Adidas, the German sports goods manufacturing company had operations in India for long time. But it was only after its contract with Sachin Tendulkar, Adidas became a household name. Adidas as part of its expansion drive have signed deals with many celebrities and sports persons in Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. But the company was missing the right track in India. It was then Adidas decided to approach the cricket icon. The strategy to globalise the use of its sports icons across relevant markets has been a big success in the rest of world and Adidas was confident of repeating the same in South Asia also. The signing of the deal between Sachin and Adidas was observed curiously by the market experts. With Sachin setting out to endorse Adidas, the marketing balance completely showed a change. The market share of Adidas shot up to new heights with in last three years. (It was in 2004, that Sachin signed the deal with Adidas).

The instant success in the Indian market has made Adidas to think seriously of using the master blaster in the international levels. As per the Adidas officials, the credit for the over whelming response goes to the India super star. Adidas is also seriously thinking of using David Beckham in Indian markets as soccer also has a wide fanfare in the nation. The Adidas regional headquarters in Hong Kong still feel that the association with cricketers is not exploited fully.

“Wait till August. We will unveil some exciting cricket-related initiatives then,” he said mysteriously.

Part of this branding exercise may include co-branded products with Sachin on the lines of the branding activity Adidas is doing with David Beckham.

The feeling in the Hong Kong regional headquarters is that Adidas India’s association with sporting icons has not been exploited fully. Apart from Sachin, Adidas also has Virendra Sehwag, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra as brand ambassadors. The main rival Reebok on the other hand is effectively utilizing another Indian star player Rahul Dravid for the past ten years.

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