Adidas Sports CompanyBy – Vishal Prabhu

A.09.38

Roll no. 39

TYBMM –Advertising

SIES (Nerul) of Arts,

Science and Commerce.

Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas

Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, golf company

(including Ashworth), and Rockport. Besides sports footwear, the company also produces

other products such as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear, and other sports- and clothing-

related goods. The company is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the

second-biggest sportswear manufacturer in the world, with American rival Nike being the

biggest.

Adidas was founded in 1948 by Adolf "Adi" Dassler, following the split of Gebrüder Dassler

Schuhfabrik between him and his older brother Rudolf. Rudolf later established Puma, which

was the early rival of Adidas. Registered in 1949, Adidas is currently based

in Herzogenaurach, Germany, along with Puma.

The company's clothing and shoe designs typically feature three parallel bars, and the same

motif is incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The "Three Stripes" were bought

from the Finnish sport company Karhu Sports in 1951. The company revenue for 2009 was

listed at €10.38 billion and the 2008 figure at €10.80 billion.

Adidas History 

Adidas was founded in 1924 in Germany by two bothers Adi and Rudolf Dassler. The company was first named Dassler shoes and later became Adidas. By the Dassler shoes being seen in the Olympics this really helped the company get its name known. However, in 1948 Rudolf Dassler leaves to start his own company which is now known as Puma. Once Rudolf left his brother came up with the famous three stripes logo and changed the name to Adidas.

The 3 stripes were created to keep the foot stable, but ended up being the logo. Throughout the years Adidas was seen in the Olympics, and it was the leading brand making their shoes highly sought after by Olympic athletes. In 1978, Adi Dassler passed at age 78 and his wife Kathe ran the company. Six years later Kathe passed and the company was left for their son Horst Dassler to run, and three years later Horst passed at age 51. After Horst’s death Adidas ran into some major financial problems, and later Bernard Tapie comes to make an attempt to save the company.

Well to be HONEST, later down the road a hip-hop group named Run-DMC came and put Adidas on another level just like Jordan did for Nike, and the rest is HISTORY! They even made a song called "My Adidas", and it was a hit all around the world. After Run-DMC came to Adidas they even had their own signature line. Run DMC is still making Adidas money today just like Jordan is still making Nike tons of money......these guys are true legends to the "Shoe Game".

Adidas has worked with many famous people and has a signature shoe line for Stan Smith, Kevin Garnett, and Tracy McGrady aka TMAC, Missy Elliot, and many others.

Adidas Logo

Adidas Logo represents elegance, durability and without doubt represents a mark of the leading sports gear in the world.

The 3 striped Adidas logo was created by Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas. Adidas Logo was first used in 1967. Beginning with the production of training and sports foot wear, Adidas later expanded its production

operations in leisure and apparel sector with the logo of adidas appearing on each product.

The shape of 3 stripes on the Adidas Logo represents mountain, pointing out towards the challenges that are seen ahead and goals that can be achieved.

Adidas Logo and History - Transformations

1967 – Adi Dassler used the 3 striped Adidas logo on Adidas sports shoes.

1971 – This year marked the birth of Adidas Trefoil Logo. The Trefoil Adidas logo showed the diversity in Adidas brand. It was first used in 1972, and later became a corporate symbol.

1997 – The three striped Adidas Logo was re-introduced after being reengineered by Peter Moore, who was the creative director of Adidas at that time.

1998 – Adidas merged with Salomon and introduced a new corporate logo that represented brand values of both the groups. It maintained the blue color of Adidas and inherited Red color from Salomon. The logo incorporated 3 shapes to look like a diamond. The two arcs that extended upwards represented the arms of the winner, raised after victory.

2005 – The new Adidas “Word Mark” logo has been introduced. The new Logo is clear, simple, and confident and shows leadership.

Corporate information

Current executive board

CEO Adidas-group: Herbert Hainer Finance Adidas-group: Robin J. Stalker CEO Adidas brand: Erich Stamminger Global Operations Adidas-group: Glenn S. Bennett

Former management

CEO (1993-2002): Robert Louis-Dreyfus.

