The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mayniak Sportswear
Abdul Rashid Zakari, has shared his view on Ghana Blackstars away kit for Qatar
2022 world cup on his facebook post.
Mayniak Sportswear has over the years has kit Ghanaian clubs
like Liberty Professionals FC, Aduana FC, Dreams FC, Accra Great Olympics FC, its
latest is the Apem Darkoa Ladies which are playing WAFU Women Championship.
Below is the post:
In as much I understand the furore surrounding our new away
kit by Puma, I want us all to understand these.
- Puma pays our FA and on top add goodies. Which is good
business for us because, assuming we sever ties with Puma the next available
brand to accommodate us will be a downgrade. Truth is, at this moment we are
not Nike or Adidas taste. We don’t have that kit sales metrics or architecture
for them to clawback the investment that usually goes into this kind of stuff.
Then, someone will ask but Nike is with Nigeria. Yes, Nike is with Nigeria
because they have a solid viable kit purchasers in US and UK. These numbers
alone can over purchase 10,000 kits in an hour. That’s what happened when they
dropped the 2018 Russia WC kit.
- Usually, in technical partnerships of this sort, the main
bait for the brand is to sell kits. As I explained earlier, Ghana do not have
the viable business numbers to buy kits. I mean the original kits. Which
retails at 960 cedis. The ones you see in town are bootlegs or fakes which the
cash do not end in the pocket of the brand but some obscure manufacturer
sitting in some corner in Schenzhen, China.
Puma isn’t really selling Ghana jerseys as such but the main USP they
are still hooked on with us has to do with the name or brand “GHANA” as far as
football is concern. That brand GHANA in football is a huge one. This brand
includes the 4 AFCONs we’ve won, the global tournaments we usually qualify, the
Polos, the Abedis and co. And in more recent times, the privilege of havng
globally known stars like Partey of Arsenal, Kudus of Ajax and Amartey of
Leicester wear their stuff. These tie-ups allows the visibility of their brands
to continually transcend far and wide across the globe. Eg: Arsenal is a global
club and the fact that Partey plays for Ghana affords Puma the opportunity of
using Partey for thier outdoor commercials and as well have some Arsenal fans
become fans of Ghana remotely and even going ahead to buy Ghana kits. Same with
those fans at Ajax …
- From the above, let’s understand we(People in Ghana or
largely Ghanaians out there) are not originally thier target for kit sales.
They have their own market they targeting. Which is the kit collectors and the
folks out there that can fork out 90 euros to buy a kit. That target market is
quite small really and Puma is fine with that. We give them good solid mileage.
- Design : Brands have always led the creative direction of
kits they are producing for the clients. It’s good to have something tailored,
unique but the real intent now for brands to make sure their kits fall within
the pop culture category. Pop culture here means, it must transcend the pitch.
Could be worn to anywhere for any purpose. Jerseys were produced specifically
to play football but from 2005, it’s changed. Pop culture has influenced all
the chains in jersey production. From fabrics to marketing. It’s interesting to
tell you that most of the jerseys that were produced in the 90s for our
national teams are not weather friendly at all. I have loads of them in my library
and you will struggle to be in them for just 30 minutes. Why because the
fabrics are not not … But the story is different today because of pop culture.
- Then, this question I usually get all the time. Why can’t
they produce less quality ones to target those here? Truth is, every solid
brand wants to maintain total quality standards across board in their product
ranges. Producing less quality ones cheapens the brand and allows the bootlegs
manufacturers to mess up with the brand more. Cuz if care is not taken, their
core customers won’t be able to differentiate the solid ones and the fakes
ones.
- Why is that Puma and other brands are not fighting those
guys in Asia to halt the production of the fakes ones. Truth is, most of these
products are produced from that part of the world due to cheap labour. But the
real reason for that negligence is that, these brands have a subtle economic
marketing benefit they also derive from these fake kits. How? When those kits
are produced, it still spots the Puma brand. Meaning someone sitting somewhere
is spending money to market Puma’s brand at a free cost for them.
Gleaning the kit market this morning, the kit collectors and
aficionados likes the design to be honest and I think Puma has scored another
goal with them.
Good morning. ✌🏾
Babzgh.com
