adidas is number two. How does number two capture number one when number one controls the major sports in the largest market? They place an emphasis on endorsers in the major sports, but they move quickly into capturing the niche markets where the collective of fans of various brands can amount to a more loyal following. A few weeks ago I discussed adidas’ emphasis on promoting their long time acquisition of Five Ten:
The Three Stripes has continued their foray into outdoor sports via an addition of Danny MacAskill.
A longstanding athlete on Five Ten footwear, Danny’s appreciation for the balance between city and outdoor makes him the perfect new addition to the adidas Outdoor family. “I have been wearing and working with Five Ten for almost a decade now. Whether on the Trials Bike or MTB, grip on the pedals is so important to me. I am stoked to now also expand the relationship by joining the adidas team for both my apparel and footwear.”
What’s important here?
- Danny has 168,000 followers on YouTube. This isn’t an insane amount, but those viewers are dedicated. He posted the video below on the 4th of June. Today is June 5th and the video has over 615,000 views. adidas looks to be aware of the power of small vs over-sized personalities in influencing.
- Outdoor is a bigger market than is perceived. Right now the primary brands in that space are Patagonia, Columbia, Merrell and North Face as well as Timberland. All of these companies have fantastic grasps on sustainability issues and their focus on protecting the earth has empowered them and made each of these brands more appealing to more conscious consumers. As adidas continues to push their Parlay projects, there is a symbiotic connection to outdoor that will resonate with the market currently dominated by the brands above. In other words, those brands need to watch out.
- Consider the saved cost in aligning with athletes like Danny who are all in one media companies?
Enough of that. Check out this charming video and you can use this link to read more about this signing: https://news.adidas.com/outdoor/redefine-the-ride—danny-macaskill-joins-adidas-outdoor/s/c4d579ac-a781-48b3-9bdb-fd9074daad06
