Social media marketing – a strategic choice to establish a brand in a new industry based on the exam by Fabian Grünwald

Social media marketing as a strategic choice to establish a brand in a new industry – based on the example of Adidas Outdoor Free academic dissertation for obtaining the degree

Bachelor of Arts in

Außenwirtschaft

At the Reutlingen University, ESB Business School

Submitted by:

Fabian Grünwald Matriculation number: 711446

Supervising Professor:

Prof. Dr. Marco Schmäh

ABSTRACT

This study assesses the usage of social media marketing for brand positioning. More specifically, it determines whether social media marketing (SMM) can be used as a strategic choice to establish an existing brand within a new industry, different from the one it is currently in. Therefore, a case study is used outlining how Adidas, as a brand, used SMM in order to establish its line extension Adidas Outdoor within the outdoor industry. The research outlines the concept of brand building and shows that due to the proliferation of social media measures and tools, Adidas was able to establish Adidas Outdoor within the outdoor industry. The study encountered athlete sponsoring, the implementation of brand events as well as extended community engagement as crucial concepts for positioning Adidas within the outdoor industry. Whereas, Adidas is considered to have achieved loyal customer relationships with leisure oriented user groups, enthusiastic users and possible influencers show greater reluctance. The results of this study help marketers to understand how SMM can be leveraged building and positioning a brand within a new business environment.

II.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. 2 II. TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ 3 III. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................... 5 IV. LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... 6 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 7 1.1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 7 1.2. RESEARCH AIM & OBJECTIVE ............................................................................... 9 1.3. STRUCTURE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................... 10 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................ 11 2.1. BRANDS & BRANDING ....................................................................................... 11 !"#"#"$ %&'()(*(+)$+'$,$-.,)/$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$##$ !"#"!"$ %(0*()1*(+)$-&*2&&)$-.,)/0$,)/$-.,)/()3$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#!$ !"#"4"$ %(3(*,5$-.,)/()3$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#4$ !"#"6"$ 7.,)/$&89(*:$1+)1&;*$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#4$

2.2. BRAND EXTENSION............................................................................................. 14 !"!"#"$ 7.,)/$&<*&)0(+)$1,*&3+.(&0$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#6$ !"!"!"$ =(0>0$?$+;;+.*9)(*(&0$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#@$ !"!"4"$ 7.,)/$&<*&)0(+)$,9*A&)*(1(*:$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$#@$

2.3. KELLERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BRAND RESONANCE MODEL ................................................................. 19 !"4"#"$ 7.,)/$0,5(&)1&$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!B$ !"4"!"$ 7.,)/$C&,)()3$D$;&.'+.C,)1&$?$(C,3&.:$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!!$ !"4"4"$ 7.,)/$.&0;+)0&$D$E9/3C&)*0$?$'&&5()30$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!6$ !"4"6"$ 7.,)/$.&0+),)1&$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!F$

2.4. SOCIAL MEDIA ................................................................................................. 27 !"6"#"$ G&-$!"B$?$90&.H3&)&.,*&/$1+)*&)*$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!I$ !"6"!"$ J+1(,5$C&/(,$;5,*'+.C0$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$!K$ !"6"4"$ J+1(,5$C&/(,$C,.>&*()3$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$4#$ !"6"6"$ LC;+.*,)1&$+'$+)5()&$GMN$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$44$

3. RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................. 35 3.1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 35 4"#"#"$ J&1+)/,.:$.&0&,.1A$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$4F$

4"#"!"$ O.(C,.:$.&0&,.1A$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$4@$ 4"#"4"$ P(C(*,*(+)0$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$4@$

4. CASE STUDY: ADIDAS OUTDOOR ....................................................................... 37 4.1. THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY .................................................................................... 37 4.2. ABOUT ADIDAS OUTDOOR ................................................................................. 38 4.3. BRAND STRATEGY & OBJECTIVES ......................................................................... 39 4.4. EVALUATION OF THE BRAND EXTENSION CATEGORY ............................................... 40 4.5. EVALUATION OF THE BRAND EXTENSION AUTHENTICITY ............................................ 41 4.6. EVALUATION OF THE BRAND BUILDING ACTIVITY SYSTEM ......................................... 43 6"@"#"$ 7.,)/$0,5(&)1&$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$64$ 6"@"!"$ 7.,)/$C&,)()3$?$.&0;+)0&$"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$6I$ 6"@"4"$ 7.,)/$.&0+),)1&$""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""$F#$

