I want to know which professional players are they eyeing to sponsor soon. I heard Viktor Axelsen is with them? Will there be like a big contract included kind of like how other sports are? Also, I'm curious about question 3 that rahuldarga asked. Are they thinking of sponsoring any big tournaments soon?
their first pass at shirt design just blows everyone out of the water. simple, eye-catching and elegant.
Hmmm...shirt designs are OK for me. Mind you still better than some of the garish Asian designs rolled out by Yonex, Victor and Li-Ning.
I actually like the 'garish asian' designs' because for me 'game shirts' are part of the badminton ethos. However, Adidas are not asian so they can't pretend to be or else they'll look fake. Variations on the 'mandarin' style collars though are a must. Round necks are passe. These first round of apparel designs are very predictable, but solid. I quite like them.
Hey, people pay close to 300 bucks for an N90, so I suspect there'll be more than a few who'll pay 60+ for a top if it's well made and not the rubbish that you pay 35 bucks for. I've been having a think about the marketing. I reckon if they want to make a mark in SE Asia, they need to go big like LiNing did. I'm happy to be proved wrong, but it seems to me like Asian players are more personality driven than brand driven. Imagine if Li Ning didn't sponsor the Chinese national team, where would they be now? Nowhere. They need to sponsor Korea, basically. In the EU, sponsoring a few of the next generation of players is a good move, because they're a European company with a European aesthetic. There's also a market that is used to paying high retail prices whereas in SE Asia thats a fairly new phenomenon. So basically, when they say "Adidas Badminton - All in." they better mean it or they'll go the way of Head and Wilson pretty quickly. They need to 'Go big or go home'.
unless you have a reliable source, I severely doubt it. Yonex will do ANYTHING to hold on to LCW. They've already lost Gade, and are going to lose Taufik. I think LCW's contract runs with Yonex for a few more years anyway...
I believe, not only Adidas, other sport manufacturer will try to get hands on Dato LCW. Supposedly, Yonex will do whatever it takes to hold LCW. Dato LCW is Yonex brand ambassador that receive huge awareness from badminton fans, not to mention number of titles he won.
At this point, I think Yonex's only guaranteed pushers are Japan - they've been properly knocked off their perch in UK at the very least.
If you "dare" to ask, ask them something along the lines of: "Badminton is a sport largely dominated by Asian players, professional and/or amateurs. How do you think they will react about you paying very low wages to Asian workers?" And less harmful questions: "Why did you choose badminton right now? What can you offer the badminton world, when it comes to money, will you sponsor tournaments, how many players? Are you looking to be a dominant force, perhaps the biggest one, or will you just be another small time player? Will you try to influence the way badminton is going?" And lastly, "How do you feel about your competitors in the badminton market? Are they doing a good job? Are you willing to work together with some of them or do you work "Solo" ? When will you be having the conversation with them Kwun?
Have they? Quite often I still hear (or read) about Englishmen (and -women) only really knowing Yonex...not quite as pronounced, but similar in Germany (where some "just don't like Victor" and don't even know Li Ning/Babolat/...)
It depends what UK market you are looking at ? Top Clubs and County, then yes they probably have. The average Joe in your average UK club ? I think not, they are still the only badminton brand the majority of players have even heard of.
That's true. I've only recently gotten hooked and when I came to choose a racket, Yonex was instantly my 1st choice of thought. Only know of Li-Ning because of their connection in Basketball.
to the first, of course Adidas will say they pay competitive wages, and actually they do not own any factories in China so are not even responsible for wages in that country! As for you question on 'working solo', erm, why would they help a competitor?
For the first one I was referring to Asia as a whole, not China in particular! And for the second one, I was thinking about like how it is in some other sports, where players can have multiple sponsors. Let's say adidas want to sponsor some player but perhaps work some deal with some other brand so that while that player wears adidas clothing they still use that other brands raquets. That doesn't seem too likely, still maybe worth asking though.