adminLONDON. — US sportswear group Nike is banking on its sponsorship of more of the world’s best-known soccer stars than Adidas in its battle to overtake the German firm as the sport’s top-selling brand at the World Cup this summer. Nike has signed six of the 10 most marketable footballers in the world, to just three for Adidas and one for smaller German brand Puma, according to a new ranking by sports marketing research group, Repucom, published on Wednesday.
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, sponsored by Nike, tops the Repucom ranking, with almost 84 percent of people around the world saying they recognise the Real Madrid striker, helping to sell over one million shirts with his name on the back in 2013.
In second place is Lionel Messi of Argentina, front man for the Adidas campaign, who scores 76 percent global awareness, according to Repucom — his market- ability little dented by a mixed run of form for Barcelona this season.
The appeal of the extrovert Ronaldo, who took the crown as the world’s best player from Messi in January, is helped by his use of Twitter, where he has 26 million followers to just two million for the more retiring Argentine.
“While it is primarily about performance on the pitch, a player’s appeal is about a whole range of variables,” said Repucom founder Paul Smith.
“Athletes like Ronaldo have something unique that if you could bottle it and sell it, you would do nothing else.”
Adidas has retaliated with a new ad launched last Saturday, which shows Messi dreaming about his rivals such as Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany, Luis Suarez of Uruguay and Dani Alves of Brazil, none of whom feature in the Repucom top ranking.
The Nike ad has already attracted over 67 million views on YouTube since it was launched a month ago, while the Adidas spot has been viewed almost 29 million times in just three days.
Adidas, which has long dominated the market for soccer boots, shirts and balls, is facing a fierce challenge from Nike, the world’s biggest sportswear company that has only been a serious player in soccer for the last 20 years.
While Adidas has supplied the match ball for the World Cup since 1970 and has extended its sponsorship of the competition to 2030, Nike is for the first time kitting out more teams — 10 out of 32 finalists — including hosts and favourites Brazil. Adidas, which is supplying nine teams including reigning champions Spain, as well as Argentina and Germany, expects to make a record 2 billion euros (US$2,7 billion) from football this year, still exceeding Nike’s US$2 billion of soccer turnover.
While Adidas will be supplying the German kit, many of the country’s top players now wear Nike boots, with nine members of the team that started against Poland this month sporting Nike. — Reuters.
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