4.5. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................. 55 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 57 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................. 64 APPENDIX B .............................................................................................................. 74 APPENDIX C ............................................................................................................. 76 STATUTORY DECLARATION ...................................................................................... 77

III.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CBBE

Customer Based Brand Equity Model, also known as Brand Resonance Pyramid (compare Kellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Resonance Pyramid)

E-WOM

Electronic Word-of-Mouth

PODs

Points-of-difference

POPs

Points-of-parity

RSS

Real Simply Syndication

SBU

Strategic Business Unit

SEO

Search Engine Optimization

SMM

Social Media Marketing

WOM

Word-of-mouth

IV.

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: BRAND EXTENSION CATEGORIES AFTER KELLER (2013, CHAPTER 12) (OWN ILLUSTRATION) ........................................................................................................ 15

FIGURE 2: BRAND EXTENSION AUTHENTICITY MODEL AFTER SPIGGLE, NGUYEN & CARAVELLA (2012) ................................................................................................................. 17 FIGURE 3: BRAND RESONANCE PYRAMID AFTER KELLER (2001A: 7, 2013: 109) .................... 19 FIGURE 4: USAGE FREQUENCY OF THE TERMS SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEB 2.0 (2005-2013) (GOOGLE TRENDS, 2013)....................................................................................... 28 FIGURE 5: CURRENT SOCIAL MEDIA PRISM (SEPTEMBER, 2012) ACCORDING TO ETHORITY (2012) ............................................................................................................................ 29 FIGURE 6: ADIDAS OUTDOOR - TERREX COLLECTION 2013 (ADIDAS OUTDOOR, 2013) ........ 38 FIGURE 7: SOCIAL NETWORKS OF ADIDAS OUTDOOR ON FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE (DECEMBER 10, 2013)............................................................................................................. 39 FIGURE 8: APPLICATION OF THE BRAND EXTENSION AUTHENTICITY MODEL AFTER SPIGGLE, ET AL. (2012) ON ADIDAS OUTDOOR ................................................................................ 41 FIGURE 9 EXEMPLARY SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT OF ADIDAS OUTDOOR (SEE FACEBOOK, 2013C) ............................................................................................................................ 44 FIGURE 10: SAMPLE OF SENSATIONAL ADIDAS OUTDOOR BRAND COMMUNITY CONTENT ON FACEBOOK (DECEMBER 16, 2013) (SEE FACEBOOK, 2013C) ..................................... 46 FIGURE 11: FACEBOOK PROMOTION OF THE ADIDAS OUTDOOR IPAD APP (PUBLISHED: OCTOBER 11, 2013) (FACEBOOK, 2013C) ............................................................................. 52 FIGURE 12: ADIDAS OUTDOOR FACEBOOK RAFFLE (PUBLISHED: MARCH 08, 2012) (FACEBOOK, 2013C) ................................................................................................................ 53 FIGURE 13: SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND BUILDING STRATEGY OF ADIDAS OUTDOOR ....................... 54

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION The first chapter introduces the background of the dissertation, outlines the research aim and objectives and presents the structure of the study.

1.1. Background of the Study Over the past ten to fifteen years the marketing communication landscape has

changed

significantly.

The

Internet

and

new

communication

technologies changed how people interact and communicate nowadays. With the emergence of the web 2.0 a new way of using the Internet developed, enabling private content creation and mutual information exchange between users. This created the basis for consumer generated content and finally social networks (Grabs & Bannour, 2012). Today, traditional brand building and marketing tools appear to be to be less and less effective as they are loosing influence to social media (MarketingProfs, 2010). Moreover, the Internet altered the way consumers engage with brands. As consumers have access to a vast amount of information on brands, products and companies at any time via social media, traditional mass media branding techniques need to be reconsidered. Now, brand experiences, regardless whether they are good or bad are shared and discussed online with like-minded customers. In order to take account of these developments, modern branding intents to leverage social media tools, platforms and technologies available to engage with customers (Keller, ApĂŠria & Georgson, 2008). Marc Pritchard, Procter & Gambleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading global brand building officer, goes even further by stating â&#x20AC;&#x153;we [Procter & Gamble] try and see it [digital & social media marketing] for what it is, which is a tool for engaging people with fresh, creative campaigns ... the era of digital marketing is over. It's almost dead. It's now just brand building. It's what we do" (Lepitak, 2013). According to this idea, digital- and

INTRODUCTION social media should be regarded as some of the key branding tools rather than a temporary appearance. Although, social media is already used as a branding tool, the numerous examples of poorly executed digital campaigns prove that even companies well-known for their marketing and branding expertise face significant difficulties in incorporating social media into their branding strategies. Yet, there is little consensus about how brand building via social media should be used effectively for a new market environment (Edelman, 2010). Besides building new brands with the help of social media, extending already existing ones enjoys increasing popularity, due significantly lower costs and risks (Spiggle, Nguyen & Caravella, 2012). Thus, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actual challenge for many brands may be regarded as finding the right growth strategy for venturing into new business segments. This leaves marketers with the challenge of managing the positioning of their brand extensions within an unfamiliar marketing landscape (Spiggle, Nguyen & Caravella, 2012). In order to make such ventures successful, the right brand perception is crucial. With Outdoor as the latest extension of the renowned sports apparel brand Adidas uses its social media expertise to establish itself as a new player within the outdoor industry. Having achieved greater customer acknowledgment in its core categories using social media marketing, the brand aims to apply its social media expertise to the outdoor category (Fashion United, 2013).

INTRODUCTION

1.2. Research Aim & Objective This study analyses the usage of social media marketing (SMM) for positioning an existing brand within a new industry or segment. The hypothesis implies that modern brand management1 uses social media as a method of brand positioning and brand extension. It is the aim of this research to answer the question how Adidas as a brand is able to establish itself in the outdoor industry with regard to awareness, acceptance and recognition using social media marketing. In order to achieve this, the following three objectives were formulated: 1. Provide a comprehensive insight into band building, covering the brand equity concept, Kellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand resonance pyramid and brand extension concepts. 2. Outline the importance of SMM for digital brand building and the role of online word-of-mouth (WOM) for brand communication. 3. Determine, based on the case study of Adidas Outdoor, how SMM could be used as a means to position the brand in the outdoor category by creating brand awareness, brand meaning & response, leading to brand resonance and consequently a loyal customer relationship.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Used as a synonym throughout the study to describe all brand related activities.!

INTRODUCTION

1.3. Structure of the Study The first chapter provides an introduction and is followed by a comprehensive review of the relevant literature. The first part of chapter two provides an overview of the brand building fundamentals examining the most important concepts. The last part of the theoretical background introduces social media and SMM as a new form of brand communication. Therefore, important social media platforms and the role of online word-of-mouth are analysed. Chapter three outlines the research methodology used for the primary and secondary research of the study. Chapter four starts by introducing the case study providing insights into Adidas and the outdoor industry, before analysing the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social media strategy and measures. Finally a brief conclusion of the study, a future outlook and recommendations for further research are given.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The theoretic background begins with an introduction to brand building concepts relevant for establishing a brand within a certain category. A particular focus is set on Keller’s (2001a) brand resonance model, as a key concept for building a brand. Throughout the theoretic part social media marketing and its implications for branding are elaborated.

2.1. Brands & Branding This section distinguishes the concept of a brand from branding by taking into consideration different notions.

2.1.1. Definition of a brand Brands play an essential role in our lives and are found throughout all aspects of our daily routine. Nowadays, consumers enjoy the freedom to choose from a vast variety of increasingly homogenous and substitutable products that leaves brands with tasks to provide the decisive difference (Keller, 2013). However, when defining a brand, irritations arise easily as a brand is often falsely associated with a trademark, a value system or a message to the customer2 (Jones & Bonevac, 2013). Although, each approach is valid in itself they still fail to capture the entire scope and meaning of a brand. According to the prevalent literature on branding a more precise definition describes a brand as “[…] a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them of those of the competition”(Kotler, Keller & Bliemel, 2010: 509).

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 The terms customer and consumer are interchangeably used throughout the paper due to linguistic variety.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Nevertheless, a brand may not be mistaken with a logo or trademark, as a brand goes beyond tangible brand elements linking associations and emotions with the product (Jones & Bonevac, 2013). In fact, a brand stands for the entire experience a consumer has with an organisation, a product or service (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). Thus, a brand should be rather seen as a network of associations in the heart and mind of a consumer (de Mooij, 2010).

