Both companies have realized that competition can make them stronger internationally, positioning themselves differently in the world market. Their managers have apparently reached a stage where they can feel cool about it all, taking one day off to engage in a more leisurely game that symbolizes a new era.
Puma and Adidas employees briefly buried their long-standing rivalry to play football together. Called “Peace One Day” after the name of a non-profit organization, the event was a momentous affair in Herzogenaurach, the small Bavarian town that was divided for several decades after Adi and Rudolf Dassler, the two owners of a local sports shoe factory, fell apart after World War II and set up their rival companies, Adidas and Puma, on either side of the river that runs through the town. Both companies have since been sold to outside investors, removing the more personal edge of the rivalry. However, the competitive spirit remains intense: many Puma employees in Herzo had never set foot in Adidas World of Sports, the Adidas campus down the road, before the game was held there on Monday Sept. 21.
By all accounts the collaboration and the game were good-humored. About 700 employees of both companies congregated to support two mixed teams, the Black Team and the White Team, consisting of Adidas and Puma employees, along with a few local journalists. This surprising initiative was intended to raise awareness for Peace One Day, a nonprofit organization promoting Sept. 21, as an annual day of global ceasefire and nonviolence.
The 7-5 victory of the Black Team was rather predictable since it featured the chief executives of both companies: Herbert Hainer, a former second-division player, as a midfielder, and Jochen Zeitz as a goalkeeper. Both of them grinned broadly as they posed for photographs of a memorable handshake. For the occasion, Adidas and Puma even made a football kit in black and white that featured the three-striped logo of Adidas as well as Puma’s wildcat. The kit is part of a limited edition of 80 pieces, which will be auctioned for Peace One Day.
After the game, Adidas and Puma employees trailed off together to watch “The Day After Peace,” a movie by Jeremy Gilley, director and founder of Peace One Day. This second part of the event was held at the Puma Brand Center in Nuremberg.
