Can Nike Beat Adidas at Soccer

In the article “Shootout: Can Nike Beat Adidas at Soccer” conducted by Brendan Greeley compares two main sponsors (Nike and Adidas) of FIFA Word Cup, and Nike has the upper hand in sales and sponsorships, Adidas is growing. It provides the information why Nike is the most powerful sponsor for soccer events such as FIFA Word Cup.

In the begging, the author indicates the history of Nike and Adidas. Two brands define this high-stakes fight more than any other. On one side, Adidas – the German giants who have had football at the heart from day one – and on the other, Nike – based in Oregon, USA, the largest sportswear company in the world, who only entered the football market in 1994. Than, Brendan Greeley provides the reasons why Nike is the best. There are two significant aspects to catch audience's attention on sports brand during the match. The viewers can notice the brand on a player's clothes, or they can get excited from the advertising. As a result, Nike has become the world's largest soccer brand because of their spectacular advertising. In order to support this information, Brendan G. explains the strategy of Nike’s advertising with comparing Adidas’ system. They try to use a lot of famous soccer players such as Messi (Adidas) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Nike).

In the advertising, the main subject for selling is the shoes which indicate the player style. It means that each collection (Adidas and Nike) belongs to Messi and Ronaldo. Messi is the best actor for Adidas, and he has his own color design (blue and white which are the colors of Argentina). Messi represents the F50 collection, this shoes was made for fast players like Messi (a soccer hero of Argentina). However, Cristiano Ronaldo has much better position in the Nike company. Nike knows how to combine the audience with the famous soccer player. Ronaldo also has his own design which calls Mercury. The design is much better and colorful than Adidas, but this is not a reason why Nike is better. The reason is that the advertising makes Cristiano Ronaldo's shoes look amazing and interesting for the viewers. It does not seem that no body can beat Ronaldo, Nike shows that with Mercury shoes you can achieve more as a soccer player.

In the end of the paper, Brendan Greeley just reminds us about the main point. Nike is more powerful sponsor than Adidas, because they know how to use famous soccer players which have an influence on fans to buy Nike’s products to support the national teams.