Roots and the U.S. Olympic Committee have parted ways.
Was that a bad thing?
Roots co-founder Michael Budman didn’t think so.
He called the split “one of the best deals that
I’ve ever orchestrated for Roots.”
Would it have helped the bottom line?
No.
“We didn’t have anybody who wanted to buy the product,”
he pointed out.
None of the big U.S. retailers would sell it.
Would it have helped branding?
No.
The Olympic Committee wanted a more formal look
than the Roots brand is known for.
And then there are the protests.
“The Olympics represent something different to me now,”
Budman said in the same interview.
“It’s people being put in jail because they are protesting.”
No one wants their brand associated with that.
Just because a deal is high profile,
doesn’t mean it is the right deal for your company.