Adidas runs deep into heart of football

MUNICH — One knew he is in the heart of adidas country minutes after leaving the Franz J. Strauss Airport in Munich on the day the biggest global event of the year — the 2006 FIFA World Cup — began.

A mile away from the terminal was an enormous image of Michael Ballack, Germany’s latest football icon, straddling the main avenue from side to side, stretched out in a giant arc clutching a "Teamgeist"-adidas official match ball.

Everywhere in Munich, the ever popular Bavarian capital, and in historic Nuremberg, which a group of Filipino sports and fashion writers visited in a whirlwind five-day trip — and the other 10 cities hosting the games, huge adidas billboards of football stars — from Kaka, Vierra, Ballack, David Beckham and Lionel Messi — regarded as the next Diego Maradona, festooned the German streets and state-of-the-art venues.

While Germany is treating the quadrennial event, which has sparked an unabashed display of nationalism and partisanship in its two-week running, as an occasion to put the host in a new light — as a land of smiles, fun, ideas and industries — adidas is using the World Cup as a platform to showcase its role as a global market leader in football.

The leading sporting goods company has long maintained its thrust that football is the heart and soul of its brands and cited its historic link to the discipline and the storied World Cups of the past.

In fact, on one of the halls in its global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, a sprawling 114-hectare former American military base located 30 minutes north of Nuremberg, hang the blow-up photos of adidas founder Adi Dassler and the world’s first stud-in screw football boots.

History has it that Dassler came up with the screw-in studs that members of the German team wore in the 1954 Final in Switzerland, beating Hungary over soggy, muddy and rain-clogged turf.

"The relationship between adidas and FIFA (International Football Federation) has been there for a very, very long time. We have been delivering the official match ball since 1970. We have proven that we know and understand football best. We’ve been in the business for more than 50 years," said Anne Putz, adidas team leader in corporate public relations.

For the on-going World Cup, adidas Herzo-based 100-strong football work force has designed and produced the official match ball "Teamgeist" (team spirit) with its thermally bonded revolutionary shaped panels.

Each of the match balls for the World Cup was personalized with the name of the teams, the name of the stadium and the match date. All qualified teams have also received match balls for training plus the "Teamgeist Berlin", the golden ball to be used in the final on July 9.

Adidas is confident it will sell 15 million of the match balls after the World Cup. It has also worked closely with players from all over the world with over 200 booters relying on its footwear during the World Cup, wearing either the "Predator Absolute" or the "+50 Tunit."

The company, the FIFA official sponsor, supplier and licensee since 1998, likewise predicts sales this year to rise to over 1.2 billion euros, more than 50 percent from the 2002 Cup in South Korea and Japan. It also expects to sell 1.5 million jerseys of the German team — one of the six national teams adidas is sponsoring in the world tournament.

Tapping the Cup with its cumulative audience of 38 billion audience worldwide, adidas hopes to extend global market leadership following successful forays in 1998 in France and 2002 in Asia.

"We’re using it as a platform to showcase our products. It helps in the mid- and long-term in the country you’re in, like in France where we’re No. 2 before the 1998 Cup and No. 1 after it. In Japan we also became No. 1. That’s part of investing in the World Cup," said Putz.

Its commitment to the FIFA and football is continuing, said Putz, the company securing its official role in 2010 Cup in South Africa and the 2014 tourney. It has sealed sponsorship agreements for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China, the FIFA Youth, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the American National Basketball Association (NBA).

"Football is a huge market and it’s certainly the focus this year but there’s definitely life after the World Cup," said Putz.

adidas Notes: Despite its position as No.1 in football adidas’ biggest market is running, according to Putz. They’re also big in basketball, having secured contracts with Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets and Kevin Garnett of Minnesota Timberwolves. Of the 32 teams competing for berths in the round of 16, adidas is sponsor to only six teams which qualified — Germany, Argentina, Spain, France, Japan and Trinidad and Tobago …On its acquisition of Reebok, the firm would help it gain more inroads to the European market although it remains a big brand in the US. " We’re big in Asia, we could help them there, too." The adidas media group flew to Germany via Lufthansa.