HERZOGENAURACH, Germany, Dec 8 (Reuters) – As sportswear rivals vie for the jockey spot ahead of next year’s Paris Olympics, Adidas is focusing on smaller brands such as braking, climbing, skateboarding and BMX. The aim is to establish the brand through events.
Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden is in the midst of an image revamp after a high-profile feud with Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, ended his highly profitable Yeezy shoe line. I’m looking to start it up.
And the Olympics are an important stage for global sportswear giants, who spend millions of dollars sponsoring athletes, sports federations and national teams and marketing the event.
The return to sports rather than celebrities is a key part of Gruden’s strategy to turn around the fortunes of Adidas (ADSGn.DE), which he took over as CEO in early 2023, and which will help the company’s biggest international brand. You will have to face it. Test in Paris in 2024.
“For some reason, the old strategy here was to focus more on fewer sports, but I would like to see the opposite, Adidas getting into smaller sports again and making them stand out.” he said.
“Focusing only on the four or five big sports is first of all too easy and frankly stupid,” he added in an interview at Adidas’ headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. Ta.
Olympic success is essential for Adidas to regain the market share it has lost to rivals over the past four years and reward investors who have high hopes for Gulden.
Shares in Adidas, the second-largest sportswear group by global market share, have risen more than 50% so far this year after two consecutive years in the red, outpacing Nike and Puma.
While Adidas’ main focus remains on the big Olympic sports such as track and field, Gulden said working on more niche areas will strengthen the design team’s capabilities and generate ideas for more mainstream products such as running shoes. Told.
Gulden said breaking, which has hip-hop origins, also has streetwear and lifestyle appeal, while also offering an opportunity to reach new audiences in key markets such as China, where modern Olympic sports are popular. Ta.
Adidas signed China’s Liu Qingyi, the world’s No. 1 female breaker known as “B-Girl 671,” in June, but competition is fierce.
Nike is an official sponsor of the Breaking Federations in the United States, Japan and South Korea, and told Reuters it had signed 20 athletes. Puma also recently signed Chinese player Qi Xiangyu.
performance
Climbing, skateboarding and BMX freestyle, which debuted at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, will also be held in Paris as part of efforts to attract young people to the Olympics.
It’s hard to say how much the Olympics will boost sportswear sales, but the Olympics can help brands build a reputation for “performance” products used by elite-level athletes.
Adidas’ deals this year include BMX athlete Kieran Riley, the Brazilian Skateboarding Federation and the Polish Olympic Committee, but Gulden said Olympic sponsorship deals last several years, so Adidas’ presence in Paris He said that the sentiment was probably not as widespread as he expected.
“The Olympics are important for these brands because they showcase their technology in all sports,” said Boris Radondi, a sports investor at French asset management firm DNCA.
“If these brands forget that they are sports brands, customers will turn away. They can’t just be lifestyle,” he added.
Puma is primarily focused on athletics and has already invested heavily as an official sponsor of the Jamaican Olympic Association, signing Usain Bolt when he was 16 years old.
“We still need to focus on gaining market share in these areas,” Richard Tessier, Puma’s global brand and marketing director, told Reuters.
PUMA has signed 35 new athletes this year across track and field disciplines, from javelin throw to long jump to 10,000 meters.
“For them, exposure in athletics is very important and historically they have chosen the best athletes,” said Radondi, whose fund owns Puma stock.
Adidas, which is about three times the size of Puma in terms of sales, can afford to spend money on more athletes and more sports at the Olympics. Conversely, Nike may outspend Adidas by far.
But Adidas head of specialist sports Kerin Foster said: “We continue to invest more and more in the Olympics as a company, not just in the Games, but in the lead up to it.”
Shareholders who have backed Gruden will be hoping his new Adidas approach brings in money.
Reporting by Helen Reid, additional reporting by Catherine Masters in New York and Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bangalore.Editing: Matt Scafham and Alexander Smith
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