       Financial informationFinancial data in millions of euros

Year2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Sales6.523

6.266

6.478

6.636

10.084

EBITDA 532 627 725 818 1 098

Net results

208 260 314 382 483

Net debt1 498

946 594 551 2 231

Criticism

As with the majority of prolific brand-based transnational’s, Adidas' business practices/ethics and commitment to worker welfare have been scrutinized and often criticized.

Slogan

"Impossible is Nothing" is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco - particularly for its basketball campaign "Believe In Five".

Adidas OriginalsMain article: Adidas Originals

Refers to the line of casual clothes and new campaign launched by Adidas around the beginning of 1996, when Adidas separated the brand into 3 main groups, each with its own focus. Four videos have been released to date, including "Original Games", which shows a group of guys and girls playing modified Olympic type games in the streets; "Handbags For Feet", which journeys through the streets of Berlin with a girl named Amelie taking interesting photos; "The Story of Adi Dassler", which tells the story of the man who started Adidas and "Sounds of The City", which shows how DJ Theo Parish collects sounds for his music.

Separation

During the mid to late 1990s Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a separate focus. Adidas performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the athlete; Adidas Originals with its focus on fashion and life style; and Style essentials with the main group within this one being Y-3.

Y-3

Adidas collaborated with Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto to create Y-3. Adidas is currently working with up and coming British designer Lawrence Dawanyi, the range is set to be unveiled by the summer of 2009.

Adolf Dassler

Adolf "Adi" Dassler started to produce his own sports shoes in his mother's wash kitchen

in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria after his return from World. On 1 July 1924, his brother Rudolf

"Rudi" Dassler joined the business, which became Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik (Dassler

Brothers Shoe Factory) and prospered. The pair started the venture in their mother's

laundry, but, at the time, electricity supplies in the town were unreliable, and the brothers

sometimes had to use pedal power from a stationary bicycle to run their equipment.

By the 1936 Summer Olympics, Adi Dassler drove from Bavaria on one of the world's first

motorways to the Olympic village with a suitcase full of spikes and persuaded

U.S. sprinter Jesse Owens to use them, the first sponsorship for an African American.

Following Owens's haul of four gold medals, his success cemented the good reputation of

Dassler shoes among the world's most famous sportsmen. Letters from around the world

landed on the brothers' desks, and the trainers of other national teams were all interested in

their shoes. Business boomed and the Dasslers were selling 200,000 pairs of shoes each

year before World War II.

Late in World War II, the shoe factory shifted to production of the Panzerschreck anti-tank

weapon.

Company split

Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but Rudolf was slightly closer to the party. During the

war, a growing rift between the pair reached a breaking point after an Allied bomb attack in

1943 when Adi and his wife climbed into a bomb shelter that Rudolf and his family were

already in: "The dirty bastards are back again," Adi said, referring to the Allied war planes,

but Rudolf was convinced his brother meant him and his family. After Rudolf was later

picked up by American soldiers and accused of being a member of the Waffen SS, he was

convinced that his brother had turned him in.

The brothers split up in 1947, with

Rudi forming a new firm that he called Ruda – from Rudolf Dassler, later

rebranded Puma

And Adi forming a company formally registered as adidas AG from Adi Dassler on 18

August 1949. The acronym All Day I Dream About Sport, although sometimes considered

the origin of the adidas name, was applied retroactively, which makes it a backronym.

The name is actually a portmanteau formed from "Adi" (a nickname for Adolf) and "Das"

(from "Dassler").

The Tapie affair

After a period of trouble following the death of Adolf Dassler's son Horst Dassler in 1987, the

company was bought in 1989 by French industrialist Bernard Tapie, for ₣1.6 billion (now

€243.918 million), which Tapie borrowed. Tapie was at the time a famous specialist of

rescuing bankrupt companies, an expertise on which he built his fortune.

Tapie decided to move production offshore to Asia. He also hired Madonna for promotion. He

sent, from Christchurch, New Zealand, a shoe sales representative to Germany and met

Adolf Dassler's descendants (Amelia Randall Dassler and Bella Beck Dassler) and was sent

back with a few items to promote the company there.

In 1992, unable to pay the loan interest, Tapie mandated the Crédit Lyonnais bank to sell

Adidas, and the bank subsequently converted the outstanding debt owed into equity of the

enterprise, which was unusual as per the prevalent French banking practice. The state-

owned bank had tried to get Tapie out of dire financial straits as a personal favour to Tapie,

it is reported, because Tapie was Minister of Urban Affairs (ministre de la Ville) in the French

government at the time.

