Digital Sport’s Weekly Wash-up 22/01/2016

Sky Sports unveils its German superheroes 

In order to promote the Bundesliga in the UK, Sky Sports has launched three cool ads featuring three league’s superstars: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Arjen Robben and Hakan Calhanoglu.

The ads feature the players transforming into their favourite Marvel superheroes. The Borussia Dortmund striker transforms into Spider-Man while the Bayern superstar turns into Iron Man.

While it’s a cool campaign, it’s definitely not a coincidence with Sky cross-promoting the Marvel movies which are now available on the service’s On Demand feature.

Damian Lillard stars in part two of Adidas’ “Creators Never Follow” campaign 

After unveiling the campaign “Creators Never Follow” featuring Houston Rockets superstar James Harden in December, Adidas has launched the second part of the campaign featuring Portland Blazers’ superstar, Damien Lillard.

Replicating Harden’s message from the first commercial, the brand encourages young “creators” to write their own story. Throughout the ad, Lillard tells us how to take the lead on the ground and what motivated him to succeed.

The new ad was created as part of Adidas’ new film series named “Sport 15”, a long-term investment to inspire young athletes. The series also includes the ad “I’m Here To Create” featuring Lionel Messi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdzAVihJHNA

Adidas announces its new CEO

German appel giant Adidas has announced Kasper Rorsted to succeed Herbet Hainer as CEO of Adidas AG, effective from 1 October 2016 with the Danish-born Rorsted leaving his General Director position at Henkel.

Herbert Hainer’s leaving isn’t a surprise with 2015 being a fairly difficult year for Adidas. Its global revenue stagnated while Nike and Under Armour progressed. The German brand even became third on the sports brand rankings behind Under Armour in the US.

Adidas AG Supervisory Chairman Igoa Landau said that Rorsted was undoubtedly the right candidate.

“He has extensive international management experience, having held positions with high-calibre companies. For eight years, Kasper Rorsted has very successfully headed up Henkel” he said.

Stephen Curry and the New York Knicks are leading the NBA

This week, the NBA and Forbes released two very anticipated rankings in the sports business arena in the US; NBA jersey sales and the most valuable franchise.

Firstly, while Stephen Curry is undoubtedly one of the hottest players in the NBA, his success on the court has driven the success off it with the MVP leading NBA jersey sales in front of LeBron James and the soon-to-be-retired Kobe Bryant. In a little bit of a surprise, a player in the running for rookie of the season, Kristaps Porzingis comes in fourth.

At the same time, Forbes unveiled revenues generated by NBA franchises with the New York Knicks leading the rankings with $3 billion in front of the Lakers and the Chicago Bulls. Overall, it was a fairly healthy year for the NBA with the 30 teams generating more than $5 billion dollars.

To put that into context, according to a report by Deloitte, 20 of the most valuable European football teams generated around US$7 billion.

Goal-Line Technology to be extended in UEFA

According to several reports, Goal-Line Technology (GLT) is expected to be used in new tournaments including the Champions League, Europa League and the 2016 Euros after an executive committee meeting in Nyon.

Used in top European leagues including the Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the last Women’s World Cup, GLT will soon be integrated in most of UEFA’s tournaments.

GLT

About author

Adrien Danjou
Adrien Danjou 140 posts

Adrien is a Digital Marketing Manager in France and a Digital Sport lover. Follow him on Twitter: @Adrien_DH

You might also like

SPORTEL 2021: Day One Recap

This year’s prestigious SPORTEL convention kicked off in sunny Monaco today, welcoming a host of familiar faces as well as plenty of new ones. Doors opened at 8:30am with businesses

Six Founding Riders Set To Bring The Vision Of The UCI Track Champions League To Life

Olympic Champions, UCI World Champions and World Record holders join the new track cycling competition debuting in November 2021 The UCI Track Champions League is delighted to announce that six

Sports related spending to soar this summer as pre-pandemic life resumes

New insights from eBay Ads UK reveal the potential for brands to engage with an excited but nervous nation as sports events get back on track  As pubs and indoor