A strategic collaboration has been confirmed between the adidas brand and IRONMAN owner Wanda Group. The deal sees adidas step up to sponsor two IRONMAN events in China – alongside a range of tie-ups across other sports such as soccer and basketball.
adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer and adidas Group MD for Greater China Colin Currie recently met in Beijing with Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin and Beijing Wanda Cultural Investment Group President Lincoln Zhang to discuss the prospect of the future strategic collaboration.
As part of the collaboration, a key agreement was reached that will see adidas sponsor two of Wanda’s IRONMAN events in China – in the cities of Hefei and Xiamen – as well as work with the Chinese conglomerate to help develop football and basketball at all levels. adidas and Wanda also agreed to deepen their commercial relationship, with Wanda expressing strong support for adidas’ plans to open Sportswear Collective and other large-format stores throughout Wanda’s extensive portfolio of shopping malls and other commercial properties.
“China is one of the most important markets for adidas globally,” said adidas Group CEO Herbert Hainer. “We have strengthened our position in China considerably in recent years as we have successfully leveraged our substantial global expertise in sport.”
He continued, “We are now looking forward to working with Wanda Group, one of China’s largest and most respected companies as well as a powerful name in the world of sport, to realize our shared vision to develop sport in China and throughout the world.”
Wanda Group Chairman Wang Jianlin added, “Both Wanda and adidas share a number of common goals, both in a commercial sense and in our genuine desire to nurture sport not only in China but around the world. I look forward to working together closely with adidas over the next few years in pursuit of this aim.”
Later this year, the cities of Hefei and Xiamen will play host to two major IRONMAN events, both of which have become important fixtures for Wanda since its acquisition of the IRONMAN brand along with its parent company, World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), which closed in November 2015. During the meeting between adidas and Wanda, the companies agreed on a strategic partnership which will see adidas become the events’ sole sports brand sponsor.
adidas and Wanda also agreed to work together to support the development of football and basketball, both in China and worldwide.
With football being one of five main growth drivers for adidas in China according to the brand’s ‘Creating the New 2020’ strategy, adidas is keen to build upon its status as ‘China’s no.1 football brand’, in particular through the development of relations with local Chinese teams. Wanda meanwhile, with a reputation as one of Chinese football’s earliest pioneers and its status as a fellow official FIFA sponsor, is keen to extend its influence internationally.
Meanwhile, as Wanda has recently signed a long-term partnership through its Infront Sports and Media subsidiary with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), adidas and Wanda also agreed to work together to further develop basketball in China.
Another outcome of the meeting between adidas and Wanda was the agreement of a strategic partnership between adidas and Wanda to ‘realize their shared goal of further commercial expansion throughout major and lower-tier cities in China, an important pillar of adidas’ recently launched five-year strategy, ‘Creating the New 2020 Greater China’.
In parallel, adidas China announced that it will further expand its grassroots activities in China. Through its three-year partnership with the Ministry of Education (MOE) which was launched in 2015, adidas China aims to reach some 20 million students in 20,000 primary and middle schools across the country.
Dalian Wanda Group was founded in 1988 and operates in four key areas: commercial properties, culture & tourism, e-commerce and department stores. In 2014, the company had assets of Yuan 534.1 billion (US$84 billion) and revenues of Yuan 242.5 billion (US$38 billion).
Wanda Group now operates 125 Wanda Plazas, 81 hotels (including 68 five-star hotels), 6,600 cinema screens and 99 department stores nationwide across China. Looking ahead, by 2020, Wanda aims to grow itself into a leading multinational with targeted assets of Yuan 1 trillion (US$157 billion), annual revenues of Yuan 600 billion (US$94 billion) and net income of Yuan 60 billion (US$9 billion).
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