Nike vs Adidas

Nike and Adidas are arguably the most popular sports apparel companies in the United States. However, Nike seems to be much more prominent in this day and age. Why is that? To find the answer to this question you have to delve into the history of both companies and the different business techniques and strategies both have employed.

Nike was originally founded in 1964 and was known as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phillip Knight. The name was changed in 1978 and the headquarters are currently in Oregon. Nike sells everything that related to athletics. That would include shoes, apparel and equipment. Nike also owns Cole Haan, Hurley International, Umbro and Converse. Adidas is a company that includes Reebok, Ashworth and Rockport. It was founded in 1948 by Adolf Dassler in Germany, where the headquarters are still based. Adidas sell things such as shoes, apparel, and accessories. Looking at the revenue that the companies make, Nike is currently the largest sports manufacturer in the world and Adidas is second.

Nike not only has a hefty amount of people and teams they sponsor, but also have sponsors and teams that are very successful and more well known. That's not to say that Adidas doesn't sponsor unsuccessful people, because they do. Adidas sponsors successful people such as Reggie Bush, Chad Ochocinco, Derrick Rose, Chauncy Billups, Dwight Howard, and Tim Duncan. Nike just sponsors more successful people than Adidas making their products more recognized. Nike sponsors include people such as Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Troy Polamalu, LaDainian Tomlinson, Tim Tebow, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Carmelo Anthony, Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Lebron James, Andre Igoudala, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Dwayne Wade, and almost 100 NCAA college teams. Nike even sponsors musical artists such as Drake, Shakira, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and Kanye West. Overall, because Nike sponsors more people that could be considered "household names" Nike is more exposed to the public eye and therefore seemingly more popular than Adidas.

The symbols of these two companies are what make them recognizable. Nike's symbol, the swoosh, was created in 1971 by a woman named Carolyn Davidson. She was working with Phil Knight attempting to create a new logo and out of frustration made a sloppy check mark on her paper. From there, the rest is history. Nike is also famous for its slogan "Just Do It." Adidas is known for its three stripes and that's it. With Nike having better and more successful advertising they are more popular and more well known then Adidas.

According to Amplicate, an entire site dedicated to why people like Nike, "84% of people love Nike." With statistics like this and all of the successful business decisions Nike has made no wonder Nike is more prominent than Adidas in this day and age.