Mission and vision statements give large companies a clear reason for existing and a clear picture of where they want to go. For customers, they can reveal what a brand values. For managers and entrepreneurs, they can show how daily decisions connect to a larger direction.
For Adidas, the current mission is, “To be the best sports brand in the world.” Its stated purpose is, “Through sport, we have the power to change lives.” Adidas does not publish a separate vision statement on its current official company profile, so its mission and purpose provide the clearest public picture of its direction.
For the company’s official wording and corporate background, see Adidas official company profile.
That structure connects products, employees, consumers, partnerships, and sustainability work under a common set of ideas.
What Is Adidas’s Mission Statement?
“To be the best sports brand in the world.”
Adidas says its mission means creating and selling the best sports products, providing strong service and consumer experiences, and doing so in a sustainable way. It also describes being the best as being a credible, inclusive, and sustainable leader in its industry.
The wording is direct. It defines the company through sport and sets a high standard for product quality, service, and brand leadership. It also serves a wide audience, from elite athletes and teams to people who want sport to be part of their lives.
The mission therefore describes the standard Adidas wants its whole sports business to meet. That makes it a useful link between the company’s heritage and its current business strategy.
What Is Adidas’s Vision Statement?
Adidas does not present a separate vision statement on its current official profile. Its current corporate materials instead present a purpose and a mission, with the mission focused on the position the company seeks to hold and the purpose focused on the wider effect it believes sport can have.
The mission, “To be the best sports brand in the world,” is therefore the clearest statement of future direction. It gives Adidas a long range destination without using the language of a traditional vision statement. The purpose adds the broader reason behind that ambition by linking sport with human possibility, inclusion, connection, and sustainability.
For customers, this points to a brand position based on product performance and wider social relevance. For employees, it provides direction for product creation, marketing, partnerships, and culture.
What Is Adidas’s Purpose Statement?
“Through sport, we have the power to change lives.”
Adidas treats this as its purpose rather than its mission. The company says the purpose guides how it runs the business, works with partners, creates products, and engages with consumers. It also connects the company with goals such as expanding human possibility, bringing people together through sport, and creating a more sustainable world.
The purpose explains why sport matters beyond selling sports goods. It gives meaning to community programs, sustainability work, and the company’s relationship with athletes and consumers. Current Adidas materials continue to describe community engagement and sustainability as areas rooted in this purpose.
Together, the mission states the position Adidas wants to earn, while the purpose states the broader effect it wants sport to have.
Key Differences Between Adidas’s Mission and Vision
| Area | Mission | Vision |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Being the best sports brand | No separate public statement |
| Timeframe | Long term and ongoing | Expressed through mission and purpose |
| Primary Audience | Customers, employees, partners, and the market | Customers, employees, and wider society |
| Core Question Answered | What does Adidas aim to achieve? | What future direction does Adidas communicate? |
| Purpose | Sets a business and brand standard | Gives direction through mission and purpose |
The two concepts are distinct but connected. Adidas communicates its future direction mainly through its mission, while its purpose adds the human and social reason behind that direction.
Core Values Behind Adidas’s Mission and Vision
Adidas currently states six values that shape its culture and guide how it hires, develops, promotes, and evaluates employees.
- Courage: Speak up, take action, and step forward when an opportunity or need appears.
- Ownership: Take responsibility and follow through, linking the mission to execution.
- Innovation: Test ideas and seek better ways to work, supporting product development and progress.
- Teamplay: Work together and build a shared mindset, reflecting the collective nature of sport.
- Respect: Show empathy, inclusion, and dignity, supporting the company’s stated aim to be an inclusive leader.
- Integrity: Follow standards and hold people accountable, giving the other values an ethical base.
Adidas presents these values as a system of behaviors and mindsets rather than isolated words. They connect workplace culture to the company’s wider business and brand goals.
How Adidas Lives Its Mission and Vision
The “You Got This” campaign shows how Adidas connects brand communication with its purpose and mission. Launched as a major campaign in 2024, it focused on pressure in sport and encouraged everyday athletes to believe they could overcome it and reach their personal possibilities. Adidas continued the campaign as a multi year global platform.
