TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy - Corporate Online Publishing

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02.4
Other Businesses Strategy
group ManageMent report – our group
02.4 Other Businesses Strategy TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
Other Businesses primarily include the TaylorMade-adidas Golf, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey
segments. Each of these segments has its own strategy in place in order to address its specific target
groups directly and further expand its market share. In this way, they contribute together to our Group’s
overall goal: to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry.
TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s mission is to be the leading global
performance golf company in terms of sales and profitability. The
company combines three of golf’s best-known and respected brands:
TaylorMade, adidas Golf and Ashworth. The segment’s primary
strategic pillars are to continuously develop and commercialise the
most innovative, technologically advanced products while, at the
same time, building brand credibility through high visibility on the
world’s major professional golf tours. In addition, leveraging brand
equity through the creation and execution of new marketing and retail
initiatives as well as improving global distribution are key priorities for
long-term growth.
Capitalising on the strength of three well-respected
and well-established brands
TaylorMade-adidas Golf implements a multi-brand strategy comprised
of three well-defined golf brands under one roof. TaylorMade is the
market leader in the metalwoods category, and is among the leaders
in irons after becoming the market-leading iron brand in the USA in
2011. TaylorMade is also increasing its market share in putters as well
as golf balls. adidas Golf develops high-performance, technologyinfused
footwear and apparel for athletes who want to maximise
their potential to improve their play. Ashworth is a more traditional
golf brand, complementing adidas Golf’s athletic position. Combining
adidas Golf and Ashworth, TaylorMade-adidas Golf is a global leader in
golf apparel and ranks number two in footwear sales.
Unwavering focus on innovation and technology
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s core objective is to create the best perform-
ance golf products in the marketplace, starting with a clear
commitment to innovation and technology see research anD Development,
p. 95. The segment therefore strives to extend its leading position by
introducing at least two major product innovations or evolutions every
12 to 18 months. For example, in 2011, TaylorMade unveiled the new
R11 driver allowing the player to independently adjust the club’s face
angle, loft angle and centre of gravity.
adidas Group
2011 Annual Report
01 TaylorMade-adidas Golf at a glance
About
TaylorMade-adidas Golf
Brand mission
Brand attitude
TaylorMade-adidas Golf implements a multibrand
strategy comprised of three well-defined
golf brands under one roof: TaylorMade, adidas
Golf and Ashworth. The segment’s strategy
is to continuously develop and commercialise
innovative, technologically advanced products,
while building credibility through high-level
visibility on the world’s professional golf tours.
To be the leading performance golf company in the
world in terms of sales and profitability.
TaylorMade, adidas Golf and Ashworth each strive
to remain authentic, passionate, competitive and
innovative, helping the company to create ever
better products for the golfers we serve.
Key markets North America, United Kingdom, Japan
Focus areas Golf clubs, balls, accessories, footwear and apparel
Key strategic pillars
Net sales in 2011 € 1.044 billion
– Continue to develop and distribute technologically
advanced metalwoods, irons, wedges, putters,
balls, footwear and apparel that give golfers of all
skill levels a competitive advantage
– Maintain TaylorMade’s status as the No. 1 driver
brand on the world’s major professional golf tours
– Maintain the adidas Golf brand’s high visibility on
the world’s major professional golf tours
– Increase Ashworth’s visibility on the PGA Tour and
incorporate performance fabrics with the quality,
comfort and feel the brand is well-known for
Tour validation remains a crucial strategic pillar
Golfers of all levels are influenced by what equipment the best
professional players in the world play with and wear. Hence,
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s leadership and presence on the world’s
major professional golf tours is imperative to increasing brand
exposure and traction among consumers.

To attract the most talented players, TaylorMade-adidas Golf offers a
comprehensive service to the world’s leading players. For example,
the TaylorMade support fleet travels the PGA Tour and the European
Tour with 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks, each with a fully staffed,
state-of-the-art workshop where thousands of clubs, balls, apparel
and footwear items are custom-built each year for TaylorMade-adidas
Golf’s Tour endorsed players.
Today, the TaylorMade-adidas Golf Tour Staff is arguably the strongest
in the world, including high-profile players like Sergio García, Dustin
Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Darren Clarke, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Sean
O’Hair, Y.E. Yang, Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Greg Norman, Nick
Faldo, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis. In China, a market where
golf offers significant growth opportunities, TaylorMade-adidas Golf
entered into an agreement with the China Golf Association, which
has appointed TaylorMade-adidas Golf as the exclusive equipment
supplier of the national golf team.
