• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, March 20, 2025

Dick’s Sporting Goods is leaning into March Madness with a celebrity-packed footwear campaign designed to amplify the retailer’s category strength and cultural cachet. Ads star basketball legend Kevin Durant, Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, gymnast Suni Lee and football GOAT Tom Brady, who saunters onto the set while riding a sneaker-wearing goat.

 iShowSpeed, the popular YouTuber, challenges each athlete to compete, ending with the tagline, “Every shoe for every athlete.”

 “Our decision to launch the campaign now is all about relevance and brand momentum, especially at the start of March Madness, right at the intersection of sport and culture,” said Ryan Gallaher, vice president of category marketing at Dicks, in an email to Marketing Daily.

He says that while Dick’s often uses athletes in marketing, the goal is always matching the right talent with the right product. “We aim to engage top-tier, brand-relevant talent and ensure campaign storylines feel authentic to them, reflecting who they are as a person.”

NFL great J.J. Watt has a reputation as a devoted family man and a genuine fan of Dick’s House of Sport, the company’s fast-growing large store format. “He was a natural fit for the A Watt Holiday Classic holiday campaign,” Gallaher said. “This campaign uses that same formula, knowing that IShowSpeed would bring his signature banter and high-energy personality to the spot.”

Gallaher thinks that Billy, Tom Brady’s goat, will likely become a fan favorite. “This is a perfect example of how a little imagination, some skilled editors and Brady on a green screen can make the impossible look effortless,” he says. 

 Bolded, OBB Media’s branded content studio, developed and produced the campaign. Spots are running on broadcast, digital, social, and streaming services, including Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, Max, Netflix and YouTube.

The effort also aims to build excitement leading to the drop of Durant’s newest Nike line in mid-April.

In the fourth-quarter financial results released last week, the Pittsburgh-based retailer delivered the company’s largest sales quarter. Dick’s said that in the year ahead, it plans to make continued growth in the footwear category, one of three strategic pillars, accelerating ecommerce and repositioning its real estate portfolio.