War is not always destruction when it comes to business. The brand war in the modern world is a kind of catalyst for the emergence of something new, interesting, innovative. In the process of increasing turnover, the struggle for consumers and expanding markets, many are fighting: BMW against Audi, Apple against Microsoft, NiKon against Canon, Coca-Cola against Pepsi, Adidas against Puma. An example of the opposition of the latter is generally unique. Since these two world-famous brands - both Puma and Adidas - were born as a result of the war between two brothers - Adolf and Rudolf Dassler.
Rudolf Dassler was born March 26, 1898 in the family of a shoemaker and laundresses, becoming the third child in the family. Two years later, his younger brother Adolf was born. From childhood, the brothers fell in love with sports and for a long time were the main rivals for each other. Love for sports and rivalry among themselves remained their main principles until death.
But what happened then …
Interest in sports inspires young Adi Dassler to start producing his own sports shoes with spikes. With the support of the familiar blacksmith who forged the spikes, Dassler Jr. opens his own business. A little later, his brother Rudolf joins him, who was much less versed in the production of shoes, but knew exactly how to sell it. This was their secret of success: while one generates ideas and brings them to life, the other searches for customers and convinces why it is in these shoes that you should run a couple of kilometers in the morning.
Finally, in 1924 their first firm was opened: Gebrüder Dassler (Dassler Brothers).
Production was expanding, products were gaining more popularity and the first great success came to them in 1928, when at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam several athletes competed in sports shoes of two brothers. And four years later, at the Games in Los Angeles, their athlete brought the first Olympic medal - the German Arthur Jonat won bronze in the 100-meter race. And the finest hour of Adi and Rudi Dassler was 1936 and the XI Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. The American runner Jesse Owens won four gold medals, winning at distances of 100 and 200 meters, in the relay 4x100 meters (with world record) and long jumps. After that, the whole world heard about the Dassler brothers.
The Big Break
But during the Second World War, the brothers were on opposite sides of the barricades and became sworn enemies. They could no longer work together. Moreover, their wives added fuel to the fire and their wives, who, to put it mildly, did not hurt each other painfully.
It is no secret that both brothers were convinced Nazis. In 1932, they voted together for the NSDAP, and in May 1933 joined the party. The cult of a healthy body, inherent in all totalitarian regimes, opened up enormous prospects for the Dassler factory. But World War II first forces the brothers to produce military shoes for the needs of the Third Reich, and in 1943, as part of total mobilization, forces Rudolf Dassler to go to the front. True, it was not possible to stay in the trenches of Rudy - he referred to imaginary night blindness and remained in the typewritten bureau, and in 1945 he fled from the advancing Red Army and was arrested by the Gestapo for desertion. On his way to the concentration camp, he was released by American soldiers, but was soon arrested by the occupation authorities for cooperating with the Gestapo. During the arrest, he found out that his brother Adolf had reported to him.
All the contradictions that ever existed between the brothers crawled out. In addition, Rudolph told the American authorities that the initiative to produce shoes for the Third Reich belongs to Adolf and only to him. For a year, American soldiers lived freely in the Dassler family mansion, and the factory was ordered to produce and send hockey skates to the United States. The production of sports shoes was only possible to resume in 1946, and in 1948 Christophe Dassler, the father of brothers and the only person who was an obstacle to quarreling to pieces and dividing the company, died.
So in one small town, at a distance of several hundred meters from each other, there appeared two hateful shoe factories - Addas and Ruda. And this is not a typo.
On August 18, 1949, Adolf Dassler officially formalizes the new company, Adidas. Now he could do everything exactly as he wanted. Already in 1949, Adi violates the agreement with his brother and uses the Dassler company symbol - 2 strips, though he draws a third to them, and registers the logo of his new company. In 1949, another important event took place in the world of sports: Adi Dassler invents sports shoes with replaceable rubber spikes. And only then in 1950 Adi models boots adapted to play on a wet or frozen field. At the 52nd Olympics in Helsinki, a large number of athletes chose Adi. Emil Zatopek, a runner in Adidas shoes, wins three top awards in a week, winning 10,000 meters, 5,000 meters, and a marathon, while his wife Dana Zatopkova wins a javelin throw. In the same year, Adolf came up with the idea to expand production and produce something other than shoes. Sports bags were the first new product. Dassler finds himself a companion to Wiffley Zeltenreich, the owner of a textile factory, and makes him an order for 1000 branded suits. The new product was well received in the market, and soon Wiley focused on producing costumes for Adidas only. Unlike competitors, who boasted of stable and time-tested shoes, Adi Dassler continued to create and invent. Every year his shoes became better and better.
