Adidas unveils details of American strategy

Adidas has outlined the first details of its assault on the American market following the group’s acquisition of rival Reebok in January.

The Adidas brand will replace Reebok as the uniform and clothing provider for the National Basketball Association (NBA). Group chairman and chief executive Herbert Hainer says the deal will “immediately increase the visibility of Adidas” as a performance brand in America.

The deal, which runs to 2012 and is rumoured to be worth $400m (&£230m), is also expected to increase Adidas’s presence in China, which has become a major market for the NBA. The Reebok brand will continue to create NBA branded footwear.

Adidas will also focus on football, running and its Originals sub-brand, Reebok will concentrate on its “sports lifestyle” credentials.

The world’s second-largest sports goods maker also says it expects annual cost synergies of â¬175m (&£122.6m) from 2009.

The group is reviewing its global media accounts, with a view to consolidating the business into one agency. The competition for the account, worth &£200m, will be between Carat and PHD. MediaCom and Starcom were involved at an earlier date.