In February 1993, Crédit Lyonnais sold Adidas to Robert Louis-Dreyfus, a friend of Bernard

Tapie for a much higher amount of money than what Tapie owed, 4.485 billion

(€683.514 million) francs rather than 2.85 billion (€434.479 million). Tapie later sued the

bank, because he felt "spoiled" by the indirect sale.

Robert Louis-Dreyfus became the new CEO of the company. He was also the president

of Olympique de Marseille, a team Tapie had owned until 1993.

Tapie filed for personal bankruptcy in 1994. He was the object of several lawsuits, notably

related to match fixing at the football club. During 1997, he served 6 months of an 18-month

prison sentence in La Santé prison in Paris. In 2005, French courts awarded Tapie

€135 million compensation (about 886 million francs).

Post—Tapie era

In 1994, combined with FIFA Youth Group, SOS Children's Villages became the main

beneficiary.

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in ski wear, and its official

corporate name was changed to Adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition Adidas

also acquired the Taylor made Golf Company and Maxfli, which allowed them to compete

with Nike Golf.

In 1998, Adidas sued the NCAA over their rules limiting the size and number of commercial

logos on team uniforms and apparel. Adidas withdrew the suit, and the two groups

established guidelines as to what three-stripe designs would be considered uses of the

Adidas trademark.

In 2003, Adidas filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a

two-stripe motif similar to Adidas's three stripes. The court ruled that despite the simplicity

of the mark, Fitness World’s use was infringing because the public could establish a link

between that use and Adidas's mark.

In September 2004, top English fashion designer Stella McCartney launched a joint-venture

line with Adidas, establishing a long-term partnership with the corporation. This line is a

sports performance collection for women called "Adidas by Stella McCartney", and it has

been critically acclaimed.

Also in 2005, on 3 May, Adidas told the public that they sold their partner company Salomon

Group for €485m to Amer Sports of Finland. In August 2005, Adidas declared its intention to

buy British rival Reebok for $3.8 billion (US$). This takeover was completed with partnership

in January 2006 and meant that the company would have business sales closer to those of

Nike in North America. The acquisition of Reebok would also allow Adidas to compete

with Nike worldwide as the number two athletic shoemaker in the world.

Adidas has global corporate headquarters in Germany, and many other business locations

around the world such as Portland OR, Hong Kong, Toronto, Taiwan, England, Japan,

Australia, and Spain. Mainly sold in the U.S., Adidas makes lots of assets from these

countries and is expanding to more oversea countries.

In 2005, Adidas introduced the Adidas 1, the first ever production shoe to utilize

a microprocessor. Dubbed by the company "The World's First Intelligent Shoe", it features a

microprocessor capable of performing 5 million calculations per second that automatically

adjusts the shoe's level of cushioning to suit its environment. The shoe requires a small,

user-replaceable battery that lasts for approximately 100 hours of running. On 25 November

2005, Adidas released a new version of the Adidas 1 with an increased range of cushioning,

allowing the shoe to become softer or firmer, and a new motor with 153 percent more

torque.

On 11 April 2006, Adidas announced an 11-year deal to become the official NBA apparel

provider. They will make NBA, NBDL, and WNBA jerseys and products as well as team-

coloured versions of the "Superstar" basketball shoe. This deal (worth over $400 million)

takes the place of the previous 10-year Reebok deal that was put in place in 2001.

Products

Running

Adidas currently manufactures several running shoes, including the adiStar Salvation 3, the

adiStar Ride 3 (the replacement for the adiStar Cushion 6), the Supernova Sequence 4 (the

replacement for the Supernova Control 10), and the Supernova Glide 3, among others. In

addition, their performance apparel is widely used by runners. Adidas also uses kangaroo

leather to make their more expensive shoes.

Football (soccer)

One of the main focuses of Adidas is football kit and associated equipment. Adidas remain a

major company in the supply of team kits for international football teams.

Adidas also makes referee kits that are used in international competition and by many

countries and leagues in the world. The company has been an innovator in the area of

footwear for the sport, with notable examples including development of the Copa Mundial

molded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches for almost forty years. The studded

equivalent was named World Cup follow in celebration of the 1978 tournament won by

Argentina, one of the nations it supplied at the time. Some of the most famous football

teams are currently sponsored by Adidas.

