Jon Wexler 揭秘 Kanye West 签约 adidas 全过程

由 Pharrell Williams 与 Kanye West 领衔的 adidas Originals 旗下艺人阵容可谓星光熠熠，而 Jon Wexler 作为 adidas 全球娱乐市场及艺人总监，可谓是打造这只「银河战舰」的关键人物。近日，《Complex Magaizne》对 Jon Wexler 进行了专访，Wexler 揭秘了签约 Kanye West 的整个过程，甚至向读者们分享了他与 Kanye West 洽谈合作期间的电话及短信内容；针对 Kanye West 在 adidas 产品销售额增长中所起到的举足轻重作用，他也娓娓而谈自己的看法；此外，这位曾今涉足娱乐圈的 adidas 高层还讲述了如何使 Missy Elliot、Katy Perry、Jeezy、Big Sean 等艺人加入 adidas 大家庭。有兴趣的朋友不妨前去 Complex 官方网站在线阅读此深度访谈完整内容。

How do you decide who adidas will work with?
It’s all about DNA. People whose DNA overlaps with ours, as well as our fan base’s. Authenticity is critical, too. If that isn’t there, kids see through it. We look for people who are creative and groundbreaking, who set trends and forge their own paths and are not afraid of what people are going to say about that. Obviously the people [adidas works with] are iconic, because it is the most iconic brand in the world.

How did the partnership with Kanye West come about?
That guy is a good example of somebody who is always early. No one works harder than he does. He’s so determined to make a partnership a success, he’s constantly gathering information and speaking positively about the brand. He’s an amazing partner. He came to Germany, and has gone to the factory in China. He’s dived into understanding all aspects of what it is in the creation process and the engineering that goes into it. He’s a scientist.

We’d been in conversation for a while. Someone in his camp reached out to somebody at Reebok, who gave him my number, and we started talking. From early in our conversations it was clear that he wanted a platform to create. If you were to take what he says [during his tour speeches] and home in on those bullet points about creativity, you could tell why he had real potential at adidas. We’re going to invest in that creativity instead of limit it. During Fashion Week last September, we were launching the Jeremy Scott x A$AP Rocky collaboration and I texted Kanye, “I just landed in New York. By chance are you here?” He hit me back: “Yo, just landed. What are you doing here?” We made small talk, and at the time our CMO Hermann Deininger [who passed away in May 2014] and creative director Dirk Schonberger were in town for the Y-3 show and I said, “Hey, we’re all here. Maybe we should connect.” We met up while he was doing rehearsal for Jimmy Fallon and started to put it together. Things progressed and I remember him hitting me with a text that said, “The world changes now.” That was in November. A minute later, the signed contract came through, and we were sitting on the best-kept secret from that point on, until he mentioned it on the radio show. We issued a statement and have been in business ever since.

When Kanye was spotted wearing adidas Pure Boosts, was there a sales spike?
My piece of the business is on the relationship side of things; I don’t really look at a lot of those metrics as much. But when Kanye shows up in GQ wearing Pure Boosts or Stan Smiths, I’ve got to assume there is an impact [on sales]. Whether it be market share immediately or mind share, that’s a slow burn or quick spike. Kanye is the groundbreaker in his crew. He’s surrounded by a large group of influential people, so when he wears a pair of Pure Boosts, all those other guys are repping it as well. When we were in Mexico a few months ago confirming some product, he told me he was playing ball in Pure Boosts. I told Kanye, “We make great basketball shoes. Please don’t play in those. We’ll get you some real ball sneakers.” He replied, “No, this Pure Boost technology is so amazing. I don’t want to take them off my feet.”