Adidas expands on 'designed in China' strategy
Managing director for Greater China at sports brand adidas, Adrian Siu, has told China-focused luxury business outlet Jing Daily that he aims to ramp up sales of Chinese-designed adidas products to around a third of the company’s total in that market.
Compared to figures for fiscal 2021, the group’s sales declined by 36% in Greater China last year, adidas revealed earlier this month.
On top of various challenges relating to inventory, mainland China’s zero-covid policy and those specific to the company itself, China’s evolving guochao trend, meaning ‘national tide’, has also notably whetted younger consumers’ appetites for homegrown branded sportswear in recent months and years, Jing Daily reported.
In this context, adidas' signing of a three-year strategic deal with the Beijing-based China Literature and Art Foundation to mark fifty years of Sino-German diplomatic relations last November takes on new significance. Existing plans include cultural activations to strengthen brand awareness and loyalty among those aged 18 to 22, for example, involving dedicated university programming and a target to connect with 10,000 schools annually.
The overall objective is to enhance adidas' ties with Chinese sporting culture via more localised, deep-rooted and authentic health and fitness storytelling, along the theme of ‘Century Masters’.
Image: adidas.
