FOOTBALL
Adidas: "Negotiations with Real Madrid are super confidential"
The marketing director of Adidas spoke about the sales of national team jerseys before the World Cup and how a team winning it is 'incalculable' in terms of revenue.
The directore of Marketing for Adidas Iberia, David Torres, has told EFE that the effect of a team winning the World Cup is incalculable and assured that his company has a "special plan of production" for the jerseys worn by the World Cup winners in Russia 2018.
"The effect of winning a World Cup is incalculable in sales. All of the teams from Adidas have a special plan for production in the case that they win the competition in order to fulfill the demand, which becomes more real as they advance," said Torres in an interview with EFE.
In the event of victory, the sales of that team's jersey skyrocket. "When a team wins the final, the factory starts working the second the game has finished," he added.
The German company will provide kits for 12 teams at Russia 2018 including Germany and Spain, along with Belgium, Sweden, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, Iran, Morocco and Japan.
Adidas will also provide the ball for the competition with the 'Telstar 18', which is a "great exhibition" as the sports brand also have plenty of teams under contract that could win it.
The executive for Spain and Portugal says the World Cup is a chance for many star players to stand out including Adidas', Lionel Messi, Uruguayan Luis Suárez, Frenchman Paul Pogba and Spanish David de Gea.
Sales of national team jersey start to rise in April
Sales start to shoot up around April with a steady increase being seen around Christmas.
"In Spain, sales are acentuated around the World Cup," Torres says opposed to other countries with sales staying around the same.
Since winning the World Cup in 2010 and the Euros in 2008 and 2012, Spain's jersey sales have hit paydirt. "Before winning the Euros and the World Cup, the sale of the Spanish team shirt was restricted to our country, now it is a team jersey that is really liked, highly-anticipated and has a high percentage of sales outside of Spain," Torres added.
Spain's Russia 2018 jersey was met with some controversy. Some thought the blue at the side of the shirt was purple, which would indicate a political stance in favour of the Spanish republic. Torres distanced himself from that talk, however, by saying, "We are a sports brand and we made a design and shared it with the institution. We never considered that it would have an added impact, and when it happened, we still had the backing of the Federation, we continue to consider it just a design, nothing more."
Amongst the big contract the brand has in Spain is Real Madrid, for which Adidas has a sub-company dedicated to their agreement. The contract ends in 2020 and it is a "super confidential" negotiation that is in the hands of the hightest directors of the company, according to Torres.
