The Drum’s Daily Briefing: Adidas bounces back & Meghan in a jam
Our quickfire analysis of the brand, marketing and media stories that might just crop up in your meetings and conversations today.
Adidas is expecting to make profits of €700m (£598m) in 2024
Adidas bounces back after Kanye and Rishi brand fails
Fresh from having its Samba trainer brand pretty much destroyed by UK PM Rishi Sunak, Adidas has reasons to be cheerful today after revealing the company is now expecting to make profits of €700m (£598m) in 2024.
The news comes shortly after the brand’s decision to pull away from its Yeezy tie-in with rapper Kanye West. In February, Adidas announced it would sell all remaining Yeezy trainers for at least cost price. According to Adidas, that strategy has enabled it to sell $150m worth of Yeezy products, which contributed a profit of approximately $50m
The overall revised profit figures are $200m more than initially predicted and the company is putting that down to a better-than-expected business performance in Q1 of 2024.
Last week, Adidas and its Samba trainer brand hit the headlines after it was revealed in the press that British PM Rishi Sunak had been one of its customers for “many, many years,” Photographic evidence was also presented and Sunak later issued a “fulsome” apology on LBC radio in an effort to limit the damage to the brand.
Superdry boss insists brand is ‘cool’ as restructure begins
As the Ted Baker and Dr Martens brand falter, the latest fashion brand to be facing tough times is Japanese-inspired High Street label Super Dry.
The brand has recently been criticized amid claims that it is not as cool as it used to be and is now facing going bust. These ‘uncool’ claims have been strongly refuted by boss Julian Dunkerton, who is currently instigating a huge restructuring program aimed at safeguarding the retailer’s future.
Dunkerton told the media that the clothing brand was a “broad church” appealing to different types of shoppers.
Superdry has 216 shops that operate alongside franchised stores and execs have been looking at ways to cut costs after a year of falling sales and growing losses. Solutions include seeking rent reductions on stores, de-listing from the stock market and raising up to £10m through new shares.
Dunkerton says that if these plans are not successful, the brand will have to enter administration, though he is confident that it can emerge from this “critical moment” in the company’s history successfully.
Amazon signs up NFL star Kelce to front new game show
Amazon Prime Video has signed up NFL superstar player and Taylor Swift’s partner Travis Kelce to host a new game show on the platform.
Called ‘Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity?’ The show will see contestants answer primary school-level trivia questions with the help of famous guests and is a spin-off from the popular Fox series Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? which launched in 2007.
Kelce, who currently hosts his own podcast, New Heights, and won the Super Bowl in February for the third time, said he “grew up loving game shows” and the series “will definitely be entertaining.”
Amazon said the new series would see adult contestants rely on a “classroom” full of celebrities to help them answer 11 questions from an elementary school curriculum. The winner of the show can win a cash prize of $100,000 (£80,300). “They are not competing against the stars; they’re enlisting their help and, in some cases, can even ‘cheat’ off of them,” the streamer said.
Amazon has committed to 20 episodes of the game show.
Meghan’s jammin’ and hopes you like jammin’ too
As is often her modus operandi, The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, has got herself into another potentially sticky situation by suggesting on social media that the first product from her new American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand will be a new strawberry jam.
A first glimpse of the possible first product was teased on social platforms, with pictures of a jar of strawberry jam with a handmade-looking label.
The Sussex’s latest projects seem to be moving away from the previous focus on their time as working royals, such as their Netflix film Harry and Meghan and Prince Harry’s explosive memoir Spare.
The hint about their new jam brand fits with their Netflix plans, as Meghan is set to launch a new program that will celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining and friendship.
Some were critical of the handmade appearance of the labels, some of which appeared to be peeling off, although this could be a nod to the brand’s sustainability creds, which would encourage reusing the jar once empty.
Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two cuts 600 jobs
Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive Software is to lay off 5% of its workforce, or around 600 employees, as the video-gaming industry extends its more than two-year-long round of job cuts.
The company is also to scrap several projects in development as part of a cost-cutting plan, which is expected to result in total charges of up to $200m. Take-Two has said the move is expected to drive more than $165m of annual cost savings.
The move aligns Take-Two with Tencent-owned Riot Games, Electronic Arts and Japan’s Sony in trimming workforce this year due to uncertain spending from consumers after the pandemic-era boom.
PC and console gaming revenue growth is expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels through 2026 as gamers record fewer hours of playtime, according to research firm Newzoo.