Battle of the Brands – Gareth Bale Joins Real Madrid

It has been on the cards for a few weeks now, but things in Spain have just got a whole lot more interesting and the battle of Nike vs Adidas has seriously intensified. Real Madrid just announced that they have signed Gareth Bale from Spurs for a world record £86million, or approx. $130million! Staggering.

So, this summer both Barcelona and Real Madrid got their primary attacking target for record numbers. Neymar signed for Barca, and is already adapting to life at the Nou Camp. He and Messi together are an extremely scary duo that has already been terrorizing defenses.  Now that there is a new partnership of Bale and Ronaldo, a must-watch stoyrline is in play and there are exciting times ahead!

But, where things get really interesting is in the fact that we now have key players at each club who are lead figures for the big 2 brands. We had a simple cross club match-up of Messi vs Ronaldo, or Adidas vs Nike. But the two players who have signed come from opposite brand to the players at each club. In other words, Neymar joins Barca as a Nike player and Bale joins Real as an Adidas.

So, we now have:

• Gareth Bale/Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
• Lionel Messi/Neymar (Barecelona)
• Lional Messi/Gareth Bale (Adidas)
• Ronaldo/Neymar (Nike)

Here we take a look at each of the players and the roles they have with their brands. The big question is which combo of players would you choose as part of your dream team?

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Ronaldo (Nike) and Bale (Adidas) – Real Madrid

Both of these players now have their own unique logo that is representing on their boots and clothing. We have all become extremely familiar with referring to Cristiano Ronaldo simply as “CR7” – it comes naturally at this point. Every time he has a new range of boots and clothes released, we all take a step back to check it out. The CR7 collection has continually been a top seller over the past few years, with some rather unique designs thrown in the mix. Take the CR7 Vapor IX as a prime example. Ronaldo is in himself a brand and the fact that he gets his own individualized range shows the leverage he has within the company.

CR7 is currently wearing the extremely vibrant Volt/Bright Citrus version of the Nike Mercurial Vapor IX.

The new star attraction! Gareth Bale is yet to get his own personalized range or pair of boots, but I expect to see that happen soon. Recently, he trademarked his own “Eleven of Hearts” logo, which is essentially the heart gesture he makes with his hands after scoring a goal. I expect to see Adidas take things to the next level and we will see Bale in some personalized colorways pretty soon.

Bale currently wears the Adidas F50 adiZero – we will see which colorway he chooses at his unveiling at the Bernabeu on Monday.

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Messi (Adidas) and Neymar (Nike) – Barcelona

There is no doubt that Lionel Messi has become the primary figure for everything Adidas. It is not surprising considering the accomplishment he has achieved over the past few seasons and he has played a pivitol role in the popularity/sales figures of the F50 adiZero range. Recently, Adidas helped Messi trademark his own logo and they brought it to maarket by placing it on the side of his personalized boots. Ever since, we see it released on the Messi collection of clothing and footwear.

Messi is currently wearing his own personalized “Speed of Light” F50 adiZero boots.

This summer, we were introduced to Neymar as a key endorser of the Nike brand, and he certainly didn’t dissapoint. Because the Confederations Cup was in Brazil, they choose Neymar as the lead player to promote the agility boot. Not only he storm up the tournament, but after he announced he had signed for Barcelona, to play alongside Lionel Messi. The Hypervenom is a boot that Neymar played a roll in developing and his marketting value has increased dramatically over the past year. Neymar is the only player on the list without an easily recognizable trademarked logo – but I expect that will change as Nike try to capitalize on his name.

Neymar is currently wearing the Nike Hypervenom Phantom in the initial release colorway.