Marketing lessons that can be learned from the rise and fall of AND1

If you were a teen or 20-something in the mid-’90s, early 2000s chances are you were a fan of AND1.

AND1 is a basketball apparel brand that hit its peak in the late 1990s. The brand was focussed on bringing the street back to streetball through apparel focussed on ‘trash talk,’ hype sneaker designs and—of course— the AND1 Mixtape.

The Mixtape, which evolved into a regular, top-rated show on ESPN, brought the AND1 brand before the eyes of millions of consumers and made celebrities of previously little-known streetball players.

But AND1 was a true shooting star that in 12 years went from selling shirts out of the trunks of the founders’ cars, to truly competing with Nike, to losing a majority of its market share and being acquired. 

So what can marketers and companies today learn about the rise and fall of AND1?

The DTC Growth Show dove into this topic.

Some of the takeaways:

• Dive full on into the your super consumers
• Don’t rely on the latest digital marketing trends
• Treat your partners and influencers/creators well
• Take the T (threat) in your SWOT assessment seriously
• Employee retention shouldn’t be undervalued
• There’s nothing wrong with making yourself appear bigger than you are

Watch the full DTC Growth episode: