Rudolf Dassler, Founder Of Adidas Brand

　　 Rudolf Dassler In 1924, he joined his brother Adolf Dassler (nicknamed ADI Adi) at the company of downer in herrah, and renamed the company of Darth brothers. In the mid 1930s, Dallas brothers grew into a leading brand of nearly 100 employees with over 30 types of global sports shoes. After the Second World War, the Dallas brothers went back to business, with 47 employees, and made rubber from the canvas and the fuel tank of the US Army to make the first sports shoes after the war.

In 1948, Adolf Dassler renamed Dassler brothers by "Adi" and "Das" under the combination of their own names. The two brothers separated from each other. Brother rutherf Dassler also set up PUMA company, which is the same direction as Adidas, mainly sporting goods production, and two people have become competitors since then. Adidas's significance to Adidas is just like Phil Nate's to Nike, but his influence always surpasses the latter. He is not only a track and field athlete and sports enthusiast, but also an entrepreneur and inventor who admired craft, quality and innovation. He listened to the athletes' opinions, took part in track and field competitions in person, and sat on the bench to analyze their demand for sports shoes with the contestants. "Function first" is the main theme of the company. "Giving athletes the best" becomes the slogan of the company.

From the very beginning, Adidas took product innovation as its driving force. Adidas is the initiator of many technological breakthroughs, and has received more than 700 patents. In Adidas, the world's first pair of skates were born, the first pair of multi button shoes, the first two glue casting football spikes...... In particular, Adidas's spiking spikes are a revolutionary concept. People even think it made a great contribution to the German football team's World Cup in 1954.

Especially in the family of Darth, Khost's Darth, the oldest son of ADI DAS, has an extraordinary marketing talent. He pioneered the "Pyramid" promotion model for Adidas brand, and took the lead in linking Adidas sports products with athletes, sports teams, major competitions and related sports activities. Under his advocacy, Adidas became the first company to give free sports shoes to elite athletes. The first company to sign contracts with sports teams for a long time to provide sports shoes and socks is the first to enable athletes to see Adidas's new products on many feet in world-class competitions. The most worthy of retrospective is the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, when Adidas introduced its subsidiary brand, "Melbourne", and introduced the improved multi button sports shoes. In that year, athletes wearing Adidas sporting goods broke 33 records and won 72 gold medals.

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In 1980, sales of Adidas sporting goods reached US $1 billion. The market share of major product categories is as high as 70%. The company produces 150 different styles of sneakers, and the daily output of 24 factories in 17 countries reaches 200 thousand pairs. Adidas's products are sold in 150 countries.

　　 Tragic fate in history

Before the 80s of the last century, Adidas Sporting goods have an extraordinary brand position in the minds of consumers. A survey at that time analyzed that more than half of the American people wore Adidas sports shoes, and the number of people who wore Adidas to participate in the New York marathon race increased from 150 in 1970 to 5000 in 1979. However, after entering the 80s, Adidas ignored the rise of jogging in the world's largest sports product market. The number of runners in the bottom of Pyramid rose sharply, and Adidas missed the opportunity to let sports rookie Nike seize the opportunity and finally succeed. This is probably a question often encountered by successful people: why invest in unfamiliar fields? Jogging is not a group or competitive sport. It is different from the market familiar to the company. Jogger is not in the three levels of Adidas Pyramid. Nor can Adidas establish contact with any team, club or organization.

There are also some "arrogant" elements. Adidas's designers are outsiders in designing shoes for jogging workers. They feel that lowering the requirements of running shoes seems to reduce professional standards. Although they eventually designed a new running shoes, they felt that the pair of shoes would make anyone wearing it limp, so they nicknamed it "cripple". Adidas's attitude is similar to that of the German automobile company when it appeared in Japan: good cars are prepared for serious drivers. They do not need soft seats and cup cups.

Adidas finally noticed the upsurge of running fitness. But when he launched the new product late, the demand of the product was not clear, which deviated from the core value of the brand. In addition, the marketing plan of Adidas sporting goods is still in use in the 70s mode, and Nike has created and innovated many ways of using it. It is not surprising that Adidas has a brand problem. Especially young people think Adidas is very conservative, though it is easy to use, it is not fashionable.

In the meantime, Nike It began to dominate the industry with a market share of 33% and 50% after two years. Contrary to Nike, Adidas's market share has declined rapidly. Of course, the recession of Adidas at this time also comes from its internal management deficiencies. After the death of Adidas in 1978, Adidas lost the main driving force of technological innovation. In 1985, Khost's loss of Adidas made Adidas lose a brand vision brand manager, and Adidas brand began to waver. In 1989, the company sold to a controversial Frenchman, Bernard Tapie M. Tapil's political ambitions surpassed his business interests. 3 years later, when he found himself in financial trouble, he sold Adidas's control to a Bank Consortium in France.

This is the most painful scene in Adidas's history. From 1988 to 1992, Adidas's annual sales decreased from 2 billion to US $1 billion 700 million, and Nike's annual sales increased from 1 billion 700 million to US $3 billion 400 million over the same period. In 70s, Adidas was the leader of the US market, while the market share in 1992 was only 3%. From 1991 to 1992, in Germany, Adidas's main European market dropped from 40% to 34%, while Nike increased from 14% to 18%. Meanwhile, Nike's sales in Europe increased by 38%, Adidas dropped by almost 20%, and the company lost one hundred million US dollars. It did not improve until 1993.