2.1.2. Distinction between brands and branding A differentiation between ‘brand’ and ‘branding’ is necessary as these terms are often used interchangeably. If a brand may be seen as a network of associations in the heart and mind of a consumer, branding is all about the moulding of customer perceptions (Jobber & Chadwick, 2012). More specifically branding describes the process or activity of building positive associations and perceptions in the consumers’ mind. Historically, brands have been little more than a trademark or identifier for a product. De Mooij says that over time, the brand as an identifier developed and became a site for (1) building “perceived uniqueness of products and services” (2010: 23), (2) differentiation against competitors and (3) creating platforms for customers providing “[…] intangible value in the form of customer goodwill, trust, and loyalty”. In sum, branding must be regarded as a process, which transmits an idea, value or message, strong enough to have a positive impact on the customer’s life.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1.3. Digital branding As explained before, branding can be seen as the process of building positive associations and perceptions in the consumers’ mind using marketing tools, which increase brand equity (de Mooij, 2010). Consequently, digital branding involves the usage of digital touch points and media to shape positive associations and perceptions in a consumer’s mind. However, the difference to other branding approaches does not particularly result from the type of media employed. Under closer inspection, differences result from the way people tend to communicate through new media. For instance, customers are now seeking for information actively, which has replaced the traditional ‘push-concept’ of transiting brand massages one way to the customer. This approach is called “pull-concept” (Grabs & Bannour, 2012: 42). It needs to be stressed that the increased importance of social media in particular, as part of digital branding, led to a change in branding approach. In this process, social media marketing and online wordof-mouth take over a central role (see 2.4.3. Social media marketing and 2.4.4. Importance of online WOM).

2.1.4.

Brand equity concept

During the 1980s the brand equity concept evolved and quickly became one of the leading concepts in brand management. Brand equity can be referred to as a set of assets and liabilities associated with a brand’s name and symbol that influences the value provided to a product, service, firm or the firm’s customers (Aaker, 1991, Rosenbaum-Elliott, et al., 2011). In addition to this, Keller (1993) argues that brand equity comprises unique marketing effects for a brand. Unique brand equity effects can result in improved customer responses to brand communication, increased customer loyalty and considerably higher sales as well as a decreased susceptibility to competitive measures (Gill, & Dawra, 2010). Most importantly, brand equity is considered to influence the customer response to a brand and is therefore closely tied to the customer based brand equity (Rosenbaum-Eliott, et al., 2011, Tauber, 1988). 13

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The customer based brand equity (CBBE) interprets the brand equity concept from a consumer’s perspective and is probably the most important factor for building brand resonance in the customers’ mind. Based on Keller, Apéria and Georgson (2008: 43) “the basic premise of the CBBE model is that the power of a brand lies in what customers have learned, felt, seen and heard about the brand as a result of their experiences [with the brand]”. A brand is perceived to have customer-based brand equity when customers “[…] react more favourable towards a branded product and its presentation than nonbranded ones” (Gill, & Dawra, 2010: 189). The CBBE model, which is also known as Keller’s brand resonance pyramid, outlines how customer based brand equity or brand resonance is built by providing an actionable framework. The model is outlined as the case study applies the theoretic framework to the social media strategy of Adidas Outdoor (see 2.3 Keller’s Brand Resonance Model).

2.2. Brand Extension This section focuses on how a company can enter a new industry or segment by expanding its existing brand. Thus, forms of brand extension and their objectives are reviewed. This is followed by an analysis of the risks and opportunities of a brand extension. The section concludes with an analysis of brand authenticity and its significance for brand extensions.

2.2.1. Brand extension categories According to a quote of Timm Mannon, a former president of the SBU Printers at Hewlett-Packard, “the biggest single threat to our business today is staying with a previously successful business model one year too long“ (Pascale, 2000: 93). In fact, making the right strategic decisions is a difficult task, as a constant trade off needs to be made between the two contradictory aims of longterm stability and constant innovation (Spiggle, Nguyen & Caravella, 2012). When a company decides to expand and pursue business within a new industry or market segment two basic strategies need to be distinguished: 14

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND (1) to purchase of a brand in the new category or (2) extending the own brand (Tauber, 1988).

