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ConFed Cup 2013 matchball | Niemeyer

Confed Cup matchball CAFUSA

Oscar Niemeyer the great Brazilian architect has died.

Read his obituary in the New York Times here!

 

This sad occurance has taken place just before Brazil will take centerstage for world attention over the course of the next 3 years.

Confederations Cup 2013

World Cup 2014

Olympic Games 2016

 

Kicking off already in 2013 with the Confed Cup there was recently a draw to this tournament of continental champs in Zurich in Switzerland.

Also at this occasion the official matchball was revealed. CAFUSA. The name being chosen by the Brazilian fans and comprising the words of Carnival , Futebol, Samba.

 

Official matchball CONFUSA 2013

Photo courtesy of Getty images

 

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Best Retails Brands in 2012

Best Retail Brands 2012

Interbrand one of the two leading brand consultancies in the world the other one being Futurebrand has had a look at the industry of retail in 2012.

While all the hype goes to online the report or the study highlights that brick and mortar still matters.

Ask Steve Jobs and he would probably pretty much agree. If selling a physical product well then the physicality of brick and mortar still has a certain appeal strangely enough.

 

Click here to see the best brands in retail 2012!

 

The rankings do not distinguish between pure play online / catalog retailers / brick and mortar stores.

In 2012 the sales channels have merged and become unified , omni-present.

Retail is retail no matter how a product is sold.

 

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The Digital Divide

The Digital Divide

The big two of the global sporting goods industry: adidas and Nike (mentioned in no particular order) are going increasingly digital in order to ride the wave of digitalization in society in general and in order to create closed gardens as we know from FB, Apple and other digital companies by creating lock ins for the users.

Having a digital identity with Nike measuring one’s every move and physical activity and storing all the data on the Nike platform means that there are substantial switching costs associated with going somewhere else. Tieing the Nike platform up with socials like Twitter and Facebook makes the association even stronger.

adidas is on a similar track while Puma has recognized that they are lacking behind and need to catch up fast if they do not want to miss out on substantial opportunities and upsides by going digital.

Nobody knows exactly where it is going to go from here and what the real benefits are to the users ? if any ?

But there is fairly good chance that the bet of tieing sporting goods to digital will pay off.

So far it is primarily footwear which has been used for the experimentations. However, the idea of intelligent clothing has long been around. So maybe next we will see sensors built in to athletic apparel which might undertake certain tasks or simply be used to measure output from the body.

Challenge

The question now is where this will leave the retailers ? Will the adidas/nike/… platform actually be a bonus for the retailers increasing demand for these products while leaving the brick and mortar stores to close the sales. 

Or will this cut out the middle man and let adidas/nike sell directly to the consumer through their own e-commerce platforms which are of course tightly integrated with the interface of the personal account.

Opportunities

If retailers want to go digital what are their options ? What kind of opportunities is there to provide the consumer of sporting goods with more than just a shopping interface online ? Are there any opportunities for actually trying to make the same kind of lock – in that the big dogs adi and Nik try to do with their new digital products ?

Is it possible to think of any digital products or digital services provided by retailers which can bring real value to the end consumer – also if one doesnot have a three digit amount in million dollars at disposal in R&D ?

Mobile is big. When it comes to shopping primarily through ipad and iphone. Most of it taking place from the home though and not on the go. So mobile really means mobile device or none PC device rather than meaning that the location is in constant movement. So what kind of opportunity does a world of mobile devices present to the retailer and is it possible to cook up any location based services or benefits which would provide the retailer with an advantage in the sense that it would break the strong digital link between brand manufacturer and consumer. . .

Anyone . . . ??

 

 

 

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News

Top 10 Countries for Quality Products

Which are the countries in the world which produce the best quality ?

Well, according to rediff.com the top ten looks like this:

(click here to see the original article)

 

1. Japan

Think Asics, Mizuno

2. USA

Think Nike, Warrior, Under Armour

3. Germany

Think adidas, Puma, Jako, Uhlsport

4. France

Think Le Coq Sportif, Airness

5. Italy

Think Macron, Kappa, Lotto, Diadora, Legea

6. UK

Think Reebok, Umbro, Admiral

7. Switzerland

Think outdoor and skiing gear

8. Canada

Think outdoor and skiing gear

9. South Korea

Think Fila

10. Sweden

Think outdoor and skiing gear

 

Which country is number 11 on the list ? We don’t know but maybe Denmark ? In that case it would be:

11. Denmark

Think Hummel, Select

 

Also in the segment of sporting goods and outdoors the major companies in the global industry tend to come from those 10 countries.

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FIFA WC | UEFA EURO News

Confederations Cup 2013

Confederations Cup 2013

The ConFed Cup will take place in Brazil in June 2013.

There will be two groups at the initial stages of the tournament:

A: Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Japan

B: Spain, Uruguay, Taithi, + Champs of Africa

 

A new ball from adidas will be used for the tournament.

 

Confederations Cup 2013 match ball

 

The design is new but the content is the same as for the ball of the EURO 2012.

The big new redesign and upgrade will probably come out in conjunction with the World Cup 2014.