Xbox and Adidas announced a long-term strategic alliance at X05, the Microsoft Xbox brand experience for the games and entertainment industry.
The worlds of sports and entertainment merge as both companies enter into a series of planned activities and initiatives:
Xbox 360 kiosks will be placed in retail locations across the US, Europe, Japan, Canada, Asia, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand for a variety of activities leading up to the FIFA '06 World Cup.
Xbox will join Adidas in supporting the MTV series "MTV Goal-Germany '06," which follows the progress of 10 of the globe's most promising young football talents as they bid to make it into their national squads in time for '06. The show will be screened beginning mid-November '05.
Adidas will install content on Xbox 360 consoles, while Xbox will enjoy presence on Adidas' planned World Cup mobile portal.
Xbox is supporting "Goal: The Movie" with a series of cross-promotional exercises with Adidas. Early reviews of the flick say it is a big product placement.
Xbox will have kiosks at all Adidas grassroots football events in the lead up to the World Cup.
"The alliance between Adidas and Xbox reflects the fact that sports, lifestyle and video games are inextricably linked," said Peter Moore, VP/ worldwide marketing and publishing for Xbox at Microsoft Corp. "Xbox 360 is a place where all three of these elements come together to truly amplify the sport experience. We look forward to working with Adidas on this exciting program." Incidentally, Moore was SVP/marketing at Reebok. Earlier in his career, Moore was president of Patrick USA.
October 05, 2005
Sporting Goods Business
