Adidas has been trying to break through from female players and open up the tennis market for a long time, but it has never been able to succeed. Why?
Is it because the business prospects and market appeal of female players are not enough?
In fact, in the field of tennis, the commercial value of female players is higher than that of male players. From court attendance to TV ratings to market appeal, female professional players lead in all aspects.
As early as 1997, Adidas discovered the first-generation tennis sweetheart Anna-Kournikova, and every Kournikova game was a sensation; until 2014, the beautiful girl You
Eugenie-Bouchard reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the French Open, and then reached the Wimbledon final. Suddenly, Nike signed an endorsement contract at a sky-high price.
In the past nearly two decades, the market potential of women's tennis players has been showing a continuous blowout trend.
Although the prize money in the professional arena has not yet achieved equality between men and women, male players have an advantage in this regard; but in terms of off-field endorsement fees and market opportunities, female players led by Sharapova and Serena Williams are able to compete in global sports.
Reach the top of the pyramid in the market.
It can be seen from here that there is no problem with Adidas' strategy. In recent years, Nike has also begun to embark on the path of bitter rivals, trying to focus on the women's player market to dig out more business opportunities, and they are ahead of their competitors.
Signing the contract with Li Na actually has such strategic significance.
So, why does Nike still have a higher market share than Adidas in tennis? What is the problem?
Simply put, the stability of performance.
Overall, the performance of men's players is more stable. Once they play well, they can continue. Not only the Big Four, but also before that, Marat Safin, Juan Carlos Ferrero (Juan-
The same is true for a generation of superstars such as Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, and Lleyton Hewitt. They can stay at their peak for a long time.
But in terms of female players, since the golden generation of Justine-Henin, Lindsay-Davenport, Amelie-Mauresmo, Jennifer Capri
After Jennifer-Caproati (Jennifer-Caproati), Jim-Clijsters (Kim-Clijsters) and others retired, they fell into a melee. Very few players could stay at the top for a long time, which also seriously affected Adidas.
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Competitive sports, in the final analysis, still need to speak for themselves. Ivanovic and Wozniacki are both beautiful young players who emerged from nowhere, but their performance on the court has been ups and downs, and they have never been able to stay at their peak for a long time.
, and was even criticized as "the number one parallel importer in the world", Adidas' global strategy has been unable to develop.
In 2014, the only queen of women's tennis is still Serena Williams, so much so that people jokingly call other female players maids.
At that time, Safin, Djokovic, and Fernando-Gonzalez were all players owned by Adidas. However, as Safin and Gonzalez retired one after another, Djokovic switched to Uniqlo.
After the four giants took over the tennis world, Adidas's market strategy suffered a serious blow.
Until now, Adidas has not been able to escape the shadow of its competitors.
It is based on this fact that Tobias believes that Adidas is a better choice——
Because they are more urgent.
A new generation player with superstar potential, a young player who can tap into the Chinese market, a male player with more stable overall performance...
It perfectly fits Adidas' strategy and can even become the starting point for changing the market map. Just look at how many young Chinese players Adidas has signed. They have always had this idea. After all, in comparison, poaching from top players is more difficult.
It is more cost-effective to sign young players.
Be it Nike or Adidas, the competition between the two parties in the youth market has never stopped.
Therefore, Tobias believes that Adidas should not only sign Gao Wen, but also get ahead of Nike and acquire Gao Wen at a high price.
However……
The idea is beautiful, but the reality is cruel.
As a senior agent, Tobias successfully made an appointment for an interview without much effort, and had a face-to-face conversation with the top management of Adidas' entire North American headquarters. He also demonstrated Gao Wen's characteristics, advantages, status and future possibilities.
in front of senior officials.
However, the interview did not produce a clear result.
In fact, the other party did not refuse or nod, but just used vague pleasantries to talk in circles, and ended the interview happily.
But Tobias was able to realize immediately that Adidas was not that interested. In the final analysis, he should still be concerned about Gawain's qualifications:
The U.S. championship and the championship of one challenge tournament are really not enough chips.
To a certain extent, Tobias can understand Adidas's hesitation.
In recent years, Adidas has been investing in young male tennis players from China, hoping that players like Kei Nishikori or Li Na will emerge. However, the reality is very cruel. So far, no male player from China has entered the world.
Ranked in the top 100, years of hard work have yielded nothing.
This kind of performance is really a far cry from the situation where Chinese women's players are flourishing in the top ranks.
It is inevitable that Adidas will be more cautious and want to observe again.
But in Tobias's view, investment should be made as early as possible. If he waits for Gawain to achieve more results, it may not be the case now.
Now, Tobias needs to take the initiative to sell Gao Wen door-to-door, and the sponsorship offer is very reasonable. He hopes that Adidas will sponsor Gao Wen for US$300,000 per year as training and competition funds - the bottom line in his heart is US$200,000 per year, because he
I also know that the figure of 300,000 US dollars is difficult to estimate.
But if Adidas continues to wait and see, the numbers will not stop here.
Adidas's hesitation, in Tobias's view, is a lack of decisiveness.
Here, Adidas did not give a positive reply for the time being. Tobias turned around and went directly to Nike, wanting to see Nike's reaction and at the same time stimulate Adidas.
The relationship between Nike and Tobias is indeed extraordinary. Even if Gawain is still a nobody, Nike is willing to give Gawain a chance.
Then, Nike gave Tobias an offer of $80,000 per year, plus sponsorship of all equipment——
The main reason is not because Nike is arrogant and looks down on Gao Wen; it is because Nike has Li Na and their demand for the Chinese market is not that urgent.
Therefore, they can take their time and observe slowly. It would be good to sign a potential new star for $80,000 per year to train him, but it doesn't matter even if a cooperation agreement is not reached.
This number does not satisfy Tobias.
Over there, the Lexington Challenge is in full swing.