Brands bank on stars to sell to fans

PARIS — Nine days before the start of Europe’s quadrennial football championship, five stars of the powerhouse German national team accepted a dramatic delivery.

Skydivers descended on their training camp bearing the Adidas boots that Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Manuel Neuer and Bastian Schweinsteiger would wear while playing in France.

Ozil, an attacking midfielder with 11 million followers on Twitter, quickly flashed video of the hand-off to his rabid fans. The same day, striker Muller did the same to his 2.76 million followers.

“When we want to talk to the 17- and 18-year-old kids, they follow a club, but don’t necessarily relate to the brand sponsoring the club,” said Markus Baumann, Adidas’ general manager of global football.

“They are inspired by the individual player and his swagger. This is exactly what motivates them to hang out with their friends and play — and at a certain point buy new shoes.”

Adidas, Nike and Puma are relying more on individuals to sell boots and jerseys during the month-long Euro 2016 tournament, the year’s top event for the biggest sports-gear suppliers that starts today.

Adidas, tied for market share with Nike in the US$5 billion (S$6.76 billion) global football-gear market, is banking on top players’ ability to reach fans directly and shifting a larger part of its US$2.7 billion annual marketing budget towards them compared with the big team sponsorships that defined its past.

Part of the reason is the rise of social media — getting football idols to recommend a brand’s boots directly on Twitter and Instagram can get more bang for the marketing buck than spiralling team sponsorships, which can top US$1 billion.

Campaigns built around individual stars also let the brands get their message to children in a more controlled fashion than they can through decade-long club associations, at a time when fast-changing tastes mean kids want new colours and designs every couple of months.

In addition to the German stars, whose national team won the World Cup two summers ago, Adidas plans to promote France’s Paul Pogba, 23, during the Euros. The company last month ended its deal with English club Chelsea, worth about US$438 million over a decade, six years ahead of time.

Adidas has also exited sponsorships with German Bundesliga clubs in Leverkusen, Wolfsburg and Nuremberg.

To be sure, team sponsorships are still important marketing tools. Adidas benefits from its associations with Italian giants Juventus and German powerhouse Bayern Munich. Barcelona, a Nike team, boasts 17.7 million Twitter followers.

While team sponsorships boost brand awareness, player deals are best for selling shoes.

“It’s the player behind the club who’s influencing the younger generation as to what they’re going to wear,” said John Guy, an analyst at MainFirst Bank.

Adidas and its rivals view the Euro tournament as the premier marketing event for sports brands this year, eclipsing the Copa America in the United States, where Adidas’ Argentine star Lionel Messi has been sidelined with a back injury, and the Summer Olympics in Brazil, which is not seen as a big catalyst for jersey and sneaker sales. BLOOMBERG