I just saw some news about the Gumball ralley. I had never heard of this before, but it is a race where some rich kids spend a lot of money to drive through Europe (I won’t waste a backlink). The German police stopped them today, but I don’t think that the 420 Euros they had to pay, will hurt them much: the start fee is more than 40.000 Euros (Netzeitung in German). But what pisses me really off is something else…
I went to the website to see what that Gumball thing is all about. And what did I see? Adidas is sponsoring this stupid event. A brand who’s headquarters is just a few kilometres from here. A brand that I liked since I was a kid. A brand that had a lot of credibility for me. And now they support a bunch of spoiled brads who spend a awful lot of money to risk the life of others on the European motorways?
Sorry, but I just don’t get it! From a pure marketing point of view that might create awarness and might also drive some attention to Adidas on a short term. But what about the long term effects on the brand?
Are you guys in Herzogenaurach really willing to risk your brand image for such a short living event?
I don’t think that you are doing yourself and the brand a favour. I doubt that CEO Herbert Heiner or President of and CEO of the Adidas brand Erich Stamminger (why the hell do you guys need 2 CEOs?) know about this. At least I hope.
To me it looks like the stupid idea of some inexperienced intern (nothing against interns, I worked with a few very good ones so far 😉 ). But it looks like some are still following the philosophy “Any PR is good PR”.
I doubt it! If this is what Adidas is focusing on these days with their marketing I might not be the right client for them. I will have to fight my inner “Schweinehund” and switch to products of brands Puma (also based in Herzogenaurach) or even NIKE (naaa, not really!) when buying sports equipment.
Good old Adi (founder of Adidas) will probably rotate in his grave.
Maybe I should stop to rant about this. It won’t change anything. But:
“Impossible is nothing!” 😉
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