Community programs provide another direct link to the company purpose. Adidas says its community engagement is rooted in the idea that sport can change lives, with work focused on access, belonging, local partnerships, volunteering, and social impact.
Sustainability is also visible in business operations. In 2025, Adidas reported that 60 percent of the materials used for products and packaging were recycled or sustainably sourced renewable materials. It also reported a nine percent reduction in carbon intensity per product against its 2022 baseline.
Adidas has also expanded its sports presence. Its 2025 entry into Formula 1 through Mercedes AMG Petronas, followed by an Audi F1 partnership beginning in 2026, reflects an effort to build the sports brand across new audiences while combining performance and style.
How Adidas’s Mission and Vision Have Evolved
Adidas traces its origins to Adi Dassler’s work on sports shoes in the early 1920s. He and his brother Rudolf founded Gebruder Dassler Schuhfabrik in 1924. After the brothers split, Adi Dassler registered the Adidas company on August 18, 1949, with a focus on making sports shoes for athletes.
The mission wording has remained stable in recent published strategy documents. The 2018 and 2019 annual reports described the mission as being the best sports brand in the world, with emphasis on products, service, consumer experience, and sustainability. By 2020 and 2021, Adidas presented a three part framework of purpose, mission, and attitude, adding “Through sport, we have the power to change lives” as its purpose and “Impossible is Nothing” as its attitude.
The main development has therefore been the addition of clearer layers around the core mission. The purpose broadens the reason for existing, while the values introduced in 2022 give employees practical behaviors for connecting strategy with culture.
What Your Company Can Learn from Adidas’s Statements
Adidas offers several practical lessons for companies writing their own mission and vision statements.
- Keep the central ambition clear: “To be the best sports brand in the world” is easy to understand and broad enough to guide many functions.
- Separate what from why: Adidas distinguishes its mission from its purpose. The mission states the business ambition, while the purpose explains the wider reason for pursuing it.
- Connect values to behavior: Adidas uses its six values across hiring, development, promotion, and performance evaluation. That makes the values more useful because employees can see how they affect daily work.
- Test statements against real decisions: Adidas’s campaigns, community work, sustainability targets, and sports partnerships give observers concrete evidence to compare with its stated direction.
The broader lesson is simple. A mission becomes useful when it can guide choices rather than sit separately from the business.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Adidas’s current mission statement?
Adidas’s current mission is “To be the best sports brand in the world.” The company connects this mission with product quality, consumer experience, credibility, inclusion, and sustainability.
Q: What is Adidas’s vision for the future?
Adidas does not publish a separate vision statement on its current official company profile. Its main future direction is expressed through the mission to be the best sports brand in the world and the purpose of changing lives through sport.
Q: Does Adidas have a separate slogan from its mission statement?
Adidas has used “Impossible Is Nothing” as a brand attitude and campaign platform. More recently, “You Got This” has been a major multi year brand campaign, so these phrases should not be treated as the formal mission statement.
Q: How does Adidas’s mission statement reflect its brand identity?
The mission centers the company on sport and high standards, matching Adidas’s long history of making products for athletes. Its current strategy also combines performance and lifestyle products, showing how its sports identity extends beyond professional competition.
Q: Has Adidas’s mission or vision statement ever changed?
The published mission has been stable across recent annual reports, including the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 reports. The broader framework changed through the addition of a distinct purpose and employee values.
Q: What core values guide Adidas?
Adidas lists six values: Courage, Ownership, Innovation, Teamplay, Integrity, and Respect. The company says these values guide behaviors and mindsets and are used across people policies and processes.
Q: How does Adidas put its mission into practice?
Adidas applies its mission through product development, consumer engagement, marketing, sustainability efforts, community programs, and sports partnerships. Its reporting links these areas to the mission of being the best sports brand in the world and the purpose of changing lives through sport.
Final Thoughts
Adidas’s corporate statements form a clear structure. The mission sets the ambition to be the best sports brand in the world, while the purpose explains why sport matters to the company’s wider identity. Its six values give employees a practical framework for putting those ideas into action.
The main lesson for other companies is the connection between language and behavior. Read Adidas’s official profile for the primary source, compare its statements with its decisions, and consider which parts of this structure could improve your own mission and vision writing.
Be First to Comment