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052 ANNUAL REPORT 2006 › adidas Group ›
adidas
adidas has a clear mission – “to be the leading sports brand
in the world”. To accomplish this mission, the organiza-
tion at adidas is segmented to meet the needs of distinct
groups of sport-oriented consumers. Our product and
marketing initiatives primarily focus on key global sports
categories and on the sports lifestyle market. The adidas
brand attitude “Impossible is Nothing” drives all our brand
communication initiatives and helps us strengthen the
adidas brand’s bond with the consumer. With our broad but
selective distribution approach and our pricing strategy, we
clearly position adidas as a premium brand in all markets.
adidas Sport Performance: Focus on Sport and Athletes
No other brand has a more distinguished history or stronger
connection with sport than adidas. Sport is the foundation for
all three adidas divisions and will be at the core of the adidas
brand in the future. Therefore, adidas Sport Performance will
remain our primary focus both in terms of product and brand
initiatives and will continue to generate at least 70% of adidas
brand revenues in the medium and long term. Although the
adidas Sport Performance division offers product in almost
every sports category, our key priorities are the running, foot-
ball, basketball and training apparel categories. In all these
areas, we strive to be the leading global brand. Therefore, we
aim to consistently present the adidas attitude “Impossible
is Nothing” in a relevant way to our consumers. Our “Impos-
sible is Nothing” brand campaign encourages consumers to
achieve their own personal impossible goal no matter what
it might be.
Running: Becoming the Brand of Choice for Runners
Running will be our top priority in 2007 and is critical to our
success moving forward. We strive to make adidas the leading
running brand worldwide and our target is to be the brand of
choice for runners on all levels, from competitive runners to
recreational and fitness runners. Therefore, we are increas-
ing our efforts to offer the best performance running prod-
ucts in the industry. For adidas to become the leading and
most inspirational running brand, we will support our product
initiatives partnering with running retailers providing them
in-store-service and technical support. Further, we intend
to leverage our partnerships with selected global marathon
events (e.g. Boston, London and Berlin Marathons) and high-
light running as a key category in our “Impossible is Nothing”
brand communication initiatives.
Football: Further Strengthening Leadership Position
Football has always been one of our key strengths at adidas.
For over 50 years, adidas has led all major developments
in football boot technology and balls. And the name adidas
has become synonymous with the passion of how football is
played, shared, enjoyed and celebrated. This is why adidas is
the world’s leading football brand in terms of market share as
well as in overall net sales. By fully exploiting our role as Offi-
cial Partner at the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, which was played
in our home market Germany, we exceeded all our brand-
ing and commercial goals and extended our global market
leadership in the football category. Being the most popular
sport worldwide, football is clearly one of our key strategic
priorities. Therefore, we strive to increase our leadership
position by continuously creating the industry’s top products
and fully leveraging our outstanding portfolio of promotion
partners. The latter comprises leading football associations
(e.g. FIFA, UEFA), national federations (e.g. Germany, France,
Spain, Argentina, Japan), leagues (e.g. MLS), clubs (e.g.
Real Madrid, AC Milan, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC, FC Bayern
Munich) and individual players (e.g. David Beckham, Michael
Ballack, Kaká, Lionel Messi).