Companies and Brands

CEO Gives Cellphone Number to 60,000 People

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: January 13, 2024 7:14 am

Last Updated: January 15, 2024 7:29 am

Many people are on their cell phones all day long. If they are not talking, they are texting. Some have contact lists that are in the numbers. Probably no one is on more people’s contact lists than Bjørn Gulden, head of Adidas. He wants a connection with his 60,000 employees to up their games as he tries to turn around the athletic apparel firm. So, he gave them his cell phone number.

In March last year, Adidas had its first financial loss in three decades. It combated this with layoffs. The company’s net loss in the quarter was $763 million. About half a billion of this was due to a debacle with Kanye West’s Yeezy brand. Sales of the brand had reached almost $1 billion when West made antisemitic remarks and criticized the Black Lives Matter movement. This undermined not just the Yeezy brand but also the global image of Adidas. (These 29 iconic brands completely collapsed and we forgot.)

According to The Wall Street Journal, Gulden received as many as 200 calls weekly. Most were to suggest how he might improve the company’s fortunes, asking him to speed up a turnaround. Gulden had been running rival Puma when he took the Adidas job.

Gulden explained his decision: “Our industry isn’t that complicated. There was a culture of finding reasons not to do things.” The industry is, however, remarkably crowded.

Among the companies Adidas is up against is global giant Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE). It dominates much of the industry with a $160 billion market cap. It has a celebrity brand in the Michael Jordan line of shoes, which might be the most successful sports endorsement in history. Jordan may smoke cigars and gamble, but neither has hurt his image. Jordan retired in 1993. Another successful endorsement of Nike’s apparel was with Tiger Woods, who recently split with Nike after 27 years. Nike stuck with him through his marital scandal, and its relationship with him continued to pay off. The Tiger Wood’s endorsement was once worth $40 million.

Gulden could look to Nike for an example. And continue to take calls from those 60,000 people.