👉 Background: Adidas launched back in 1949 as a shoe company that evolved into a sportswear company. But over the past 15 years, it has seen major success by expanding beyond traditional athletic wear. Adidas partnered with:

• Kayne West for his Yeezy brand
• Pharrell Williams for his adidas x Pharrell Williams collab
• Beyonce for her label Ivy Park

👉 What happened: Adidas broke up with Kanye in November last year after Kanye’s antisemitic comments. And now, Adidas has announced a “mutual” break up with Queen Bee’s brand Ivy Park.

👉 What else: Apparently there were “major creative differences” between the Beyonce and Adidas... Adidas has now lost two of its drawcards in less than 6 months... so it's not a good day to be Adidas' bottom line.

What's the key learning?

💡 Not all brand partnerships hit the mark - creatively..and financially. Adidas execs hoping to replicate its Yeezy success, since Kanye had also crossed over from making music to selling clothing.

💡Adidas expected Ivy Park to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. But according to the Wall Street Journal, sales of Ivy Park merchandise "fell more than 50% last year" to about US$40 million.

💡So now, “creative differences” are being blamed… but, it seems like the Ivy Park collections just weren’t gaining enough traction.

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