Figure 1: Brand extension categories after Keller (2013, Chapter 12) (own illustration)

Forms of extending your own brand are presented above in figure 1. This figure introduces brand extension categories in a more comprehensive form. Horizontal brand extension comprises (1) line extension and (2) category extension (Aaker & Keller, 1990). Whereas a line extension applies the parent brand (original brand) on new products, for new market segments but within the same product category, a category extension uses the parent brand in order to enter a completely new product category (Keller, 2013). Monga and Gürhan-Canli (2012) define horizontal brand extension as the practise of launching a new product under an already existing brand or brand name in a new category. Vertical brand extension –the extension of a brand into more premium- or value conscious segments– is not further outlined in this paper, because these forms do not involve the brand positioning within a new field of business. Brand extensions in general have become an increasingly popular practice according to Simms (2005) as nearly 82 percent of all newly introduced products are based on an extension of an existing brand in order to benefit from leveraging the equity of the existing brand. As brand equity and more specifically the CBBE is considered to be the actual value of a brand, 15

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND managers try to leverage the existing loyal customer base to increase profits. Hence, the CBBE that “resides in the minds of consumers and consists of brand awareness and brand image” must be transferred to the brand extension (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012: 314).

2.2.2. Risks & opportunities Even though brand extensions are regarded to have higher chances for success, compared to new brands, certain risks need to be considered. The possibility of the (1) delusion of brand meaning, (2) formation of negative association on the parent brand and (3) a cannibalization of the core brand represent the most significant risks the extension of a brand may bear (Kotler & Keller, 2009, Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). According to Batra, Lenk and Wedel (2010: 335) what makes a brand extension so successful is the ability to leverage company investments to “[...] hedge against the risk of new product failures”. Unlike new brands, brand extensions may benefit from existing consumer touch points with regard to brand awareness, -associations and -images, intended to rub off on new products and categories (Aaker & Keller, 1990). Similar to Batra, Lenk and Wedel, Kotler and Keller (2009) encountered (1) facilitation of product acceptance, (2) little initial retailor resistance and (3) significant lower costs with regard to brand building and advertising, as the main opportunities of expanding an existing brand. Despite the risks, brand extensions entail, the opportunities usually outweigh the possible risks. In order to ensure a successful brand extension one concept needs to be considered in particular: the brand extension authenticity.

2.2.3. Brand extension authenticity According to the dictionary an extension is commonly referred to as something that is bent or stretched from its initial form. Like everything else that can be expanded, a brand extension can become stretched too far 16

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND beyond its original purpose and therefore is no longer associated with the original brand. As a consequence customers might no longer perceive the brand extension as authentic (Taylor, 2004). Spiggle, Nguyen and Carvella (2012) argue that similarities and positive attitudes between the parent brand and its extension are crucial and must be perceived as such by the customers. The perceived similarity is called brand extension fit (Batra, Lenk & Wedel, 2010). However, a successful brand extension is about more than the personal notion (Keller, Sternthal & Tybout, 2002). A more comprehensive approach to successful brand extension is the authenticity model after Spiggle, Nguyen & Carvella (2012).

(2) Honor heritage

(4) Preserve brand essence

(1) Maintain brand standard and style

(4) Avoid brand exploitation Brand Extension Authenticity

Figure 2: Brand extension authenticity model after Spiggle, Nguyen & Caravella (2012)

The authenticity model in figure 2 differentiates four dimensions constituting an authentic and trusted brand extension: (1) Maintenance of the brand standard and style The standard and style of a brand is closely related to the personality of a brand. It can be maintained by applying consistency in design, aesthetics and sensory elements. Customers may regard for instance inferior quality, design or durability of the brand extension as inauthentic. (2) Honour the brandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heritage Brand heritage represents the background to the brand and its culture. Customers need to be able to understand the brand extensionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s origin and

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND heritage otherwise it will be regarded as unreliable or inauthentic. Brand heritage provides legitimacy to an extension. (3) Preservation of the brand Brand preservation refers to the obstacle that the fundamental brand values and essentials must be maintained and carried on. The brand essence creates the uniqueness of the brand and accounts for its competitive edge. (4) Avoidance of brand exploitation This aspect refers to the circumstance whether brand managers focus on the long-term or short-term success of the brand extension. An extension that is solely directed to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;cash inâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; over a limited time span is likely to loose its credibility. In order to conclude, all aspects mentioned also positively contribute to the brand equity and should be seen as an enhancement of the CBBE model.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.3. Keller’s Brand Resonance Model The brand resonance pyramid or CBBE model offers a comprehensive framework for building brand knowledge in the consumer’s mind using marketing tools and activities (Keller, 2001a). Moreover, the CBBE model helps to build a strong brand with significant equity, providing greater customer loyalty and more favourable customer responses and sustainable customer loyalty.

