Let’s face it. Western Europe hasn’t exactly shown up thus far for World Cup. There are 6 negative standouts. 4 of 6 are Adidas teams. One is Umbro (NKE) and one is Puma. Of the 6 winners, they are evenly split between Nike and Puma.
We’ve seen our fair share of upsets thus far in the initial round of World Cup play. The biggest is probably the stone cold reality that Western Europe has – thus far – failed to show up for the event. Specifically, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain (and of course…poor ‘ol Greece) need to overcome insurmountable odds in order to make a push into the next round.
Slovenia, Serbia, Portugal, Holland, Switzerland and Denmark are surprising on the upside.
Of those surprising on the downside, 4 of the 6 are Adidas teams. One is Umbro (Nike), one is Puma.
Of the 6 surprising on the upside in Europe, 3 are Puma and 3 are Nike. Sorry HErbert (Hainer -- Adidas CEO).
Ironically, the big winner in all of this is Brooks, which endorses only one team – Chile – which has performed far beyond expectations.
I bring this up not out of human interest, but because the magnitude of this event on a world stage can, and will, have regional economic consequences. The poorly managed brands will let the winners of a match dictate their product/brand fate. The well-managed brands will use either victory or loss to establish an emotional connection with a consumer to build the brand (remember what Nike did when Liu Xiang in China when he disappointed at the Beijing Olympics).
