Adidas and Nike Competition Continues in Outfitting World Cup Teams

Adidas and Nike, top world sporting brands continue their product competition, which now involves the outfitting of the World Cup teams competing this June. Theirs is a multimillion dollar business and they spend millions of dollars for product development, advertising and marketing and product visibility and endorsements. Each vie to woo the top sports personalities to use their particular brand, which guarantees millions of revenues in return, as well.

World Cup 2014

The World Cup championship is just around the corner and the race for dominating the Cup with product visibility is at break-neck speed. Adidas and Nike are always considered as the top sports brand worldwide. Adidas has always been dominant in soccer and soccer-related activities for several years already. However this year, Nike has the edge as it will be supplying the kits of more World Cup teams. It is the first time that it has been able to overtake Adidas in the world of soccer. Nike has always been associated with basketball as this is the sport that made Nike a globally-recognized brand.

World Cup Kit

Nike will be providing football kits to 10 teams for the World Cup this year, which includes the United States, South Korea, Portugal, Netherlands, Greece, France, England, Croatia, Brazil and Australia.

Adidas on the other hand will be outfitting a formidable line-up that includes Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Colombia, Argentina and reigning champion, Spain.

The two sporting goods giants both claim that they are the leaders in the niche market. Business and consumer analysts however are saying that Nike has been more aggressive in pushing into the markets for football. Nike actually has an edge over Adidas in sales of all sporting goods despite entering the football market just in the 1990s.

Visibility is highly important

In the highly competitive sports as well as consumer product arena, visibility is one of the major factors that keep the product moving. And in the world of football, the boots on the players’ feet function as a very effective tool.

Nike has just launched its latest product for the game of football, the Magista boots, which will be worn by Spain’s Andres Iniesta at the Cup. The new breed of sports footwear from Nike features a knitted all-in-one boots that fit the wearer’s feet like a glove. Adidas also launched their own revolutionary soccer boots they call all the Primeknit FS, which is a limited edition all-in-one knitted boot and sock construction. Luis Suarez of Uruguay will be wearing the Primeknit FS during the Cup.

Economics of the game

Both companies, to the outside world seem to be front-loading their advertising and marketing expenses with the World Cup sponsorships. However, the revenues (and brand loyalty) for both companies will not be realized only during the staging of the World Cup but beyond that, for a number of years. There are estimates that the brisk sales of football gear will be about one billion dollars in Brazil alone for a year for Nike. Adidas has a 5.5% market share in Brazil whereas Nike already has a 12.1% share. It is expected to be compounded since Nike is the sponsor of the host nation’s football team.

Photo credit: Taken by I love Nike under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Photo credit: Taken by adidas under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.