ADIDAS

FOUNDER                                       : ADOLF (ADI) DASSLER

AGE OF FOUNDER AT START  : 20

BACKGROUND                             : TRAINED AS A BAKER

YEAR OF FOUNDATION             : 1949

BUSINESS TYPE                          : SPORTING GOODS COMPANY

COUNTRIES NOW TRADING IN : OVER 170

SALES & NET PROFIT                :  €10.3bn & €55ml (ADIDAS GROUP 2007)

Adidas and Puma may be among the most recognized brands in the world, but neither might exist if not for a bitter rivalry between two brothers from a little-known village in Germany. In the 1920s, Adolf (Adi) Dassler, a soft-spoken sports fanatic who spent hours working on shoe designs in his workshop, and Rudolf Dassler, a gregarious salesman, started a small shoemaking business in the Bavarian enclave of Herzogenaurach, focusing primarily on hand-sewn athletic footwear. But as their business took off, the two brothers grew increasingly frustrated with each other. They disagreed on everything from politics, the future of the company and one another's choice in wives.


Adi's vision encompassed 3 guiding principles:

• produce the best shoe for the requirements of the job

• protect the athlete from injury

• ensure the product lasted

EARLY GROWTH:

• Interest picked up through word-of-mouth marketing as Adi always made time to attend important events in Germany.
• Dassler shoes were worn by the majority of German athletes, and the brothers had realised that athletes themselves were the best advertisement for their products.
• Adi became the first entrepreneur tgo use sports promotion to raise awareness of his products.

FAMILY SPLIT-1948

This split marked the start of a bitter rivalry centred on the shoe business as Rudolf took half of the company's shoe making machines and set up a rival shop across the river, and in 1948 Rudolf registered his new company. Adi remained in the initial plant. His company was renamed Adidas, and the company name was officially registered in 1949. The company eventually became Puma, one of Adidas' fiercest rivals.

   

ADIDAS: the name itself is an abbreviation of Adi's name ("ADI" from his Adolf nickname and "DAS" from Dassler)

Adidas quickly became a much larger company than its rival. Where did Puma go wrong? 

One of the critical failures for Puma was that Rudolf had an argument with the coach of the German soccer team, and that allowed Adidas an opening before the 1954 World Cup, where, completely against all odds, West Germany won against Hungary … Adi Dassler was in all the [newspaper] pictures; he was everywhere. And the Adidas black boots with the stripes were on all the players. From that moment on they received letters from around the world from people wanting to sell Adidas in other countries. As good as the Puma boots were, it would take many years to build up its international business.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The Adidas Group is the second largest sporting goods company in the world after Nike but remains the leading brand in Europe, and is number one worlwide for sports apparel. 

It seems quite fitting then, that brand Adidas' slogan is "Impossible is Nothing".

Credit : HOW THEY STARTED GLOBAL BRANDS, Edited by David Lester, 2012