With every pair of orange shoelaces passed out to kids, every orange T-shirt shot into the crowd and every set of orange noise sticks banged together, a sneaker giant worked to send a message at this weekend's Dew Tour.
Best identified with Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, Nike has set out to convince the action sports world that it has a place as well for BMX riders like Dennis Enarson, Garrett Reynolds and Mike Spinner.
The front line of the battle for authenticity might very well be the Dew Tour. Not only has Nike enlisted a generation of young riders, the company served as the presenting sponsor of the Tour's BMX-only event in Chicago in June.
"I'd say everyone in BMX is psyched on them now," Enarson said. "The first year, I don't know if everyone was really into it, kind of like, 'Oh, they might just be taking money,' but now they just know that all they're doing is giving back to the sport."
Nike already had a skateboarding brand when it launched its 6.0 brand five years ago. The name comes from the six sports -- BMX, surfing, snowboarding, motocross, skiing and wakeboarding -- the brand encompasses.
Having learned from previous failures, Nike was determined "not to buy into it, but build it," according to Deb Friedman, the company's North American brand manager for action sports.
Instead of focusing on the sports' established stars, Nike went younger -- much younger in some cases. The 18-year-old Enarson signed when he was 15. Reynolds has been with Nike for five years since he was 14.
"We came into action sports with a very young crew," Friedman said. "The industry thought we were just going to be a grom brand. But the groms grew up. You take a 14-year-old and in five years, he's at the top of his game."
That's not to say that Nike hasn't run into resistance along the way.
"Believe me, there were a lot of haters," Friedman said. "We had to prove ourselves, but over time we just kept doing what was right for the communities and they slowly have really accepted us and gotten behind us."
As Spinner remembered it: "I think a few years ago a few people said, 'Oh, you ride for Nike,' and I said, 'Yes I do. I'm stoked.' A few people gave a few negative vibes and all I said was 'You'll see, you'll see.'"
Part of the challenge for Nike has been convincing skateboarders and BMX riders that it has their best interests at heart.
To that end, they have dipped into their deep pockets. Nike has built backyard ramps for Enarson and Reynolds as well as riders who don't wear their shoes. They also spent a year traveling the world to film a video featuring just their four American BMX riders.
Reynolds described it as one of the "rawest" videos recently made. With eight to 10 riders featured in most videos, Spinner added that involving such a small group might never happen again.
Although he started out wearing Etnies, Reynolds realized he couldn't say no to Nike's vision of putting together a BMX team -- something the company has done in the other 6.0 sports as well.
"I loved Etnies and I was super cool with the [team manager] but they had a handful of legends and stuff," Reynolds said. "There was no place for me to ever get bumped up to pro or anything."
This summer, Nike took over a motel in San Clemente, Calif., and encouraged their athletes to stay while they were in Southern California. For his part, Enarson said he most appreciated that Nike solicited the riders' opinions on so many decisions.
As for the Dew Tour, Nike's presence was unmistakable. They incorporated trick elements (painted orange, of course) into the various courses, including a picnic table and hydrant for skate park, and passed out shoelaces, hats, sunglasses and shirts all weekend.
The 6.0 brand is a largely limited distribution, Friedman said, and is targeted to cross over the various action sports. Although Nike is not involved with the X Games, it has a multiyear contract with the Dew Tour.
Given Nike's dominance in other sports, Spinner was asked if he could see the same thing happening with action sports in another decade.
"I think they're dominating right now," he said. "In my eyes everyone's loving it. Their shoes are the best. The way they're doing it is the best. They're sponsoring the right events. They're doing the big markets. They're doing the core markets for backyard ramps."
