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Adidas Looks Ahead to World Cup with Ball-naming Contest after 'Fantastic' Olympics |
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Football - 15 Aug 2012 - Adidas, the German sportswear giant, has highlighted its sponsorship of soccer’s World Cup by launching a poll to decide the name of the ball that will be used at the tournament.
Adidas, a top-tier partner of Fifa, the sport’s international governing body, has drawn up a shortlist comprising three Portuguese words.
They are Carnavalesca, which describes a participant in Brazilian carnival, Bossa Nova, a Brazilian music genre which combines jazz and samba, and Brazuca, a slang word for native Brazilians.
Fans will be able to vote for their favourite on Adidas’ Brazilian website.
The new match ball will succeed the Jabulani, the controversial ball used at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which was criticised by many players, especially goalkeepers, because of its movement in the air.
Adidas is reflecting on what it regards as a successful involvement in the now-concluded Olympics in London. The company was a domestic tier-one sponsor of the games, a role which included providing kit to the Great Britain team and 80,000 recruited volunteers.
When it announced its second-quarter results at the start of this month, Adidas claimed that it had already raised £100 million ($157 million) from merchandise relating to the Olympic Games, and it hopes to overtake Nike and become the leading sportswear company in the UK..
Last Friday, Herbert Hainer, the chief executive of Adidas, said: “Our presence in and around Olympic Games was fantastic. It translates into record Olympic merchandise sales and a record year for the Adidas Group in the UK. This clearly sets the stage for us to achieve market leadership in the UK by 2015.”
In the first half of 2012, Adidas sales in the UK rose by 24 per cent on a currency-neutral basis amid increased demand for Olympics and Team GB products. Olympic licence product sales in the UK were up 250 per cent on the figure for 2008, when Beijing staged the games.
In the UK, activation has been based around its ‘Take the Stage’ campaign and British athletes, including gold medallists Jessica Ennis, the heptathlete, and Sir Chris Hoy, the track cyclist. Adidas has already extended its long-running sponsorship of the British Olympic Association until 2016.
The company sponsored 11 national Olympic committees represented at the London Olympics and supplied kit to 3,000 athletes in 25 of the 26 sports.
Adidas group sales worldwide totalled €7.3 billion ($9 billion) in the first six months of this year, an 11-per-cent increase on a currency-neutral basis, as the company capitalised on its sponsorship of soccer’s European Championships and six of the competing teams.
Hainer said last week: "Our association with major sporting events sets us apart from all the competition. Our results so far this year clearly show how successfully we leverage these events and use them to preserve and sustain our business momentum."
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