The Struggle Between Adidas And Sports Marketing In The UK

"From a certain point of view, the existence of a sustained contest is better, because the force can keep its participants more competitive. Khost and the entire Darth family are extremely aggressive and have made great achievements. As Patrick's former chairman, Khost Darth's arm, Nelly once said such a quote, which was also quoted by famous British journalist Andrew Jennings and Weaver Simonsen.

Until the end of the 1987, Khost - Darth was regarded as the most powerful figure in the sports world. As one of the founders of the The Club Organization (the special organization that takes advantage of sports marketing to control the international sports arena), the three carriages of Darth and Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee and President Havelange of the International Football Association, used his words as a loyal followers and right-hand man to describe him: the sports world is like a marionette in his hand.

Struggle is the only way in the process of power evolution. Just like Khost's father Adolf - Darth, when he started Adidas, he had to fight Rudolf and his brother to create Puma. Aggression is therefore the inherent DNA of Adidas. Over the past decades, Adidas's outspoken nature has not changed a bit. Last year, the Red Army of Liverpool profoundly recognized this point. Adidas CEO Herbert Hainer believes that the 5 Champions League performance is bad on the pitch and is not directly proportional to the amount of sponsorship they require. Therefore, they resolutely abandoned the sponsorship of the Premier League.

Fortunately, the Red Army is not the only former partner who was thrown away by Adidas. Last week, David fox, chief executive of sports marketing (the largest sporting goods retailer in the UK), revealed that Adidas thought the company was illegal, so it will not sell Chelsea's jersey next season. "We really don't know what to do is right," said fox.

However, the tension between the two sides of supply and demand has long been known. A top British retail analyst who asked not to be named revealed to me the story of the recent sports direct shareholders meeting. Mike Ashley, the boss of the company, holds two pairs of Adidas football shoes, one black and one blue. He explained to all participants that in the coming season, 90% of the players would choose blue, green or yellow boots, and only a referee and a small number of players would wear black.

To Ashley's annoyance, before Adidas's dispute over Jersey, Adidas restricted the sale of sports shoes to the company's black sneakers. And its biggest competitor, JD sports, does not have to face such problems. The publicity poster on its Facebook home page is enough to prove everything.

However, despite the tension between the two companies, I would like to emphasize that Adidas and Sports direct selling Indeed, it has been complementary to each other. Adidas's 2013 financial report shows that in 2012, the turnover in Western Europe rose by 3%, the key reason being that the total sales in the UK and Poland rose by more than 10 percentage points. Another evidence is the financial report of Adidas UK in 2013. The data given by the report are: sales increased by 10.8% (3.81% in 2011), and turnover amounted to 541 million pounds (488 million in 2011).

It is worth mentioning that the British market is not negligible for Adidas. In the past year, the total turnover of Adidas in the UK area reached 666 million 300 thousand, while the total turnover in Western Europe was 4 billion 76 million. That is to say, nearly 1/6 of the region's revenue came from the British Peninsula. As the biggest sporting goods business in the UK, the contribution of sports direct selling is very great. The company was made up of Ashley, a self-made company. Although its outlets in the city do not show no mountain dew, the shopping mall in the suburbs has no glory, but it can still contribute 4 billion pounds a year to the turnover, and it has reached the top one hundred in the UK FTSE rankings.

The market value of sports direct selling is seven times that of JD sports, with a turnover of more than 57.6%. However, Adidas will not take income as the sole measure. According to the aggressive nature of the Dassler family, the cooperation between Adidas and sports direct sales has stopped abruptly, and even the withdrawal of all its retail products from the direct selling stores of sports is understandable. A spokesman for Adidas said: "like all other manufacturers, we evaluate quarterly retail channels and determine the retail channel standards, including the environment and quality of service."

To be fair, sports direct selling in London's Piccadilly Circus flagship store is no longer a paradise for high-end sports apparel. Comparatively speaking, the wording of Adidas's statement is still more euphemistic, because as far as I know, the British football players have a lower evaluation of sports marketing. Generally speaking, many people think that Ashley and the direct selling way of sports make the products sold by the company dishonor, because their location is often very shabby, and they do not have any boundaries with high-end retailers, they only give people a sense of clearance sale.

Nevertheless, the retail analyst said to me, " Adidas We need sports direct selling. The loss of direct sales partners will reduce their turnover in the UK. As a self-made billionaire, Ashley is indeed respectable. Although his store looks like a clearing house, it does not mean that there is a problem in the attitude of sports direct selling, and its way of operation is exactly where they attract customers.

The idea of "small profits but quick turnover" in sports marketing has benefited Adidas greatly. Once their high-end products can not be successfully sold in high-end retail outlets, they can only be sent to remote locations for sale at a desperate high discount. But today, Adidas seems unwilling to accept philosophy that is better than nothing, just like some nightclub security guards will refuse their entry because prospective customers wear ADI training suits. Why? Adidas hopes to occupy a more high-end position in the sportswear market, naturally one of the reasons. The company has set up a three leaf store in more than 30 cities around the world, aiming to regain the initiative in its own merchandise marketing.

The retail right of Chelsea's shirt is the key to the dispute between the two sporting goods giants. Adidas first signed a sponsorship contract with Chelsea for a 10 year and a total value of 300 million pounds, and then deprived him of the right to sell the blue army's new season robe in 6 months. Chelsea, the third party, remained silent in the dispute. There is no doubt that Adidas's decision is in line with Chelsea's long-term interests.

　　 Ashley Not only the boss of sports marketing, but also the proprietor of Newcastle League, Chelsea's Premier League opponent. Of course, I am not suggesting that Chelsea collusion with Adidas to break Newcastle's money because the sponsorship cost of Newcastle's shirt is far from that of the blues. In addition, it is considered that this is Adidas's revenge for the 2010-2011 season's Newcastle signing Puma, and there are also some villains' hearts.

But Chelsea has been rewarded for brand value. Since Guly became chief executive, the blues are clearly moving towards the high-end market. Chelsea is one of the rich areas in London. Since Bates was the boss, the price of blue ticket and Jersey has remained high. Look at Chelsea's list of sponsors (Samsung, Audi, Delta Air Force, Saab, Russian gas company, Sheng lion beer, Hackett boutique, and watch).

What is more obvious is that Chelsea collaborate with truly sophisticated brands. If sports direct selling and its audience are suitable for this club, then the father wearing Chelsea ball suit and eight children in the family who are hungry to feed is absolutely suitable for attending the Harrogate women's College's adult dance. This just reveals to us the direction of business development of Chelsea and other Premier League giants. Although the price of the ticket price of Standford bridge is not good, but according to the tradition of the blue army following the top football business, it is conceivable that Adidas, who has been in charge of such a giant by Khost - Darth, is up to the standard.