Gear, Nissan, USAA
Case For:
It could be successfully argued that Robert Griffin, more affectionately known as RGIII, has had a two-year run unlike any NFL athlete before him. He won the Heisman and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but it was his presence that garnered the most praise. His stellar play aside, RGIII became one of the most marketable football players the league has seen before even taking a practice snap. His Heisman acceptance speech had companies salivating at the opportunity to make him their front man. One of those companies happened to be adidas. The 3-Stripes put RGIII at the forefront of their football sector, and the pioneer athlete also debuted their adiZero football cleats. Griffin has been on countless commercials for major companies already, so the risk taken to have him as the signature athlete for the brand is minimal. His jersey was not only the best selling of the 2012 season, but it was the best selling jersey of all time. His fans range from lifelong Redskin fans to 7-year olds pretending to be RGIII in their city league flag football games. The impressionable nature of his fan base is illustrated by the speed in which his adidas branded sock sold out. Griffin made character socks cool when he wore Superman socks, complete with a red cape, as a part of his Heisman suit and tie ensemble.
Griffin has also proven successful as a track athlete. He was a world-class hurdler prior to making the correct decision of sticking strictly to football. His achievements in that realm make his endorsements of adidas’ lightweight running sneakers viable. The blend of versatility, professionalism, marketable image, and immense talent is a recipe of success. RGIII is known for making relatively secondary options relevant entities. There is no reason to think he would not be capable of selling shoes with his name on them. Consider this: adidas is the title sponsor of the vaunted 7-on-7 Football competition in Texas, where football is a religion. Texas is also RGIII’s home state. Can you imagine the buzz his sneakers would get among high school football hopefuls in one of the largest states in the country?
Case Against:
Along with RGII having eccentric interests outside of that of the normal athlete, he isn’t exactly known as a sneaker enthusiast. He is much more into socks than actual shoes. In this era, that could cause a possible disconnect with the sneaker community. More importantly, the same attributes that work in Griffin’s favor serve a dual role as reasons for him not to receive his own signature shoe. He is already the face of adidas Football. They have made him the visible front man for numerous campaigns. They turned a chance photo op of him celebrating touchdown after being knock on his rear into “#griffining”, complete with marketing campaign and merchandise. The brand put quotes from his timeless Heisman acceptance speech, and personal motivational axioms on socks to sell to the masses. If they are doing all of this for him, why take the unnecessary plunge of creating a brand new shoe? He has debuted two brand new cleats that went on to be successful. What is the point of him having his own shoe? Reggie Bush was supposed to take adidas Football to the next level, but it did not pan out the way they had hoped. Griffin is coming off his second knee injury. The sheer threat of catastrophic injuries is one of the main reasons brands are skeptical to sink large amounts of money into a single athlete becoming a subsidiary under their large umbrellas. Having Griffin endorse in-line products is a safer bet. Maybe it will take an elevated level of success over an extended period of time for a Robert Griffin sneaker to be on the market.
