Marketplace Roundup

adidas Chair & CEO Herbert Hainer last week in German-language newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the company “plans to slash the number of products it produces by as much as one quarter.” He said that adidas “currently sells 46,897 different lines of products, which is far too many to manufacture and market efficiently.” Hainer added that the top 20% of the company's products “account for 80 percent of its sales.” adidas North America President Patrik Nilsson on Thursday said that the product-line reduction “will bring greater focus to the company's overall mission -- and profitability” (Portland OREGONIAN, 4/13).

VIRTUAL REALITY: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar reports FS Midwest during Game One of the Sharks-Blues Western Conference quarterfinals game Thursday unveiled "virtual ads," computer-generated ads that "weren't visible to fans in the stands but for TV viewers appeared to be signs on the glass behind the nets.” These ads, which “are to return for all” FS Midwest Blues home playoff telecasts, were “somewhat intrusive but weren't nearly as aggravating as the advertising banners FSM unfurls on the screen during game action to distract viewers” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/13).

ROUNDUP: The Ducks on Thursday announced that the team and Honda Center have signed a partnership agreement with Hormel Foods, making it the exclusive chili provider for the arena and the team (Ducks)….In Charlotte, Ron Green Jr. notes one of the “noticeable differences” at the Heritage Classic this year is “new sponsor RBC.” The TV towers, viewing chalets and other structures “are wrapped in blue rather than the traditional green, a nod to the new sponsor’s primary color” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 4/13).