Nike’s sales of football products are “approaching” an annual level of $1.5 billion, or double the level of four years ago, said Charlie Denson, the former Nike Europe chief who recently became sole president of the Nike brand. Other company officials subsequently emphasized that this figure, given by Nike for the first time, includes the company’s lifestyle-inspired soccer shoes but doesn’t include American football.
Speaking last Monday in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium, which will host the final of the FIFA World Cup next summer, Denson said that Nike’s global market share in football is now roughly comparable to that of the historic market leader, but company officials claimed that it will soon be higher, judging from Nike’s recent momentum in this sector. While it was worth only $40 million in 1994, it has become one of the three major segments of Nike’s total business.
While unveiling the kits developed for the eight national teams sponsored by Nike during the World Cup, which use Nike Sphere Dry technology, Denson said that the company expects to sell this year a record of 23 million pairs of football boots, more than 10 million balls and more than two million units of the replica kits presented in Berlin. The kits were launched simultaneously in New York, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Amsterdam and Lisbon. Nike has already introduced a new high-end football boot, the Mercurial Vapor III, claiming that it has the fastest response time and superior stability and support.
Adidas officials vigorously challenged Nike’s projected sales figures later this week (see next article). None of the major players in the football market has yet released figures on the advertising and promotion budget for the World Cup, except to say that it will be a record for each company. Nike officials indicate that the World Cup will take a similar proportion of the company’s total demand creation budget as four years ago, and that budget will be higher overall.
Nike launched last weekend a high-powered global media campaign centered around a new “Gioca Bonito” TV commercial. It will launch a major partnership with Google on the web around football in a few week’s time. In Europe, Nike plans to involve more than 2,700 retail stores in World Cup-related communication activities and more than two million kids in grassroots events.
Meanwhile, Nike and Adidas are competing for the endorsement of an 18-year-old Argentinian player, Lionel Messi. Employed by the Nike-sponsored Barcelona team since last August, he is regarded as one of the new icons for the World Cup icons, reminding his fans of Diego Maradona’s successes. A court in Barcelona ordered on Feb. 10 that Messi should provisionally wear Nike’s boots based on existing contracts. Adidas and Messi, which have signed a sponsorship deal through 2012, are applying against the court order.
