Adidas Races To Beyonce In New Sales Revival Sneaker Deal

CBx Vibe:Diva” Beyoncé

By CultureBanx Team

  • Beyoncé is set to relaunch Ivy Park and footwear with Adidas
  • Adidas shares were up nearly 1.5% after the partnership announcement

Beyoncé has taken her talents to Adidas (ADDYY +1.23%) to create sneakers and (ADDYY +1.23%) for the relaunch of her Ivy Park athleisure line. Adidas has been relying heavily on fashion and not  so much on actual sports, during a time when urban culture continues to be sewn into corporate strategy. So there’s a lot at stake for Adidas in the sneaker race, as the culture around sports becomes almost more meaningful and profitable.

Beyonce Ivy Park.jpg

Why This Matters: Sneakers and fashion are industries that often rely on exclusivity and hype. Since Adidas has experienced a decline in sales and some people see their biggest problem isn’t about focusing on fashion over sports, but more so the marketing push behind them. This partnership with Beyoncé who wields 126 million Instagram followers, comes across as a strong influencer marketing move for Adidas. Valued at $1.07 billion, the influencer market is expected to more than double to $2.38 billion in 2019.

Beyoncé fully owns Ivy Park after she bought out British retail tycoon Philip Green, who has faced allegations of sexual harassment. Adidas shares were up nearly 1.5% after the Beyoncé partnership announcement.

This partnership with Beyoncé who wields 126 million Instagram followers, comes across as a strong influencer marketing move for Adidas

If we use the lines past performance at Nordstrom (JWN +2.66%) as an indicator of future success, Adidas could see e-commerce sales rise. Slice Intelligence reported that in the Spring of 2016 Beyoncé’s Ivy Park was the top-selling brand on the site during the week of its launch. Ivy Park pushed ahead of Nike (NKE +0.14%) and purchasing power was eight times larger than the Beyond Yoga release.

It will be interesting to see if Adidas uses the same initial strategy for her line that they did with the Kanye West Yeezy brand. The company started out by creating scarcity around the shoes to create the hype and drive volume into that market, before starting to release more shoes.

Situational Awareness: The question remains whether dotting lines for influencers outside of sports can boost the company’s hype with non enthusiasts. Analyst at RBC Capital markets expected the “democratization” of Yeezy kicks to be at the center of Adidas product strategy this year, of course that was before Beyoncé joined the team.

CBx Vibe:Diva” Beyoncé

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