Zion Armstrong, who has played a pivotal part in the Adidas brand's expansion in North America in the last three years, is to take over as president of Adidas North America at the start of July, after the retirement of Mark King.
The Adidas Group said that King decided to step down after 35 years at entities related to the German group, more than three of them in charge of the North American business. He built up a team that helped Adidas to be more attuned with American sports and popular culture, at a time when the company decided to make an all-out investment to address its paltry share in the U.S. market.
Under King's tenure, Adidas became the fastest-growing sports brand in North America, roughly doubling its market share to regain the number two spot in the U.S. market, Adidas said. The brand's resurgence has been aided by avid demand for the latest versions of the Stan Smith, Boost footwear and a partnership with Kanye West, among many other initiatives.
While Nike and Under Armour were both under some pressure in the U.S. last year, the Adidas brand's sales went up by 35 percent in constant currencies in North America, after a gain of 30 percent in 2016. The group's operating profit in North America, which is combined for the Adidas and Reebok brands, amounted to €468 million in 2017, which equated with an operating margin of 10.9 percent, up from 2.5 percent in 2015.
Armstrong helped to shape this resurgence, given the fact that he co-led the business with King since June 2015, formally as general manager of Adidas North America. The 43 year-old New Zealander was previously managing director of Adidas in South Korea. He joined the group in New Zealand as product manager for footwear in 1998 and moved to the head office in Germany in 2002. Before his appointment in Portland, he held various jobs in the Asia Pacific region.
Armstrong is an accomplished sportsman, who competed in the athletics world junior championships and the Commonwealth Games, and is a former New Zealand record holder for 400 meter hurdles.
Mark King became part of the Adidas Group through TaylorMade, the U.S. golf equipment company that belonged to Salomon when the ski equipment company was purchased by Adidas in the nineties. King started there as sales representative in the ‘eighties but he then climbed the ranks to become chief executive of TaylorMade Adidas Golf in 2003. Under his tenure the brand pulled ahead of Callaway Golf as a leading and most profitable golf equipment supplier, but it suffered a significant downturn in 2014 and was later divested.
King relocated from Carlsbad to Portland in June 2014 to take up the job at Adidas North America, working closely with Armstrong. King turned out to be a popular as well as efficient chief, who embodied a cultural shift at Adidas in North America. It was part of the rationale for his appointment that North America and Americans should have more influence on the management in the region and throughout the group. This entailed the move of several management clusters to Portland.
The Adidas Group said that the 59 year-old King will continue to work with Adidas North America as an advisor in the coming years. Armstrong will report to Roland Auschel, the Adidas group's executive board member in charge of global sales.
