Christophe Bezu

Senior Vice President & Head of Region Asia
adidas Group

Christophe Bezu is the Senior Vice President and Head of Region Asia Pacific at adidas Sourcing Limited. Under his stewardship, adidas is prospering in Asia, with double-digit annual growth in the fastest growing region in the world.

Christophe established a reputation as an achiever during his 13 years as head of adidas Japan, where he expanded the adidas business from a licensing deal to a subsidiary.

Appointed regional head in 2004, he has continued to drive exceptional growth for the brand. adidas is now on target to take the top spot in Asia by 2010. Already, it is the number one brand in China, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia and Thailand and in recent years has made huge gains in Korea and the Philippines.

Christophe has also inspired a culture of innovation and creativity in the company across the Asia Pacific region. He has overseen a number of marketing highlights for adidas, including the largest online multiplayer sports game launched to date, the football-themed Impossible Game, and a range of dramatic campaigns, including the famous “vertical-field” promotions. He also led an extremely successful marketing drive based around the 2006 World Cup, which cemented adidas’ position as the global leader in football and boosted sales by 30%.

Christophe also charted the course of adidas’ role as official partner of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – another benchmark for the brand, both in China and across Asia. At the Games, more than 3,000 athletes competed in adidas apparel and adidas provided products for 27 out of the 28 Olympic sports.

Christophe was born in Calais in 1957, and now lives in Hong Kong with his wife and two daughters. He graduated from the well-known business school, Sup de Co, in Paris. Before joining the adidas team, he built a distinguished track record as Product Director with Hachette Filipacchi and Regional Sales Director with K_Way/Berthier. Already marked out as a special talent, he came to adidas France as Product Director, Footwear, in 1988.

Christophe has always been a natural sportsman and from 1975 - 1987 he captained the French national field hockey team.

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