Dick’s Sporting Goods CMO Talks About Spotlighting Footwear and Humor in Holiday Marketing

In this special episode of WWD Voices hosted by FN, Emily Silver, chief marketing officer and chief athlete experience officer at Dick’s Sporting Goods, chats with FN senior business editor Shoshy Ciment about the retailer’s strategies for marketing this holiday season. In addition to her projections for consumer shopping trends in footwear and beyond, Silver discusses how Dick’s is imbuing more humor into some of its campaigns.

To listen to the episode, CLICK HERE.

Silver noted that footwear, a consistently strong business driver for Dick’s, will be front and center this holiday season via a footwear-specific television spot as well as in the retailer’s holiday catalog. Silver called out styles like the Nike Dunk and Adidas Samba as well as hot brands like On, Hoka and New Balance that are poised to capture demand this season.

The retailer’s larger holiday spot, which features features NFL legend JJ Watt and his family, offers “a humorous take on what can happen any of us are shopping with our families in store,” Silver said. The spot features several references to classic holiday movies and represents the retailer’s latest efforts to add more humor into its marketing mix.

“As a brand, we’re really leaning into [humor] this year for a number of reasons,” Silver said. “It’s a universally positive emotion. We want to keep things light-hearted and fun. And we think it lends well to sports in general and the element of play that comes out with sports.”