Adidas vs Puma - Gold Edition 🥇
Plus Lewis Hamilton is Brazilian, Wimbledon is changing its rules and Red Bull has a new CEO.
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
The CEO of Puma is defecting to the enemy.
This wording may seem a little dramatic, but Bjørn Gulden leaving Puma to become the CEO of Adidas is one of the most controversial things to happen in the world of sports apparel this year (we are going to pretend Kanye West doesn’t exist…it’s for the best).
To say that Adidas and Puma have a ‘history’ would be a huge understatement.
In 1919, Adolf and Rudolf Dassler opened the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, or Geda for short, a running shoe manufacturer located in the small German town of Herzogenaurach.
Geda enjoyed great success throughout the 20s and 30s, but the disruption caused by WW2 and an increasingly strained relationship between the two brothers led to the sudden closure of the company in 1948.
Adolf and Rudolf divided up the assets and set up their own rival shoe companies on opposite sides of the town.
Separated by the River Aurach, Rudolf’s Puma and Adolf’s Adidas began a rivalry that is more akin to a gang feud than business competitors.
Adidas and Puma workers, which made up most of the inhabitants of the town, lived in different districts and went to separate butchers, bakers and pubs.
With the two brothers now dead - and fittingly buried on opposite sides of the same cemetery - the rivalry has cooled down. The two brands even played a friendly football match against each other in 2009. The mayor of the town participated but made sure to wear an Adidas boot on his right foot and a Puma boot on his left foot.
That’s not to say that Bjørn Gulden’s decision to cross the river Aurach will not hurt Puma. Yes, the intense tribal feud has gone, but both brands are still fighting it out on the market.
After years spent in the shadows, Puma finally felt that thanks to the work of Bjørn Gulden, it was starting to close the gap with Adidas.
Since Gulden took control in 2013, Puma’s earnings have more than doubled, helping the company beat out competition from Under Armour and New Balance and solidify its place as the third biggest sports apparel company.
While Puma has gone from strength to strength, Adidas has struggled with Covid disruption, supply chain issues, and a certain unnamed anti-semite.
With profits down, future projections falling, and its CEO quitting, Adidas has taken a peek across the river and - in a move that Adolf (Dassler, not the other one!) would be proud of - decided to steal Puma’s greatest asset.
So, what makes Gulden so special?
Just look at the list of athletes and teams that signed with Puma since he took over:
Neymar
Lewis Hamilton
Christian Pulisic
Manchester City
Karsten Warholm
Mondo Duplantis
When the Norwegian executive took over Puma, he realised that the company had lost focus. They were attempting to be both a fashion brand and a sports brand at the same time, but with completely different strategies. Gulden decided to unify the company’s core message behind the idea of performance and introduced a strategy known as ‘Forever Faster.’
Puma’s sportswear and lifestyle divisions were merged and the company decided to focus its attention on the fastest athletes in the fastest sports (not entirely sure why they signed chess player Magnus Carlsen, but that’s another story).
These acquisitions helped re-focus consumers on Puma’s sporting pedigree and the sales boomed from there.
Anyone wondering to what extent Gulden was responsible for getting these athletes onboard simply needs to take a look at his Instagram.
His feed is full of pictures with Puma’s biggest athletes. He even attended the wedding of Gianmarco Tamberi, the Olympic high jumper, and Puma Athlete, who famously shared a gold medal with Qatari athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim (also a Puma athlete) at the 2020 summer Olympics.
When Gulden announced his departure on Instagram, numerous Puma athletes left comments of support and encouragement.
It’s clear that Gulden’s contacts and leadership were instrumental in Puma’s successful implementation of their ‘forever faster’ campaign.
It will be interesting to see exactly what new strategy Gulden comes up with for reviving Adidas, from his new office on the other side of the river.
Of course, we will keep track of developments in this newsletter, another good reason to subscribe if you haven’t already!
🍎 Sports Business Bites
🏎 Adidas and Puma aren’t the only sports brands making changes at the executive level.
With the passing of Red Bull’s co-founder and CEO Dietrich Mateschitz, the company has decided to replace him with not one, but three new people.
The ‘board of directors’ will split Mateschitz’s old responsibilities between them. Franz Watzlawick will become CEO of the beverage business, Alexander Kirchmayr will become CFO and Oliver Mintzlaff will act as CEO of corporate projects and investments.
All marketing will fall under the remit of Mintzlaff, making him the point of contact between the main Red Bull company and their two Formula 1 teams.
While there is no suggestion that anything big will change for the F1 teams, Mintzlaff may turn to his extensive sports experience to guide Red Bull Racing and Alpha Tauri in the future.
In 2014, Mintzlaff began overseeing Red Bull’s global football system, before moving on to become the CEO of RB Leipzig in 2016. In the early 2000s, Mintzlaff was an accomplished long-distance runner, before completing an eight-year stint with Puma.
🎾 A few months ago, we made a video about Wimbledon’s strict all-white rule.
For those of you who didn’t watch it (shame on you) let us give you a quick explanation.
Wimbledon has a rule that requires all tennis players to wear only white clothing on the court. This includes everything from shoes and sweatbands to underwear and bras.
Most of the sport’s biggest stars have broken the rules over the years. Federer was once required to change his shoes because of their orange soles, and Venus Williams was forced to change bras mid-match because it was pink and not white.
There are various arguments for and against the strict rules, but more recently female players have urged Wimbledon to relax the rules over fears about playing in white while on their periods.
Many female stars have spoken of mental stress and even reduced performance when playing at Wimbledon during their periods.
In response, Wimbledon has confirmed that it will re-consider the rules relating to clothing for female players, with the requirement for white underwear and bras expected to be removed.
To learn more about the history of the all-white dress code check out our video:
⚽️ Is Harry Kane becoming a tennis coach?
The Tottenham striker and England captain has reportedly been mentoring tennis star Emma Raducanu on how to deal with the pressures of elite-level sport.
Raducanu, who is known to train in a Tottenham shirt and considers Kane her idol, has been suffering from injuries and constant media pressure. Kane is trying to help her navigate this new environment while she hopes to return to the level of form that won her the 2021 U.S. Open.
Kane also has a lot to gain from this arrangement. Mainly that Raducanu will be able to help him understand what it feels like to actually pick up a trophy.
🇧🇷 Lewis Hamilton is Brazilian.
You probably didn’t expect to read that today, but it’s true.
Following up on plans revealed earlier in the year, the Brazilian government has officially made Lewis Hamilton an honorary citizen.
Hamilton was given the special honour at the Chamber of Deputies in Brasilia on Monday.
Brazilian lawmakers moved to name Hamilton an honorary Brazilian in the wake of his comeback victory at the 2021 Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Hamilton stood on the podium waving the national flag, which drew an overwhelming sense of celebration from the crowd. The country also wanted to mark Hamilton’s contributions to F1 and acknowledge him for his continued admiration of national legend Ayrton Senna.
Great content as often.
The bit about Harry Kane... is it still funny to mock an athlete for not having won a professional trophy playing in the most competitive league of his sport?
Harry has achieved a lot a things throughout his career, golden boots, captaining his national team. He played in a Champions League Final, Euro 2021 Final.
It's quite an impressive achievement.
Just trying to put a bit of perspective in here. Hundreds of players play in a football league, but only a couple dozens get a medal at the end of the season. It doesn't take or give greatness from or to any of them theses pieces of metal at the end of the season.
Anyways, hope everybody have a good one.