Adidas became renowned for advancing the Predator boot design developed by ex-Liverpool

and Australian international player Craig Johnston. This design featured a ribbed rubber

structure for the upper leather of the shoe, used to accent the movement of the ball when

struck; highly skilled players claimed they were able to curve the flight of the ball more

easily when wearing this new contoured design. The Predator also features the Craig

Johnston-invented Traxion sole.

FIFA, the world governing body of football, commissioned specially designed footballs for use

in its own World Cup tournaments to favour more attacking play. The balls supplied for

the2006 World Cup, the Teamgeist, were particular noteworthy for their ability to travel

further than previous types when struck, leading to longer range goal strikes that were

intended to increase the number of goals scored. Goalkeepers were believed to be less

comfortable with the design, claiming it would move significantly and unpredictably in flight.

Adidas also introduced another new ball for the 2010 World Cup. The Jabulani ball was

designed and developed by Loughborugh University in conjunction with Chelsea FC. It

received much criticism from players, managers and pundits for being too hard to control.

The lighter and more aerodynamic ball led to many shots and passes being over hit. The

Jabulani was widely blamed for the low numbers of long range goals or even remotely

accurate attempts in the opening stage of the tournament.

As well as the aforementioned Predator boot, adidas also manufacture

the F50 and adiPure range of football boots.

Adidas also provides apparel and equipment for all teams in Major League Soccer.

Tennis

Adidas has sponsored tennis players and recently introduced a new line of tennis racquets.

While the Feather is made for the "regular player” and the Response for the "club player",

Adidas targets the "tournament player" with the 12.2 oz Barricade tour model. Adidas

sponsors the following professional players with mainly clothing apparel and footwear: Ana

Ivanović, Andy Murray, Maria Kirilenko, Caroline Wozniacki,Justine Henin, Jo-Wilfried

Tsonga, Daniela Hantuchová, Alicia Molik, Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Simon, Fernando

González, Flavia Pennetta,Laura Robson, Melanie Oudin, and Sorana Cîrstea. Adidas tennis

apparel contains the ClimaCool technology found in other athletic jerseys and shoes.

In November 2009 World Number 4 Andy Murray was confirmed as Adidas's highest paid

star with a 5 year contract reported to be worth $24.5m.

Players sponsored by Adidas can take advantage of the Adidas Player Improvement

Program, where the company provides coaches, fitness trainers and sports psychologists to

players in order to further their careers. The program includes legendary coaches such

as Darren Cahilland Sven Groeneveld.

In Cincinnati, at the ATP Tennis Tournament in Mason, they have also sponsored the ball-boy

and ball-girl uniforms.

Golf

Adidas Golf is part of adidas, a German-based sports apparel manufacturer and part of the

adidas Group, which consists of Reebok sportswear company, Taylor Made-Adidas golf

company, and Rockport. The adidas Group is one of the global leaders in the sporting goods

industry offering a wide range of products around the three core segments of adidas,

Reebok, and Taylor Made-adidas Golf. Adidas Golf sells and manufactures adidas-brand golf

apparel, footwear, and accessories.

Company Timeline:

In 1997, Adidas AG acquired the Salomon Group who specialized in alpine ski wear, and its

official corporate name was changed to adidas-Salomon AG because with this acquisition

Adidas also acquired the Taylor Made Golf Company and Maxfli, which allowed them to

compete with Nike Golf. Salomon sold its controlling interest in Taylor Made and its other

sports equipment companies to global giant Adidas AG.

In 1998, Adidas Golf USA moved its business operations from Tualatin, Oregon, to

the Carlsbad, California headquarters of Taylor Made Golf, acquired by adidas-Salomon.

Adidas Golf USA had 30 employees to relocate. Carlsbad is also the headquarters of one of

its primary competitors, Callaway Golf Company.

In 1999, Taylor Made and Adidas Golf USA, were merged into a new company—called Taylor

Made-Adidas Golf—with world headquarters in Carlsbad. Mark King was named president of

the company he had begun his career with in 1981 as a sales representative after a short

stint as vice president of sales and marketing at Callaway Golf Ball Co. in 1998.

