Erica Kerner, head of adidas Olympic programme, to Polo/Ralph Lauren, from insidethegame.biz, note by Larry Eder

So, Erica Kerner, head of adidas Olympic programme in London 2012, will become the vp of marketing at Polo/Ralph Lauren.

Erica Kerner has a tremendous street rep. Big move for her, and the success and failure of adidas Olympic programme, quite frankly, much of the heavy lifting has been done already by Erica and her team. Building an Olympic programme as adidas or other major brands do is a herculean feat. Lots of heaving lifting, planning, and four years of long nights, long days, so that, in fact, the 18 days of the Olympics and subsequent Para Olympics is almost a zombie walk.

Please read subsequent article by our friends at insidethegames.biz. If you are not signed up for the RSS feed, well, you are just not serious about the Olympic biz, now are you?

From Insidethegames.biz:

Head of Adidas’ London 2012 programme quits to work for Polo Ralph Lauren

Saturday, 20 August 2011

By Duncan Mackay

August
20 – Erica Kerner, Global Olympic Games director and head of London
2012 for Adidas, is quitting the German sports manufacturer to take up a
new role in Hong Kong less than a year before the Games are due to
open.

She is to join Polo Ralph Lauren in the newly created position of vice-president – marketing.

Kerner,
who has been with Adidas since August 2004 and oversaw the company’s
sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Olympics, is due to leave next month.

Before joining Adidas, Kerner spent 10 years with their great rivals, Nike, as director of international marketing for retail.

Her
most high-profile position in that role was overseeing the team that
designed and opened Niketown Store in London’s Oxford Circus.

She was officially appointed to lead Adidas’ Tier One sponsorship of London 2012 in January 2009.

Among her roles has been working closely with Stella McCartney as Adidas’ creative director for Team GB.

Contact the writer of this story at
duncan.mackay@insidethegames.biz

Related stories
September 2010: Stella McCartney launches Team GB collection for London 2012
July 2010: Stella McCartney to design British kit for London 2012
July 2008: London sponsor opens biggest shop in the world
September 2007: London sponsor confirmed
September 2007: Adidas set to be unveiled as latest 2012 sponsor

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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