Marketing excellence a critical success factor
Compelling consumer-relevant and well-coordinated marketing
strategies are paramount to attaining sustainable market leadership.
Therefore, the product marketing, brand communication and
retail marketing teams work closely together and use a variety of
marketing tools to achieve TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s objectives.
Product launches are supported by substantial PR, social media and
marketing campaigns, involving key assets and best-in-class point-ofsale
support to drive sell-through of new products.
02 TaylorMade
Sergio García at the “White Out” event in New York
group ManageMent report – our group
02.4 Other Businesses Strategy TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
adidas Group
2011 Annual Report
In addition to traditional marketing manoeuvres, TaylorMade-adidas
Golf is also dedicated to executing new and innovative ways to
promote its products and attract consumer awareness. For example,
in February 2011, TaylorMade teamed up with a retail partner to build
a temporary, all-white driving range on a New York City street in which
Sergio García and Martin Kaymer fired Penta TP golf balls with R11
drivers at a target picture 02. Furthermore, throughout the final round
of the U.S. Open 2011, TaylorMade held a sweepstake to give away
a new R11 driver every 11 minutes. In August, a unique Facebook
app called “Raise Your Game” was launched to promote R11 irons.
Featuring renowned instructor Hank Haney, the app helps participants
identify flaws in their swing and puts them on a programme to
promote improvements in their ball striking.
Intelligent and effective retail and e-commerce
strategies
TaylorMade-adidas Golf works with retail partners that can effectively
showcase the performance advantages and modern design credentials
of TaylorMade, adidas Golf and Ashworth products. In order
to drive retail sell-through, each brand offers a multitude of useful
tools to attractively display products and communicate key messages
regarding product features and benefits, both in-store and on retailer
websites. Core channels include green grass retailers, off-course golf
specialty retailers and sporting goods retail formats with golf-specific
departments.
Close working relationships with key accounts will continue in 2012,
as will efforts to build additional brand presence at smaller retailers
and on-course golf shops. In emerging markets around the world,
the company employs established adidas Group infrastructures to
distribute products, promote awareness and drive growth.
TaylorMade-adidas Golf is also focusing on aggressively growing its
e-commerce business. Current plans include the integration of the
TaylorMade brand and e-commerce websites into a single site in order
to simplify the buying process for the consumer.
Pricing strategically determined to increase
market share
Expanding market share in golf is mainly achieved by delivering
best-in-class products at multiple price points. Accordingly,
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s pricing policy mirrors the positioning of its
three brands. TaylorMade’s pricing strategy is to dominate the market
at premium price points and compete aggressively in the high-volume
mid-price segment. adidas Golf supports its market reputation as
the innovation leader by selling its products primarily at premium
price points. Ashworth positions its products in both premium and
mid-price segments.
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02.4
TaylorMade: determined to be the leading golf brand in
every key equipment category
TaylorMade’s priority is to become the leader in each individual golf
equipment category. That means strengthening its position as the
number one metalwood brand, expanding its leading position in irons
and ascending to the top market position in wedges, putters, balls and
accessories.
– Metalwoods: TaylorMade is the clear market leader in metalwoods
(drivers, fairway woods and hybrids), bolstered by a particularly
strong presence in the USA, where it forged an all-time high of a 45%
share in March 2011. The brand’s primary focus going forward is to
remain the innovation leader and expand its metalwood business
outside the USA.
03 TaylorMade
RocketBallz Driver
From a product perspective, the brand will launch the new R11S
driver and fairway woods, as well as the new RocketBallz line in
2012 picture 03. Compared to the R11, the R11S driver has a larger
and more aerodynamic head, offering more adjustability settings. The
RocketBallz driver combines light weight with TaylorMade’s Flight
Control Technology, helping to increase ball speed and distance. All
of TaylorMade’s new metalwoods feature the white crown and black
clubface.
– Irons: In 2011, the Tour Preferred MB, MC and CB irons helped
solidify TaylorMade as the leading iron brand in the USA. Two major
introductions in 2012 will play a key role to further growth in the
category: RocketBallz irons and RocketBallz Max irons. Both utilise
TaylorMade’s expertise in developing thin and fast clubfaces that
promote long distance. RocketBallz irons are engineered to deliver
the optimum combination of speed, forgiveness, playability and feel.
