(Source)
Mark King left Taylor Made Adidas Golf to take over as CEO of Adidas America
in April 2014. King inherited a brand that was fighting to be relevant
in the U.S. He was challenged to elevate the business and spark a
culture of innovation. The brand needed to find new ways to touch the
customer and enhance the overall customer experience. His goal was to
build a team that could create something extraordinary.
King’s hallmark at Taylor Made was a relentless focus on speed and innovation. Just eight months into his tenure, King threw down a challenge to all of the North American employees in a January 2015 kickoff meeting.
His focus was on running, a category that literally and figuratively needed a boost. After the meeting, an online portal was opened for submissions. Ideas started to flood in from all over North America. When the ideation window closed, the brand was in possession of over 450 ideas. A small group was assigned to group the ideas and create a list of finalists. In early April 2015 a winner was announced. The submission was made by an employee at CCM in Montreal. The working name for the idea was “Netflix for Running.”
The idea was turned over to the running business unit. Category Director Chris Brewer took the lead on shepherding the idea. He worked with colleagues all across North America. The original idea morphed and improved over time. Forming a new business model stretched the capabilities and thinking of the team. In the words of King, “This needed to be done outside the normal machinery.” Today, Adidas launched Avenue A.
Avenue A
Avenue A is a quarterly women-only subscription service that offers a curated box containing premium running and training products. The service, which is similar to Birch Box (cosmetics) and Stitch Fix (fashion apparel), is a first within athletic footwear and apparel. Every three months Avenue A delivers seasonal looks directly to female athletes at the click of a button. Every box has a story. The brand plans to collaborate with fashion-forward trendsetters and trainers to hand-pick an array of products for each shipment that exemplify style and performance. Each shipment contains three to five surprise premium items – a mix of footwear, apparel and accessories appropriate for the season. This season the box was hand-picked by New York based fitness artist Nicole Winhoffer:
Building The Foundation For Innovation
Back in April of 2015, King announced plans to embed innovation into the culture of Adidas. A partnership with Gary Hamel had been formed and the a=Adidas Group Innovation Academy (aGIA) was formally launched. The online learning platform contained eight modules. Since its inception, over 1,000 employees have completed the coursework and graduated from aGIA. Each graduate was responsible for forming one big idea for the brand. Over the last few months, a small group within Adidas has culled down those thousand ideas into 100 ideas under a dozen different themes. Nine ideas have since made the final cut.
On March 1, Adidas will conduct a live competition to select one winner. The judging will be done by a group of panelists in a similar fashion to the show Shark Tank. Panelists include Gary Hamel (one of the world’s most influential business thinkers), Paul Gaudio (Adidas’ global creative director), Jim Mora (UCLA football coach), Polly LaBarre (director of Management Lab), and venture capitalist John Hamm. Nearly 1,000 employees will be on hand to watch the presentations. One idea will win and get funded.
Empowerment
Being a leader is simply about inspiring others. Rallying a group towards a future that doesn’t currently exist. Equipping team members and enabling them to do their absolute best to work towards a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose. In one word… EMPOWERMENT. Giving employees direction, supporting them with resources and then getting the hell out of the way. It will be interesting to see what Adidas develops next. Mark King believes that extraordinary can happen,
“When an idea has space to breathe.“
Stan Phelps creates programs that win the hearts of employees and customers. He's a keynote speaker, author and consultant. Connect with him @9inchmarketing or stan@9inchmarketing.com.
King’s hallmark at Taylor Made was a relentless focus on speed and innovation. Just eight months into his tenure, King threw down a challenge to all of the North American employees in a January 2015 kickoff meeting.
His focus was on running, a category that literally and figuratively needed a boost. After the meeting, an online portal was opened for submissions. Ideas started to flood in from all over North America. When the ideation window closed, the brand was in possession of over 450 ideas. A small group was assigned to group the ideas and create a list of finalists. In early April 2015 a winner was announced. The submission was made by an employee at CCM in Montreal. The working name for the idea was “Netflix for Running.”
The idea was turned over to the running business unit. Category Director Chris Brewer took the lead on shepherding the idea. He worked with colleagues all across North America. The original idea morphed and improved over time. Forming a new business model stretched the capabilities and thinking of the team. In the words of King, “This needed to be done outside the normal machinery.” Today, Adidas launched Avenue A.
Avenue A
Avenue A is a quarterly women-only subscription service that offers a curated box containing premium running and training products. The service, which is similar to Birch Box (cosmetics) and Stitch Fix (fashion apparel), is a first within athletic footwear and apparel. Every three months Avenue A delivers seasonal looks directly to female athletes at the click of a button. Every box has a story. The brand plans to collaborate with fashion-forward trendsetters and trainers to hand-pick an array of products for each shipment that exemplify style and performance. Each shipment contains three to five surprise premium items – a mix of footwear, apparel and accessories appropriate for the season. This season the box was hand-picked by New York based fitness artist Nicole Winhoffer:
Building The Foundation For Innovation
Back in April of 2015, King announced plans to embed innovation into the culture of Adidas. A partnership with Gary Hamel had been formed and the a=Adidas Group Innovation Academy (aGIA) was formally launched. The online learning platform contained eight modules. Since its inception, over 1,000 employees have completed the coursework and graduated from aGIA. Each graduate was responsible for forming one big idea for the brand. Over the last few months, a small group within Adidas has culled down those thousand ideas into 100 ideas under a dozen different themes. Nine ideas have since made the final cut.
On March 1, Adidas will conduct a live competition to select one winner. The judging will be done by a group of panelists in a similar fashion to the show Shark Tank. Panelists include Gary Hamel (one of the world’s most influential business thinkers), Paul Gaudio (Adidas’ global creative director), Jim Mora (UCLA football coach), Polly LaBarre (director of Management Lab), and venture capitalist John Hamm. Nearly 1,000 employees will be on hand to watch the presentations. One idea will win and get funded.
Empowerment
Being a leader is simply about inspiring others. Rallying a group towards a future that doesn’t currently exist. Equipping team members and enabling them to do their absolute best to work towards a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose. In one word… EMPOWERMENT. Giving employees direction, supporting them with resources and then getting the hell out of the way. It will be interesting to see what Adidas develops next. Mark King believes that extraordinary can happen,
“When an idea has space to breathe.“
Stan Phelps creates programs that win the hearts of employees and customers. He's a keynote speaker, author and consultant. Connect with him @9inchmarketing or stan@9inchmarketing.com.
Nice blog post. interestin indeed. Nice shoe designs.
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