The Gulden Rule Era already Flawed

Copied from below. Totally agree that despite the turn around at puma, the “gulden era “ is doomed. Direct shot at Nike on innovation but adidas has been stale for close to a decade. The post below spells it out clearly.

Pasted all credit to the original post: total appreciation

What innovation? Innovation was miadidas platform and the robot making shoes AM4 something, I can’t remember. Both shutdown.

4D been done by other brands. Stale and old.

Boost - not even adidas innovation. BASF which is also shared by puma and other companies. (Puma called it faas) 12 years old and
Very Stale

Predator? Decreasing or moving dots to help swerve. Old. Dated. Stale.

PrimeKnit. Stale ……….old ten years ago.

Pharrell - stale lack luster sales. Now he’s the face of a luxury brand.

What innovation ?
Forecasting? We suck. (Inventory)
Where’s that Brooklyn farm again?
Where’s Lorenzo again?
Where’s youth sports (besides soccer)

Hoka & On. Ki-ling it.

Comment! It's anonymous!

6 replies (most recent on top)

We don’t have an innovation problem we have a marketing problem.

Innovation is a buzz word. What sells? For adidas its superstars, Stan’s, sambas, gazelles. For Nike it’s Cortez, Max, Af1. The problem is less innovation and more 1: marketing and 2: supply chain. 3: sub zero morale.

Adidas hasn't got a lack of innovation. They have too many technical innovations!
What they lack is focus and marketing direction. They also need the leadership to stick with one innovation story for many years while improving the technology.
Technical Innovation alone doesn't sell more products. It needs to be backed up by innovative marketing, retail, ecom etc.

Nike might not have the technical innovation depth but they are super consistent and focused in their messaging and products.

Original post correct.
BASF invented BOOST.
Both Puma and Adidas used technology.
adidas stroked the bigger check to be primary user. (At the time)

Google it. Or visit BASF as they originally called and still call the “innovation” Infinergy.
Imagine ultra Infinergy lol

Light strike is the future of innovation that’s about it. The rest is just brands changing names of technology ready existing in the world. See you all the sales meetings where we will hear everything is fine. No usa layoffs.

I need to disagree with this post.

We own boost. We own 4D. You left out Strung, Lightstrike, Adiprene, Bounce, Springblade, Torsion (ZX). We have a lot but we just need to market it better. I like that we put focus on the "pioneering" part again since that was exactly what Adolf Dassler was famous for and made adidas famous for.

E.g. Lightstrike/Strung is matchwinning in our Running segment at the moment.
Adiprene is being used on Ozweego
Boost was driven by Yeezy and Ultraboost. To be fair - we need to revive it somehow - maybe Lightboost will do.
There is no competition for 4D because no other company can do it on a mass scale to make it profitable. It needs a marketing push and something more innovative then just a midsole of course

Oh I wish someone would post this on LinkedIn or social media.

“The Gulden Era”. So cold.

Thread regarding Adidas layoffs

The Gulden Rule Era already Flawed

6 replies (most recent on top)

Post a reply