Olympic sponsorship lifts Adidas sales
Olympic sponsor Adidas has hailed its biggest ever UK marketing campaign ‘Take the Stage’ for lifting sales of London 2012-related merchandise to around around £100m.
It means that the sports manufacturer has already recouped its £100m investment in sponsoring the Games, with further sales expected.
The ‘Take the Stage’ campaign launched earlier this year and has featured British athletes and celebrities including heptathlete Jessica Ennis, footballer David Beckham and comedian Keith Lemmon.
Adidas said that the Olympics, alongside its sponsorship activity around the European Championships and the Champions League, helped push sales up 15 per cent to €3.5bn (£2.8bn) year-on-year in its second quarter.
Net income jumped 18% to €165m (£129m). However sales of its Reebok brand were down 26% due to “commercial irregularities” at its Indian arm. Adidas vowed that the brand would return to growth next year, helped by new product launches and a strategy to focus on fitness products.
Despite the uncertain economic outlook and worries over consumer spending, the German business said its sales would continue to benefit this year from fast-growing emerging markets such as China and its retail expansion. The sports company said that its full year performance would benefit further from the focus on sports in Europe this summer.
Adidas’ closest rivals Nike and Puma have seen their business slow in the Europe. Puma cut its full year sales and earnings outlook last month, while Nike reported an unexpected slump in profits in in its fourth quarter.
