TaylorMade-adidas Golf Strategy
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s mission is to be the
leading performance golf company in the
world in terms of sales and profitability.
It combines two of golf’s strongest brands:
TaylorMade (focused on clubs and balls) and
adidas Golf (focused on footwear and apparel).
Both brands are dedicated to continuously
developing and commercializing innovative,
technologically advanced products. To
accomplish its goal, TaylorMade-adidas Golf
has set its sights on five strategic priorities:
extending its leadership in metalwoods,
significantly expanding its golf ball business,
maximizing growth at adidas Golf, driving
marketing excellence and further strengthening
its distribution mix.
CAPITALIZING ON THE STRONG MARKET POSITIONS OF TWO
WELL-ESTABLISHED BRANDS
TaylorMade-adidas Golf maintains
two well-defined golf brands with strong market positions
under one roof. TaylorMade is the market leader in terms of
sales in the metalwoods category and is among the leading iron
brands. In addition, TaylorMade is also steadily evolving into a
leading golf ball manufacturer. adidas Golf has delivered outstanding
sales growth in both footwear and apparel during the
past five years and has clearly become the fastest-growing golf
footwear and apparel brand in terms of sales and market
share in major golf markets.
TaylorMade-adidas Golf is committed
to further growing its business in a profitable way
and improving its market position by harnessing the R & D
strength
see Research and Development and brand equity of both
TaylorMade and adidas Golf.
INCREASED INNOVATION FOCUS
TaylorMade-adidas Golf’s
core principle is to create the best performance golf products
in the marketplace, and that starts with a clear commitment
to innovation, technology and Tour leadership. The brand
strives to extend its leadership position with a continued focus
on innovation.
To remain at the forefront, TaylorMade-adidas Golf is intensifying its R & D efforts. For example, TaylorMade created an independent innovation team that is solely focused on identifying potential new product concepts and designs, primarily in metalwoods and irons, that may subsequently be transformed into product development by the general R & D team. adidas Golf continues to leverage adidas’ R & D capabilities, transforming innovative adidas concepts and technologies into golf footwear and apparel products. TaylorMade-adidas Golf strives to introduce at least one major new product innovation or evolution every 12 to 18 months.
EXTENDING LEADERSHIP IN METALWOODS
Today,
TaylorMade
is the clear market leader in metalwoods - particularly in the
USA, where the brand’s market share of approximately 28 %
has created a substantial gap between TaylorMade and its
strongest competitor. This success was driven by the brand’s
ability to continuously introduce and commercialize new and
innovative products. Therefore, the brand’s primary focus going
forward is to maintain its place in the market as the innovation
leader and to further expand its metalwoods business outside
the USA. By strengthening its promotion partnerships in other
regions (e. g. new partnerships with Korean golfer Ye Yang and
the China Golf Association in Asia), TaylorMade plans to support
its international expansion in the metalwoods category. By
2010, the brand’s goal is to achieve a similarly strong market
position on a global scale as in the USA.
GROWING GOLF BALL BUSINESS BY FURTHER GAINING TOUR
CREDIBILITY
Success in golf balls depends on the ability to
create high-performance golf balls, bring them to market and
build credibility among Tour professionals. Over the last three
years, TaylorMade-adidas Golf has restructured its golf ball
business to lay the groundwork for a prosperous future in this
product category. The brand purchased numerous patents
with the acquisition of Maxfli in 2003 and created its own ball
division that is fully dedicated to developing high-quality,
technologically-
advanced performance golf balls.
TaylorMade successfully introduced its TP Red and TP Black golf balls in 2006, which together now comprise the second most-played ball models on the European, Nationwide and Japan Tours. In this way, TaylorMade has established itself as a credible golf ball brand among professionals and highly skilled players. In 2007, the number of marquee players using the TP Red and TP Black golf balls further increased. Among new additions to the portfolio of players were Retief Goosen, Fred Funk, Sean O’Hair, Darren Clarke and Natalie Gulbis. The brand intends to increase sales in the golf ball category by extending the TaylorMade branded offering and further leveraging the successful NOODLE franchise.