The Bernese Miracle
A few months after the death of his father (1948), Rudolph refused to use his own name in the name of the company and replaced it with Puma. And Adi decided to simply insert another letter and stick another strip to the two that were applied to the products that they produced together with his brother. Meanwhile, the enmity between them spreads to the whole town of Herzogenaurach - the inhabitants of the city literally split into two camps. In the same 1948, Puma released its first ATOM football boots, and in 1952 its first boots with removable spikes - SUPER ATOM, which won the recognition of football players. In 1958, players from the national teams of Sweden and Brazil performed at the World Cup in Puma footwear.
But the brothers' ambitions extended far beyond a small town on Bavarian land. Dasslers once again establish contacts with sports and Olympic committees of different countries, disrupted by the war. A constant desire to get around each other leads to the fact that in the world there simply cannot be better shoes than the products of Adidas and Puma. And in 1952, the Dasslers made a big leap forward (let's not argue about which of the brothers did this first) and provide several teams of the West German football league with new boots with interchangeable spikes. But for the 1954 World Cup, it was Adi Dassler who managed to negotiate with the German national team on the supply of innovative shoes. And, as it turned out, take a much larger place in history than Rudy.
In the final match of that Mundial, the Germans opposed the “Golden Team” of the Hungarian national team with the great Ferenc Puskas. At the group stage, the Hungarians defeated the team of Germany with a score of 8: 3 and few doubted that the fate of the title was already a foregone conclusion. The first half ended with the score 2:2. In the second half, it began to rain heavily and Adolf Dassler immediately made sure that his players exchanged wet shoes for new ones with longer spikes. Players of the German national team received a clear advantage in maneuverability and martial arts, and in the 84th minute of the match Helmut Run scored the winning goal. The match went down in history under the name “Bernese Miracle”.
Encouraged by this victory, Adi is thinking about advertising right at the stadiums. In 1956, he signed an agreement with the Olympic Committee to advertise Adidas at the Melbourne Olympics. The advantage of the younger brother becomes undeniable, but Rudolph was not going to give up. In 1958, Puma, who supplied the Brazilian national team, already celebrated the World Cup victory, and Rudy took the opportunity to sue the advertising slogan “Adidas - the best sports shoes in the world!” . And he won the case.
"The Pact of Pelle"
Despite all the hostility between the brothers, in order to avoid a sharp increase in prices for the services of the advertising market, the sons of Rudolph and Adolph - Armin and Horst - agreed: do not sign any contracts with the best football player in the world. But to conclude an agreement does not mean at all to restrain it. In South America, both brothers had extensive interests. In 1970, a few months before the start of the next World Cup, Armin Dassler hired an agent in Rio de Janeiro who should convince as many South American players as possible that they will play twice as good in Puma boots. The king of football was in a difficult situation: Puma launched an aggressive marketing operation, but did not even try to contact him. After listening to Pele’s claims, an agent named Hans Genningsen decided to take a chance and nevertheless presented a draft contract with the main Brazilian star Armin Dassler.
Puma paid the Brazilian to start tying shoelaces just before the start of the match, right in the center circle, so that everyone could see that it was their shoes on the King.
It's not hard to imagine what happened to Horst Dassler when he found out about the contract with Pele. The war of the fathers turned into a war of sons.
For the game in the shoes of Rudolf Dassler’s company, Pele received good money at that time - $ 120,000. In recent years, Adidas representatives noted two major events in the company's activities that contributed to revenue growth - the 2006 World Cup in Germany, as well as the signing of a sponsorship agreement with London's Chelsea. At the last mundial, Puma was represented by 12 teams. Adidas - only 6. However, the two “Adidas” teams reached the semifinals, and could have been more, since the teams of Argentina and Germany (which have long-term contracts with Adidas) met in the quarterfinals. As everyone remembers, the final Adidas of the French national team lost to the Italians in Puma.
The Adidas did not make a tragedy out of defeat, but on the contrary, they joked that the episode with Zidane and Materazzi could well be used as an advertisement - a crushing blow to the chest, an opponent on the lawn, a close-up of a brutal Frenchman, on whose t-shirt flaunts magical six letters - A dida s. Of the other notable facts of the World Cup, it is curious that 37.5 percent of the players of the main teams of all teams played in boots from the company of Adolf Dassler. As many as 15 million units were sold to the concern under the name Teamgeist. Also pleased with the sale of Adidas Predator boots (1 million pairs) and national team shirts (3 million). Today, Adidas is one of the leaders in the football market. The company has been dressing grandees - Bayern (for 35 years), Madrid Real, Milan, Liverpool, Chelsea and Amsterdam Ajax. As for Puma, in club football in recent years, it has taken a qualitative step forward, but so far it cannot withstand competition with its long-standing rivals, as well as with Nike.
In 1972, another Adidas symbol appeared - the Shamrock, which symbolizes the unity of the Olympic spirit on three continents.
