ReD is a small Danish consultancy and has been advising Adidas for almost a decade. In that time, Adidas’ sales and share price have grown steadily.

In order to succeed in a business with tight margins, Adidas has had to get the basics right. Like its competitors, it has outsourced production to cut costs, for example. And with ReD’s help, it has also made attractive sportswear that people want. Now, it has prominent designers offering to co-operate on projects.

ReD has some unusual methods. It hires ex-academics to study customers’ motivations. Also, its close study of customers has influenced aesthetic design, too.

In a recent poll of 34 analysts by Reuters, none recommended selling the shares, and 25 labelled them as "buy" or "outperform".

The main risk Adidas faces, says Erwan Rambourg, an analyst at HSBC, is that its heavy spending to gain market share in America and China does not pay off. A strengthening euro is another. But Adidas’s many admirers believe that the company’s disciplined habits and its different approach to product research should help it succeed.