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Nick DePaulaESPN
While he was casually strolling through the facilities of the Los Angeles Lakers during the week before the start of the NBA's training camp this fall, Kobe Bryant was dressed in his black Nike jogging pants. and his tee, wearing the last pair of his last Kobe low cut. AD sneakers.
It was almost 11 pm It is true that several hours have passed since the All-Star 18 times arrived for the morning workouts that have become the hallmark of his long Hall of Fame career. 20 years old. While he was still watching the role, he peeked in front of the current Lakers firing shots at the team's double training ground, then turned left into the entrance hallway, instead of the lavish film of 30 seats and the media room of the franchise.
It is joking that everyone has seen the last time he played at a basketball game. He was clearly not there to announce a return. Since he left the league for good more than two years ago, the great Laker has been working on various businesses from his nascent portfolio of businesses, media and narrators, launched as part of 39, a $ 100 million partnership investment company.
Over the past 18 months, his motivation has centered on the creation of a new performance-based body care brand, Art Of Sport, which brought him home to the Lakers premises to help to welcome the presentation of the company alongside his current teammates, CEO Matthias. Metternich and entrepreneur Brian Lee. The new brand will feature essential products, including a deodorant, body wash, sunscreen and soap bars, inspired from the beginning of Bryant to illuminate their plant-rich formulas.
An iconic image of Kobe Bryant does not shudder while Matt Barnes simulates a pass to his face not quite accurate, according to a new angle.
Kobe Bryant invested $ 6 million in the BodyArmor sports drink in March 2014. Coca-Cola bought a piece of the company on Tuesday and Bryant's participation now stands at $ 200 million.
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Now experienced in its search for potential partners, Bryant has developed over time a three-tiered approach to help decide which projects and products to pursue … first, by validating the concept, completing it, and then by realizing it. There was an instant intrigue with Art of Sport.
"The first thing you do is go, 'Wait, nobody does that?'" He said with a laugh. Then there is: "Can I contribute to the product? Is it a product that I can count on, that I can understand and that I can improve in one way or another? "
As the curious Bryant discovered during his first conversations with Metternich, in the $ 14 billion body care sector, most traditional brands relied on long-standing formulas for products like deodorant or body soap, only to update their packaging with "Sport" badges to please the athletes. The two men decided that they could do things differently, creating together a brand that, as Metternich calls it, was "born for sport".
"The most important thing in creating a brand for athletes is to make sure that the stories, emotional components and the spirit associated with these activities resonate," said Bryant.
Already in his post-player career, he has had success with slow and sudden investments. Her initial investment of $ 6 million in BodyArmor sports drink took place in 2014, just three years after the company's creation. That now stands at more than $ 200 million, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, following the recent minority takeover of Coca-Cola in the north of the country. Bryant's production company, Granity Studios, won an Oscar this year with his first animated short, "Dear Basketball". He hopes that the Art of Sport will experience the same success.
"Athletes are becoming more and more curious about the business.This is no longer just signature shoe offers," said Bryant. "The athletes have become much more knowledgeable about the [business] the entire industry and want to know more about starting a business and becoming a business from day one. This is a radical change from the sport. "
Although Bryant is credited as co-founder, the AOS brand partners also include the NBA MVP, James Harden, MLB star player, Javier Báez, NFL receiver, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and a series of sports action champions, all gathered in a team photoshoot. this has been featured on each of their social media channels.
"After doing this period of research and development with Kobe, we decided to build a team made up of the best athletes in the world from different sports," said Metternich. "A diverse team that can offer many different perspectives as product development progresses."
At the beginning of their major discussions, he focused on Bryant's approach and dedication throughout his career, as well as on potential product attributes that would help him get back on his feet. and to regain strength for his repeated work, day after day. As Metternich and Bryant moved closer to fine-tuning the product line and eventual lineup, Kobe relied on lessons learned from one of its best supports to date – his Nike sneaker series – and sought to infuse the Storytelling and framing element make his line of signature shoes so coveted throughout the years.
"If you take what we did in the shoe game and you know how we came to the naming process – for example, the Mamba mentality and how the story connects – it's important that our product not only benefits you physically, but how to use the name of our products to inspire you, "he said.
Rather than rely on terms often used in the industry, such as "cool" or "cool," Bryant personally crafted the brand's three launching fragrances – Rise, Challenge and Compete – exploiting his mentality to any price that fed him. Career Court and the next chapter of his life in business.
"Whether you're in a basketball team or sitting at a meeting, you always deal with people and you face the same emotions and fears," he added. "The discipline is different, but the inner challenges remain the same."
By adding another brand to his current group, Bryant has high hopes that the Los Angeles-based company, Art of Sport, merges his passions of athletics, trade and performance.
"When you say you focus on the athlete, sport is such a beautiful metaphor for life," he said. "We feel like talking to the athlete through our communication, our branding and our messages, but we connect to his mind."
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