In 72, the German national team wins the European Football Championship, and in Munich at the Olympic Games, “Adidas” becomes the title sponsor. USSR team chooses Adidas for Olympic equipment.
In 1974, German footballers, including Franz Beckenbauer, again chose Adidas and won the World Championship for the second time. In the final, they replay Holland with a score of 2: 1. In 1975, Adi Dassler became the first non-American elected honorary member of the American Sporting Goods Association.
In 1976 in Montreal at the Olympics, about 83% of athletes choose Adidas gear. They become owners of 75 gold, 86 silver and 88 bronze medals. An interesting incident happened at the same games: Adi Dassler watched the preliminary run of 400 meters and noticed that the Cuban Alberto Juantorena slightly bent his foot to the side of its outer edge while running. The athlete was wearing Adidas Spike sneakers with adjustable removable spikes. Dassler immediately called his assistant, who worked at the Olympics, and said to inspect the athlete’s shoes. It turned out that Alberto arbitrarily replaced short spikes with long ones, but no one except the shoemaker noticed this. As a result, the position of the spikes was corrected, and Juantorena, nicknamed "Horse", becomes the winner in 400 and 800-meter races. At the Montreal Games, athletes at Adidas set a record, they took away 75 gold, 86 silver and 88 bronze medals, this achievement has not yet been beaten. All these years, Adidas was a closed private company, which was personally led by Adi Dassler.
Adolf and Rudolf Dassler's Sons
Let's move on to Puma.
The year 1968 becomes a landmark for the PUMA company. This year, Puma signs a contract with a successful basketball player of the time, Walter Fraser, and creates a personalized production series for him. Puma athletes win four gold medals at the Mexico City Olympic Games. And finally, Velcro sports shoes first appeared on the market - a new technology developed by the company.
At the 1972 Munich Olympics, four gold medals were won by Puma-equipped athletes. Among them were: John Akia-Bois (400-meter hurdles), Mary Peters (pentathlon), Klaus Wolfermann (javelin throw) and Randy Williams (long jump).
The End of Story
Rudolf Dassler died in 1974 at the age of 76 from lung cancer. Rumor has it that in the early 70s the brothers secretly met several times, but Adolf did not come to his brother’s funeral, confining himself to a telephone conversation with a priest in which he said that he forgives his brother. And Adidas issued an official release on the death of Rudolph, which contained the following: “The Adolf Dassler family would not want to give any comments on the death of Rudolph Dassler.” Four years later, Adi himself was gone.
The confrontation between the companies continued exactly until the heirs of Adolf Dassler quarreled with each other and sold the company with an annual turnover of more than half a billion dollars for 390 million.
In the early 1990s, Puma, like Adidas, was in crisis. Consumers are reproaching that the company has outlived itself and that it imitates other well-known brands. The situation is saved by the new CEO of the company - Johan Seitz, who sets the task of creating a bright and unique style of the company. He wants to turn Puma into the most coveted brand, successfully combining ideas from the world of sports, lifestyle and fashion. Now the company introduces a new segment - sport lifestyle.
Puma begins to collaborate with fashion designers and produces a limited series of clothing, accessories and shoes. The company's emphasis is changing, it is moving away from sports in general and is engaged in the production of clothing for specific sports and an active lifestyle. In 1990, Puma launches children's shoes and thereby opens up a new market segment. Shoes are created using the new Inspector technology, which allows you to control the conformity of shoe sizes to the child’s foot.
In 1991, Puma introduced the latest technology - Puma Disc Sistem, and also began to partner with the UK-based company Pittards, a leader in the production of exclusive leathers. This collaboration leads to the creation of a new kind of leather that is particularly water-resistant, called Pittards Soccer 2000. This leather was used only in the production of Puma King shoes. It was in these shoes that the Czech football team reached the final in the World Cup.
Today, Puma operates in 120 countries and employs more than nine thousand people. Adidas has a much larger scope of activity - 38 thousand people work for the benefit of the company. It is worth noting that Adidas is now a much larger company than Puma. It is noteworthy that at present, among managers and top managers in corporations, there is not one of the descendants of Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. Since 2007, the main owner of Puma is a manufacturer of luxury goods - the French consortium PPR. (One of the company's assets is Gucci). At the same time, the maximum share of each of the Adidas Group shareholders does not exceed five percent.
In 2009, the leaders of two companies - manufacturers of sportswear and shoes Puma and Adidas shook hands for the first time in 60 years, the companies said in a press release. Clothing manufacturers agreed to jointly participate in the Peace One Day project, in which employees of both companies will play football with each other. After football, Puma and Adidas workers watched The Day after Peace by Jeremy Gillea, founder of Peace One Day.