"For Nike," says Sanjay Mehra, general manager, Nike South Asia, "the FIFA World Cup is a great opportunity to display our commitment to the game of football. Our advertising campaign aims at bringing the game alive in the mind of the consumer." It couldn't hurt sales of Nike's Cup merchandise - jerseys, boots and wristbands - either.
But the host is Germany, and the two German rivals united by common heritage and divided by the river Aurach in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, are not about to cede any turf to Nike. Or each other (ever since the Dassler brothers split in 1948, Adidas and Puma have been bitter rivals).
Adidas, supplier of the official match ball, hopes to sell over 10 million replica balls this year, according to Andreas Gellner, managing director, Adidas India.
The company has a 150-million global budget for the Cup, and its trump card is exclusive in-stadia advertising: the three stripes will surround the field.
However, the Adidas logo will appear on the kits of just six teams (among them, Germany, Argentina, Spain and France), while Puma is sponsoring more teams than any other - its leaping cat will be spotted on 12 of 32 teams - and hopes to turn in a record performance in football gear sales.
You can expect team-wear from Ghana and Ivory Coast to appear in shop windows.
"Their bright team colours will appeal to Indians, so we've decided to put them on sale," says Rajiv Mehta, managing director, Puma Sports. He is optimistic that Puma's Indian subsidiary, operational only this year, will make a success of its first seven retail stores in the country. "We have no doubt we will witness a notable spike in sales in June and July," says Mehta.
Nike has eight teams, Brazil included. The 2002 winner has enough of a fan following to sell millions of dollars worth of look-alike sportswear globally.
India is an important market for all three players: the active wear segment in India has grown from Rs 150 crore (Rs 1.5 billion) in 2001 to Rs 520 crore (Rs 5.2 billion) in 2005, estimates Technopak, a consultancy.
And it's premium stuff, to be sure. A Nike Brazil jersey could set you back by Rs 2,495, twice the price of a regular Nike jersey. "Don't forget we pay royalties to the respective associations for every replica we sell," says Mehta, defending such prices.
Fan followings are never easy to fathom, and that's what makes it all the more interesting. Reebok, acquired by Adidas earlier this year, has no soccer affiliation, but Sajid Shamim, director, marketing, Reebok India, says the replica business is huge the world over.
"Even our Raiders jerseys have sold well in India, despite there being little understanding of American football," Shamim says, adding, "They're also popular because of their use of high-performance fabric - they're exactly what the players themselves wear."