In November 2008, Ashworth (clothing) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Taylor Made-

Adidas Golf, complementary to the synthetic performance fabrics of Adidas Golf.

Product:

Adidas Golf sells apparel, footwear, and accessories for men, women, and youth. Men’s

equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, pants, outerwear, base layer and eyewear.

Women’s equipment includes footwear, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, outerwear, base layers,

and eyewear. Youth equipment includes both boys and girls footwear, apparel, and eyewear.

Cricket

In the 1990s, Adidas signed world's iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar of India and made

shoes for him.] Tendulkar continues to wear Adidas shoes while playing matches. Since

2008, Adidas has sponsored the cricket bat used by Sachin Tendulkar. It created a new

cricket bat, 'Adidas Master Blaster', personalized for him.

In 2008, Adidas made their move into English cricket market by sponsoring English batting

star Kevin Pietersen after the cancellation of his lifetime deal with Woodworm, when they

ran into financial difficulties. The following year they signed up fellow England player Bell,

Pakistan opening batsman Salman Butt and Indian Player Ravindra Jadeja. Having made

cricket footwear for many years, the company finally entered the field of bat manufacture in

2008 and their products are available in the Incurza, Pellara and Libro ranges.

Adidas also manufactures the uniforms worn by both the England cricket team and

the Australian cricket team. Adidas signed partnership with Cricket in 2011 and the uniforms

worn by South African Cricket Team during and after Cricket World Cup 2011 will be

manufactured by Adidas. They also sponsored the South Korea national cricket team.

In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adidas are the official apparel sponsor for the

teams Mumbai Indians, Delhi Daredevils and Pune Warriors India.

Basketball

Adidas has been a longtime basketball shoe manufacturer and is one of the leading

basketball brands in the world. They are most famous for their iconic Superstar and Pro

Model shoes, affectionately known as "shell toes" for their stylized hard rubber toe box.

These were made very popular in the 1980s hip hop street wear scene alongside Adidas's

stripe-sided polyester suits.

Adidas is also the current outfitter of all 30 franchises in the National Basketball

Association (replacing the Reebok brand after the merger) and sponsors numerous players

past and present like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Tracy McGrady, as well as Dwight

Howard, Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon, Michael Beasley, Josh Smith and Tim

Duncan. Adidas used to endorse Kobe Bryant with the Adidas Equipment KB8 as his first

signature shoe, and stopped endorsing him in 2003. The company also endorsed Kevin

Garnett, until he opted out of his contract in 2010; he is currently endorsing Anta. Lebron

James also wore Adidas at high school. Now he endorses Nike to date. Gilbert Arenas was an

Adidas endorser until the now-infamous gun incident last season; he is currently un-

endorsed.

Lacrosse

In 2007, Adidas announced the future production of lacrosse equipment, and will sponsor

the Adidas National Lacrosse Classic in July 2008 for the top 600 high school underclassmen

lacrosse players in the United States.

Rugby

Adidas make rugby balls and other rugby gear. They are the current kit and ball supplier to

the New Zealand All Blacks, Irish Munster Rugby, the Argentinian Pumas, and the South

African Stormers and Western Province rugby union teams among others. Adidas are also

the official match ball supplier to the Heineken Cup.

Gymnastics

Since 2000, adidas has provided men's and women's gymnastics wear for Team USA,

through USA Gymnastics. In 2006, Adidas gymnastics leotards for women and Adidas men's

comp shirts, gymnastics pants and gymnastics shorts have been available in the USA, with

seasonal leotards offered for Spring, Summer, Fall and Holidays. Starting in 2009, Adidas

gymnastics wear has been available worldwide through GK Elite Sportswear.

Skateboarding

Adidas SB (Skateboarding) are shoes made specifically for skateboarding. Many of the shoes

Adidas previously made were redesigned for skateboarding.

Adidas Skateboarding also has a skateboarding team. The team consists of: Mark Gonzales,

Dennis Busenitz, Tim O'Connor, Silas Baxter-Neal, Pete Eldridge, Benny Fairfax, Lucas Puig,

Nester Judkins, Lem Villemin,Vince Del Valle and Jake Brown.

Baseball

Adidas has also provided baseball equipments and sponsors numerous players of Major

League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.

From 1997 to 2008, Adidas sponsored New York Yankees.

