Puma

PUMA:

PUMA AG Rudolf Dassler Sport is a German based MNC that produces eye-candy athletic shoes and other sports wear also.

PUMA History:

Christopher Dassler was a worker in a shoe factory, a small laundry was ran by his wife Pauline an the Bavarian town. Their son Rudolf Dassler joined his father at work after he left his school,later was called to fight at the world War I.
After he returned, he took over the management position at the porcelain factory and after sometime changed to a leather wholesale business in Nuremberg.

Rudolf returned to Herzogenaurach in 1924, with Adolf[or Adi]his younger brother.
The duo started their own factory in their mother's own laundry.
In 1936, Adi Dassler moved to the Olympic village carrying a suitcase full of spikes and guess what he did there?? ya he convinced the U.S. Sprinter Jesse Owens to use them. Owens thus grabbing 4 gold medals in the event cemented the good reputation of the Dassler Shoes among the most popular sportsmen. So now the world was ready to accept Dassler Shoes. They had a big leap in business and thus sold nearly 2,00,000 pairs of shoes each ear before World War II.

In 1948, the brothers had split- may be what you call a misunderstanding to be precise. Rudolf called his new firm Ruda after Rudolf Dassler and Adolf called his firm Adidas after his nick name Adi.

Where is RUDA now? Could be your question...
The answer is that Rudolf's Company was renamed to PUMA Schuhfabrik Rudolf Dassler in 1948 and became a public company in 1986.


Currently:
PUMA Ag has over 7,000 employees and sells its products in more than 80 countries.
PUMA is the prime producer in F1 and NASCAR.
They also won the rights of sponsoring the 2006 FIFA World Cup. They also had a combined relationship with Ferrari and BMW.

PUMA Sponsorship:
The brand sponsors numerous footballers like Pele, Rivaldo, Cristopher Toselli, Aianluigi Buffon.... these are just a few to name.

Cricketers like Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Watson, Ian Blackwell, Simon Jones, Gibbs and few others too.

Rugby League Teams
Puma supply equipment to four National Rugby League Teams
New Zealand Warriors
Cronulla Sharks
St Helens
Castleford Tigers [From 2008 Season]
PUMA supply equipment to International Rugby League Teams

Great Britain

Australian Football League Teams
Puma supply equipment to five Australian Football League Teams

Sydney Swans
Hawthorn Hawks
Brisbane Lions
West Coast Eagles
Essendon Bombers

Currently the Company is the third largest Sportswear manufacturer behind the leaders Nike and Adidas. 32 % of Puma is owned by American entertainment group Monarchy.

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There are many die hard Puma fans you can see these days... Its giving a close competition to its nearest rivals now. The race is dreadful to watch....

Visit Puma's online home
Puma

Levi's

History:
Levi Strauss was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss a german immigrant came to San Francisco from New York with a little supply of dry goods to open a branch of his brother's New York dry goods business.
A frequent customer of levi was Jacob Davis, a tailor who purchased bolts of cloth from Levi Strauss & Company's wholesale house. Jacobs than suggested Levi that they both go into a business together. As Levi accepted the offer, on May 1873, both men recieved patent no.139,121 from United States Patent and Trademark office. This date is now considered the official birthday of "blue jeans".
Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting the Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush.

Organization:
Levi Strauss & Company is oaganized into three geographic divisions:

1.Levi Strauss, North Americas,San Francisco.
2.Levi Strauss Europe, Brussels.
3.Asia Pacific Division, Singapore.

The employed staff of the company is nearly 8,850 people across the world.
The company owns and develops three major brands:

• Dockers - launched in 1986.
• Levi's - the main brand founded in 1873.
• Levi's Strauss Signature - launched in 2003.

2007- Its said to be profittable now after a journey of few brand impurities.

Nike

Nike History:

Brand Nike also known as Blue Ribbon Sports was founded by track athlete Phil Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman on Jan 1964. Initially started as distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger.

The company's profits grew quickly, and later their relationship with Onitsuka Tiger neared to an end. BRS than launched its own footwear. The first shoe to carry this design was a soccer/football cleat named "Nike," which was released in the summer of 1971.

In February 1972, BRS introduced its first line of Nike shoes, with the name Nike derived from the Greek goddess of victory. In 1978, BRS, Inc. officially renamed itself to Nike, Inc. Beginning with Ilie Nastase, the first professional athlete to sign with BRS/Nike, the sponsorship of athletes became a key marketing tool for the rapidly growing company.

By 1980, Nike had 50% market share in the United States athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year. Nike's first national television commercials came in October of 1982 during the broadcast of the New York Marathon. The famous slogan "Just Do It" was coined by the agency co-founder Dan Wieden.

Nike Manufacturing:

With more than 500 locations all around the world and offices in 45 different countries, its spread almost like a spider's web for its crazy fans. Most of the factories are located in Asia.

Rivalry:
Its quite obvious that a company with such a huge fans can have rivals too. Though after surpassing Adidas in 1970's they had no direct competitors because there was no other brand of its kind, until Reebok cam along in the 1980's. But things changed and Reebok was purchased by Adidas. Nike's next competitor is Puma-the third largest in the race.

Nike Products:

Nike sells products like shoes and apparel for sports such as Tennis, Football, athletics, Cricket, American Football, Golf, Hockey and so on... Nike also supply urban fashion clothing. Nike in association with Apple Inc. has recently launched a product which monitors the performance of a runner via a radio device in the shoe which connects to the iPod nano, the information is actually displayed on the iPod i.e, the distance covered, the calories burnt and much more.

Marketing Strategy:

Nike has probably the best marketing skills and which reveals that it is one of the important components of company's sky touching success. It promotes by sponsorship agreements with top notch celebrity athletes, professional teams and many...

Nike sells in approximately 140 countries in the world. Has its own nike.com domain that allows customers to design shoes, thus directly delivering them to your house from manufacturer.

Promotion:
Brand Nike has a large base of celebrity athletes and professional teams who endorse their products and genuinely attract the customers or may be their own fans?

Tennis Players - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova.

Football Players - Ronaldinho, Criastiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Robinho.

Golf Players - Tiger Woods

Cyclist - Lance Armstrong

Formula One - Felipe Massa, Michael Schumacher

Nike is currently the official kit sponsor for the Indian Cricket Team.

These are the Celebrity players and teams, besides these there are many more... and still to come.

Nike also uses the Internet as its secondary promotional medium or tool. It has several websites for individual sports which includes nikebasketball.com, nikefootball.com, and nikegolf.com.

And genuinely its the most seen brand everywhere you go. The brand power of nike is almost eternal until someone amongst one of us decides to take over them(perhaps a small joke).

If you plan to buy Nike products online, than just visit this official website http://www.nike.com/ -their online Store.