Is Adidas hurting Reebok?

One of the dangers of mergers is that often the smaller partner is slowly killed off by the bigger one -- not intentionaly, but simply because logic dictates that most of the attention, most of the resources, and most of the opportunities are reserved for the division that generates most of the revenues.

That may be happening in the case of Adidas and Reebok, if this article from the Portland Oregonian is a guide.

[In April] took over a licensed merchandise deal with the NBA from Reebok, acquired in January. Last week it started selling new fashion sneakers designed for each of the 30 NBA teams and has poured more money than ever into basketball marketing.

But perhaps Adidas' own Reebok, and not Nike, will be the biggest loser. Reebok, whose overall business is lagging in sales and order backlogs, has rapidly ceded market share in basketball.

Adidas' market share in basketball shoes has climbed, but so has Nike's. It's Reebok who has dropped.

"It's difficult enough to compete against everyone else, let alone having to compete against your brother," said Matt Powell, contributing editor for Sports Executive Weekly, an industry publication.

1.2 billion impressions

That's what Adidas is said to have gotten in the US from the World Cup final, according to Nielsen Sports. All those impressions were on an audience of 6.2 million, which means 200 impressions per viewer -- feasible, since the Adidas logo was on the ball, on the French jerseys, the ref's clothing, and everywhere else.

And it doesn't hurt that everytime the infamous head-butt was replayed, there was the Adidas logo on Zidane's jersey.

Under a rundown of "how the Adidas apparel sponsorship became a success," Nielsen said: "The much talked about 'head butt' by France's star player Zinedine Zidane was shown repeatedly." That exposure continues with replays on Web sites, such as YouTube.