In Japan, Adidas is the official apparel sponsor for the teams Yomiuri Giants and Waseda

University.

Accessories

Adidas also designs and makes sandals, watches, eyewear, bags, baseball caps, and socks.

As well, Adidas has a branded range of male and

female deodorants, perfumes, aftershave and lotions.

Marketing

Adidas, like other sports brands, is believed to engender high consumer brand loyalty. Brand

loyalty towards Adidas, Nike, Inc., Puma AG and several other sportswear brands was

examined in a recent study. The study found consumers did not exhibit unduly high loyalty

towards such brands.

During the mid to late 1990s, Adidas divided the brand into three main groups with each a

separate focus: Adidas Performance was designed to maintain their devotion to the

athlete; Adidas Originals was designed to focus on fashion and life-style; and Style

Essentials, with the main group within this one being Y-3.

"Impossible is Nothing" is the current mainstream marketing slogan for Adidas. This

campaign was developed by 180/TBWA based in Amsterdam but also with significant work

being done by TBWA/Chiat/Day in San Francisco – particularly for its basketball campaign

"Believe In Five".TBWA\Chiat\Day commissioned Zane Peach[31] to produce images for 2007

international ad campaign.

Game advertisement

The brand is featured in several games. Amiga Commodore Amiga: Daley Thompson's

Olympic Challenge Sony PlayStation: Adidas power soccer Commodore 64, ZX spectrum,

Amstrad CPC: Adidas Championship Football

Sponsorship

Adidas is a major domestic (within Germany) and international sports and events sponsor.

During the last number of years, the Group has increased its marketing and sponsorship

budget. Adidas is a key sponsor and supplier to the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The company recently unveiled a new NBA game jersey to be worn by all NBA players in

games beginning in the 2010–2011 season.

Adidas are the main sponsor and kit supplier of the highly successful New Zealand

national rugby team, the All Blacks. Adidas also are the kit supplier to the Los Pumas, the

Eagles, the Irish professional rugby union team, Munster Rugby and the French

professional rugby union club, Stade Français.

Adidas also sponsors and produces apparel for the rugby league club Gold Coast Titans in

the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) competition.

In cricket, the company are the main and kit sponsors of the successful Australian Cricket

Team and the England Cricket Team. They are also the main sponsors of the Indian

cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and English cricketers Kevin

Pietersen and Ian Bell. They are sponsors of the Indian Premier League teams Delhi

Daredevils and Mumbai.

Adidas is the longstanding kit provider to the Germany national football team, a sponsorship

that began in 1954 and is contracted to continue until at least 2018. Adidas also sponsors

the Argentine, Japanese, Mexican, Scottish, Spanish and Colombian national football teams,

among others.

Adidas are very active at sponsoring top football clubs such as R.S.C. Anderlecht, Wisła

Kraków, Rapid Vienna, Real Madrid, Aberdeen F.C., AC Milan, Dynamo

Kyiv, Metalist, Partizan Belgrade, Chelsea, , Palmeiras , Fluminense , Bayern

Munich, Rosenborg BK, West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City F.C., Lyon, Marseille, AFC

Ajax, Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Benfica,River Plate, Los Angeles Galaxy, New York Red

Bulls, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe, UANL Tigres, Panathinaikos, South Melbourne FC, IFK

Göteborg, Zamalek SC, Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal, Ahli Jeddah, Caracas, Universidad de Chile, Los

Millonarios, Beitar Jerusalem F.C., Albirex Niigata, Atlético Nacional and C.D. Guadalajara.

Adidas is the apparel partner of the Collingwood Football Club and the Essendon Football

Club in the Australian Football League.

Adidas and Major League Soccer (MLS) announced a 8-year sponsorship agreement in

August 2010 that will continue to make Adidas the official athletic sponsor and licensed

product supplier for the league, and to work together to expand the developmental league

for MLS through 2018.

Adidas also sponsors events such as the London Marathon and Adidas Sundown Marathon in

Singapore.

In the 1980s, Adidas sponsored rap group Run-D.M.C., a breakthrough idea.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Adidas spent €70 million sponsoring the

event, amid criticisms.

Adidas has also been marketing in NASCAR, sponsoring big name drivers such as Dale

Earnhardt, Jr. and Tony Stewart.