To get an idea of the size of the
sports equipment market, there were 28 different sports that were represented
at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, which each require specific and
different equipment. The market of sporting goods is defined by purchase of
products such as athletic clothes, sporty footwear and technical equipment and
it is globally valued at about US$ 18 billion. This huge industry is not ready
to stop growing as explained in the report of Persistence Market Research,
which forecasts a CAGR of 3% increase by 2020.
When we talk about sports brands the
first that come to mind are often Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Puma and Reebok,
although there are many others. The popularity of these brands makes them the
most profitable companies in the sports equipment industry with values up to US$26
billion for Nike and US$ 6.2 billion for Adidas. On the other hand, the market
of this industry is also constituted by brands of sports events which are at
the origin of many ranges of derivatives products. In this category, the main
brands are the Super Bowl with a value of US$ 580 million, the Summer Olympics
Games with a value of US$ 348 million and the FIFA World Cup, valued at US$ 229
million. The two other categories of sporting goods are directly related to
Athletes and Teams brands like Tiger Woods, Rodger Federer, the New York
Yankees and the Real Madrid. 
In term of marketing and brand strategies,
it seems obvious that many facts, events and phenomena are constantly impacting
this growing industry, which represent both opportunities and threats to sports
brands. For example, in 2016 during the Summer Olympic Games of Rio, brands had
to be imaginative and innovative to adapt to this new demanding generation. Indeed,
during this event many brands have developed creative campaigns through
different digital media used by the public of today in order to gain consumer’s
visibility. Event sponsors and the use of celebrities as brand ambassadors are
two marketing strategies that tend to favor the creation of a brand identity as
well as a link with consumers in the world of sport. Thereby, it is possible to
notice the use of these stratagems in brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma. For
instance, the main partner and sponsor of the Football World Cup is Adidas. On
another side, in recent times puma does not stop to participate into clothing
collaborations with celebrities: Rihanna had recently created a whole
collection of clothing and footwear called Fenty (Rihanna X Puma) and Kylie
Jenner is the new face for the Puma’s Fierce sneakers ad campaign. In order to
promote its different range of products, Nike is sponsoring, which means it is
paying, professional athletes for wearing their clothes, shoes and so on. These
individual athlete or teams are participating in different disciplines throughout
the world: American football, basketball, boxing, football, golf, gymnastic, handball,
tennis and rugby. For instance, Nike sponsors the national French football team
for their equipment and it is also the official partner of one of the
highest-paid sportsmen, the golfer Tiger Woods.
This ever-growing industry is full
of opportunities for established businesses as well as for new ones. They just
have to be cautious, take into account all the events and trends around them
and above all, they have to never stop innovating and adapting in order to
never disappoint consumers' demands. Even if the biggest such as Nike and
Adidas will probably still be the leaders in the future, they should not
neglect the importance of the relationship with the customers as well as the
value-added of products, and for now they are on the right track!
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