Adidas Japan
So, black American runner Jesse Owens turns up in Nazi-controlled Berlin for the 1936 Olympics and a German man named Adi drops by his digs to sell him a pair of running shoes. Jesse says “OK” and, within a couple of weeks, he’s the most famous athlete on the planet. No fool, Jesse.
The German – otherwise known as Adi Dassler – capitalised on Owens’s success to get his shoe company moving. The company, rechristened adidas in the postwar era, has become Europe’s biggest sportswear manufacturer and now rakes in $10bn a year globally. (As a side note, Adi’s brother, Rudi, formed a rival company after the pair had a big falling out; Rudi’s company became Puma.)
Adidas’s involvement with Japan came late, but when it came, it came big. Until 1998, adidas operated through Descente, a well-established Japanese sportswear company. That year, adidas Japan was created – just as the Japan football team was making its first-ever World Cup appearance … albeit in another company’s shirt.
Adidas moved in quickly to secure a deal with the Japan Football Association (JFA). When Japan co-hosted the 2002 World Cup, you couldn’t move for blue adidas Japan shirts – of which the company sold 600,000. Football is a cornerstone of their Japan business and they recently extended their cooperation with the JFA to include the next World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
Adidas also selected Tokyo as one of only four locations for their Creation Design Centres – along with Shanghai in China, Portland in the United States and Herzogenaurach in Germany. A collaboration with noted designer Stella McCartney boosted adidas’s high-end sports fashion credentials. And very soon, adidas Japan was creating global trends for the brand.
“Our base is sports, but this also takes in the lifestyle arena,” explains Mami Kubota of adidas’s corporate PR division. “After the 2002 World Cup, we had a big success in the sports performance and casual market areas, as there was a big sports casual boom at the time.” She points to the success of adiZERO running shoes, which started life in Japan but became a global success.
“Sports is the key for Japanese consumers,” says Norio Ogawa, adidas Japan’s vice-president for sales and sport style. The 2002 World Cup was arguably the biggest sporting event in Japan since the 1964 summer Olympics.
“Adi Dassler loved craftsmanship and the Japanese love that traditionalism and authenticity,” adds Ogawa. “Japan and Germany have similarities in their love of technology. The Japanese also love European products such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton.”
Dave Thomas, adidas Japan’s vice-president for sport performance, also emphasises the value of adidas’s European roots.
“I think the fact that we are a brand that started in Germany is important to us. In Europe, people revere Adi Dassler for what he stood for and what he did. We’re proud of our heritage, but also proud of being a Japanese company.”
Adidas’s multinational identity has other benefits.
“Certain concepts that work globally also work here,” Thomas explains. “We often talk about things going that way, but the more exciting stuff is when things go the other way. The adiZERO was born here and has taken root globally. Our ability to utilise what Japan can create makes for a stronger overall brand.”
But it’s not all smooth running between adidas Japan and its overseas partners.
“The pace [of interaction] has quickened in the last two years,” says Thomas. “Now, the global side and the Japan side talk more. That is a positive thing, but can cause friction.
“Colleagues in Germany may get frustrated sometimes because they don’t always fully understand what we are trying to do here,” he adds. “But [German] colleagues who come here to offer their experience and learn do better. And the more Japanese who can help drive the global business, the stronger we’ll become.”
Thomas says that adidas Japan adjusts global products to suit the local market. Clothing is resized and often different materials or colours will be used. If something doesn’t work here, they will create something that does.
That, Thomas says, attracts great loyalty from both consumers and the sports stars such as footballers Zinedine Zidane or Shunsuke Nakamura who wear adidas products.
“It’s very important to have stars on board, not only for our products to be seen on the best players, but also to get their feedback. We always strive to listen to our athletes at all levels. To have someone say something isn’t quite right is great for us. We want to get that extra 1% of perfection.”