As I was desperately trying to finish Sneaker Wars for my book review I came across something I thought would be worthy of posting. Sneaker Wars is a true story that encompasses the journey of two brothers, Adolf “Adi” and Rudolf Dassler, who created two of the world’s most famous footwear companies, Addidas and Puma. Adi and Rudolf were constantly finding ways to one-up each other in sales and popularity.
The Olympic games gave them the chance to advertise and dress world-class athletes with their shoes. As the 1972 Munich games approached Adi Dassler wanted to get ahead. Both Addidas and Puma had slowly started to promote a line of apparel in addition to their shoe sales. Adi Dassler befriended one of the United States’ best swimmers, Mark Spitz. Being a swimmer meant walking around barefoot. There didn't seem to be any Adi could use Spitz to promote his footwear. After debating the idea of making swimwear (it deemed too complicated at the time) Adi decided to pay Spitz to carry a pair of Addidas shoes up to the awards podium and wave them to the crowd.
For some reason I didn’t believe that Mark Spitz would actually swing a pair of shoes around while receiving his medal. It seemed so out of place, but he did it. The press, coaches, Puma Co. and Addidas Co. went crazy. No one understood what Adi was thinking nor did they understand why Spitz agreed to it.
I wanted to see this for myself so I searched for a re-play on youtube. Eventually I found a short clip of Spitz waving the Addidas shoes on the podium. Watch closely, the shoes fly by the screen really fast about 51 seconds into the clip.
Copy this link into your web browser and check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V59zCvlf42w&feature=PlayList&p=21E0C6373E720A61&
C.Baldridge Kin332I S2
1 comment:
Nice grab! That's the funniest thing I've seen today!
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