Dive Brief:
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Nike on Monday unveiled its East Coast headquarters, an office in New York City where the brand has already been promoting its street style, through efforts including emphasis on street games and urban culture via its NikeLab 21M, Nike Running Upper East Side, the Nike Community Store in Brooklyn and other locations, according to multiple media reports.
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The “NYHQ” building will encompass some 150,000 square feet across six floors at 855 Avenue of the Americas, with conference rooms, a roof terrace and a 4,000-square-foot, 400-seat indoor basketball court, which it will open to local leagues, high school teams and Nike staff, according to media reports from The Street and Footwear News.
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The new headquarters doesn't mean the company is relocating; The company’s flagship headquarters will remain in Beaverton, OR.
Dive Insight:
Nike’s New York City effort is an assertive play, away from sleepier Oregon to New York’s rough and tumble streetscape, and an answer to rival Adidas’ success with street styles.
It’s part of the company’s recently unveiled “Consumer Direct Offense,” which aims to boost innovation and product development and forge deeper connections to consumers in the world’s major cities, including, in addition to New York, London, Shanghai, Beijing, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Mexico City, Barcelona, Seoul and Milan. Those cities will be slotted by the company into four newly-formed geographies: North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Greater China, and Asia Pacific and Latin America (APLA). The company will report financial results for its Nike brand based on these four operating segments beginning in fiscal 2018, the company said earlier this month.
The cities identified for special treatment are expected to account for some 80% of Nike’s projected growth through 2020, the company said. As with the move closer to urban culture and style, that broader regional market revamp bears close similarity to a previous move by Nike competitor Adidas to organize marketing efforts around four global regions.
“The future of sport will be decided by the company that obsesses the needs of the evolving consumer,” Mark Parker, Nike chairman/president/CEO, said in a statement. “Through the Consumer Direct Offense, we’re getting even more aggressive in the digital marketplace, targeting key markets and delivering product faster than ever.”
