Candace Parker has already transitioned from the basketball courts to the C-suite. As the newly-appointed president of Adidas Women’s Basketball, the WNBA legend shares her vision for the brand.
Parker first partnered with Adidas in 2008 as a brand ambassador during her 16-year WNBA career. She shared her historic promotion swiftly after announcing her retirement this year.
With this new endeavor, the 38-year-old hopes to prove herself as a game-changer to elevate the brand. Despite pioneering a women-focused Basketball department with its Exhibit Select series, becoming a dominating force remains the challenge. She revealed to Boardroom that she spent hours with a team at Adidas to figure out their new era.
“We’re having conversations daily, around, ‘Do we specify [that the products are for] women? Or are we doing it for everyone
?’” expressed Parker. “What is our main target and our goal?”She added, “As we started thinking, I just still want to continue to grow the game in whatever way that I can. I’m not playing anymore, but what does that look like? It’s a credit to my team for doing a great job of thinking ahead around how we can organically and authentically think about partnerships that have been a part of my career for a long time…Going back to the basketball court, it was always about how can I make a bigger impact. I bleed Three Stripes, and hopefully, I’m synonymous with Adidas and vice versa. How can we do that together?”
Parker and Adidas share the goal of uplifting women’s sports and athletes. They seek to prove that women hold influence and marketing power to take a company to new heights.
“You’re seeing the power and influence of women athletes and women in leadership positions,” she shared. “The main conversations have been around the importance as a brand of how we can best position ourselves to lead the charge in that. As a brand, we were always at the forefront. Adidas went from sponsoring the league to having a stacked roster.”
This stacked roster includes new signees
A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark, not-so arguably some of the best players currently in the WNBA. However, Parker wants to build these relationships to have a transformative impact in the long term.She added, “There’s a lot of scrutiny that goes along with being a women’s athlete in general. Let alone being a women’s signature athlete. So, we need to make sure that we’re capable of putting the correct resources behind that person to succeed…Women have been at the forefront and led fashion for a really long time. We’re hoping that we can create something futuristic and put the marketing dollars from the brand behind it to make sure that it succeeds.”
While there remains a long road ahead, Parker’s mission to lead Adidas and women’s basketball will bear results soon.
“My impact probably won’t be felt till next fall [in 2025] because of how far out the footwear and campaigns are being planned,” she stated. “Where do we want to be as a brand in 2-3 years? We’re working backwards now to accomplish that.”
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