Brands
Real Madrid forays into India with Dream Theatre partnership
MUMBAI: Dream Theatre, a leading licensing business developer, has announced a new collaboration with Legends, acting as an official business development partner for Real Madrid CF in India. This strategic alliance, facilitated by global premium experiences company Legends, aims to bolster the club’s global licensing programme, ensuring Real Madrid fans worldwide can readily acquire their preferred official club products.
With Real Madrid’s formidable legacy and burgeoning global popularity, this partnership is set to enhance the club’s presence across the region while offering fans access to authentic, high-quality, licensed merchandise.
“We are thrilled to partner with Legends and bring the iconic Real Madrid CF closer to its Indian fans,” stated Dream Theatre founder & chief executive Jiggy George. “This partnership marks a significant milestone in our efforts to cater to the growing demand for premium sports merchandise in India.”
Legend s licensing manager Victoria Alba added, “Legends is excited to collaborate with Dream Theatre to bring Real Madrid’s licensing programme to new heights in India.”
Dream Theatre specialises in leveraging licensing to create, represent, and distribute iconic brands across south Asia, spanning entertainment, sports, lifestyle, and corporate sectors. Its portfolio includes The Pokémon Co, Sanrio, Mattel, and Little Singham for licensing and merchandising in India and south Asia. The company also represents ChuChu TV, a popular children’s YouTube channel, for its global licensing and merchandising, alongside managing content syndication for key brands and retailing products through Dream Theatre group companies.
Founded in 2008, Legends is a global premium experiences company that collaborates with prominent brands in sports and entertainment. It offers partners a comprehensive, data-driven service solution platform designed to drive revenue, elevate brand presence, and execute their vision. Legends is a leader in designing, planning, and delivering exceptional experiences across professional sports, collegiate, attractions, entertainment, conventions, and leisure.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