RocketBallz Max irons incorporate multiple performance technologies,
including hollow head construction learned from years of
making metalwoods.
group ManageMent report – our group
02.4 Other Businesses Strategy TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
adidas Group
2011 Annual Report
– Wedges: Leveraging TaylorMade’s success in metalwoods and
irons to other categories such as wedges continues to be a strategic
priority. Innovation is critical in this respect and, in 2011, TaylorMade
continued to validate its innovation leadership with the introduction of
the All Terrain Versatility (ATV) wedge. Its unique sole design allows
the golfer to play a wide variety of different types of shots with one
wedge. The ATV wedge also incorporates a new, high-spinning groove
design, and the flat areas of the face are covered with a micro-texture
that helps hold the ball to impart backspin.
04 TaylorMade
Penta TP5 Ball
– Putters: TaylorMade has achieved excellent growth in putters during
the past few years amid the performance benefits of white putterheads
integrated in products like the Tour-proven Corza Ghost and
Ghost Spider. To build on this momentum in 2012, the brand will
launch further additions to the Ghost line of putters, which will all be
white-coloured and incorporate PureRoll face insert technology to
promote smooth, accurate roll.
– Golf balls: Success in this category depends on the ability to create
high-performance golf balls, bring them to market and build credibility
among Tour professionals. In 2011, TaylorMade’s status as a maker of
premium golf balls solidified as more Tour pros and consumers used
the five-layer Penta TP. TaylorMade’s plans to increase golf ball market
share in 2012 include the introduction of the Penta TP5 picture 04,
which is faster and softer than the original Penta TP, as well as the
lower-priced Penta TP3, a three-layer ball with a cast urethane cover.
Together, these two models should help TaylorMade capture a larger
share of the Tour ball market. Additionally, a two-piece distance model
called RocketBallz is being introduced.

– Accessories: Golfers need more than equipment to play the game
at their highest level, they also need accessories like gloves, bags,
head covers, towels and umbrellas. TaylorMade is committed to
improving its position in the accessories market, starting by taking the
accessories business in-house (the brand had licensed its name to an
outside company for the past six years), which will allow closer control
over design and help the brand gain a larger share of a category which
offers significant growth opportunities.
adidas Golf: setting new standards in high-performance
footwear and apparel
adidas Golf develops high-performance golf footwear and apparel for
athletes seeking products to elevate their game by maximising their
athletic potential. In footwear, leveraging proprietary technologies
from various other adidas categories such as adiPrene+ or the Torsion
System with golf-specific technologies offers a significant competitive
advantage over “pure play” golf footwear brands.
05 adidas Golf
Tour360 ATV
In 2011, adidas Golf was again able to bring cutting-edge products to
market including the Tour360 ATV picture 05. The shoe is designed to
give golfers a combination of lateral stability with better adaptability
through a new sole engineered to fit to any lie, slope and terrain in all
types of conditions. For 2012, adidas Golf is scheduled to introduce
PureMotion footwear, a light and flexible shoe helping golfers to
activate improved footwork in order to promote better ball striking.
group ManageMent report – our group
02.4 Other Businesses Strategy TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
adidas Group
2011 Annual Report
In apparel, adidas Golf is well respected as a leader in incorporating
advanced technology and design into tops and bottoms to help the
player perform better. Highly visible adidas Golf lines like Climacool,
Climawarm, Climaproof and Formotion are universally worn by Tour
professionals and casual golfers alike. In 2012, adidas Golf is confident
in its ability to attract a completely different demographic group by
introducing the new Fashion Performance line, which features bold
colours and unique patterns combining Tour-proven performance
technologies with contemporary, fashion-forward styling picture 06.
Each piece offers a tailored, comfortable fit without sacrificing
performance, resulting in a dynamic, confident new line of apparel.
06 adidas Golf
Fashion Performance 3-Stripes Rugby Polo
Ashworth: focus on performance fabrics and
Tour presence
Ashworth is an authentic golf brand with powerful name recognition
among true, authentic golfers who live the game at all times.
Ashworth’s iconic Golfman logo symbolises authenticity, quality
and style. Highlights for 2011 included the brand’s re-entry into the
footwear marketplace with the Cardiff, a highly successful spikeless
shoe that can be worn on and off the course.
In 2012, Ashworth will focus on incorporating comfortable perform-
ance fabrics into a full line of golf polos consisting of clean, modern
designs in a wide range of attractive colours.
In addition, in order to gain Tour visibility and credibility, Ashworth’s
PGA Tour presence has increased significantly for the 2012 season,
from a handful of players to more than 20. The new Ashworth Tour
Staff includes long-time brand ambassadors Fred Couples, Sean
O’Hair, Ryan Palmer and Justin Leonard, making Ashworth one of
the most visible brands on Tour. Similarly, raising Ashworth brand
awareness will also be an integral part of its marketing initiatives,
including print advertising, social media and online initiatives.
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