Figure 3: Brand resonance pyramid after Keller (2001a: 7, 2013: 109)

To achieve this, figure 3 can be divided into four critical levels, which begin with (1) identifying the brand with its customers and connecting the customer’s brand associations with a specific product class. (2) Secondly, the brand meaning needs to be established by creating a network of carefully chosen tangible and intangible associations. (3) In the following, desired customer responses need to be provoked. (4) The fourth and final step, is about transferring brand responses into an active and loyal relationship between the brand and the consumer (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008, Keller, 2009b). Based on Keller’s research these four stages of brand development can be achieved by pursuing the six building blocks of the brand resonance pyramid: brand salience, brand performance & imagery, brand judgment & feelings and brand resonance (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The both sides of the CBBE model emphasises the duality of a brand – the “head and heart” (Keller, 2009b: 143). Whereas, the left hand side represents the functional, rational part the right hand side reflect the associated emotions and feelings (Keller, 2009a). Both sides are needed in order to build a strong brand. Keller states that an obvious sequence is followed in this ‘branding ladder’ implying [...] that meaning cannot be established unless identity has been created; responses cannot occur unless the right meaning has been developed and a relationship cannot be forged unless the proper responses have been elicited “ (Keller, 2001a: 5). Limitations of the brand resonance model Even though the resonance model is known as one of most comprehensive brand building models it has received criticism, as Keller misses to explain the relationship between brand awareness and brand image. Moreover, the model lacks specific approaches for measuring brand equity (Gill & Dawra, 2010). Nevertheless, these limitations do not interfere with the purpose of this study as the model is meant to give an understanding of branding process and does not consider quantitative measures.

2.3.1. Brand salience The brand building process begins with creating the desired brand identity. To achieve identification with a brand, considerable salience with customers’ needs to be created. Keller (2009b: 143) states that brand salience can be referred to as “how easily and often“ customers’ think of a brand under certain purchase or usage situations. Salience provides: (1) a foundation for brand associations that contribute to the image and meaning of a brand and (2) influences even purchase decisions (Keller, 2001a). Very much like brand salience, brand awareness refers to the customer’s ability to identify and recall a brand under different conditions (Keller, 2001a). Importance of brand awareness When evaluating brand awareness it needs to be differentiated between two crucial dimensions – breadth and depth (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). 20

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The breadth of brand awareness refers to purchase and usage situations in which the brand comes to mind (Keller, 2013). Before a brand is considered in the purchase decision process, it needs to become a part of the consumer’s awareness set (Solomon, 2011: 124ff). The awareness set represents the selection of brands a customer takes into consideration when making a purchase (Solomon, 2011). Depth on the other hand measures the ability to recall a brand either from memory (unaided recall) or when recognized from a selection brands (aided recall). The easier it is for a customer to recall a brand the stronger is his brand awareness. The ability to recall a brand is positively influenced by brand information or -associations linked to strong, favourable emotions (Keller, 2013). How to establish brand awareness In order to increase brand awareness and -recognition, (1) the familiarity with the brand needs to be improved by frequent and repeated exposure. (2) Moreover, “[…] strong [memorable] associations with the appropriate product category or other relevant purchase and consumption cues” enhance brand recall (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008: 52). One tool, which should be highlighted in this context, as it is able to establish such cues, is social media. With the increasing importance of social networks, brand communities and –pages help to create brand salience and customer awareness through viral brand messages. In combination with social media the popular celebrity or athlete endorsement can facilitate brand building on three levels: (1) Athletes are able to disseminate a specific message to consumers and hence increase brand recognition as well as recall by repetitive exposure. (2) Besides, driving brand awareness celebrities can also create brand meaning by establishing notions of quality, credibility as well as social approval. The expert status of sponsored celebrities and athletes may lead to associations of high quality with the advertised brand and products (Lear, Runyan & Whitaker, 2009, p.309ff).

(3) At last, celebrities and athletes may expand the brand image by charging brands emotionally, too.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND To conclude, using the sponsoring a brand is able to transfer authenticity from well-known, admired athletes and celebrities to the particular brand associated with them. Particularly opinion leaders and special target groups can be reached by sponsoring, which is often combined with the promotion of sports events (Burkhard, Birwe & Möntmann, 2003).

2.3.2. Brand meaning – performance & imagery Brand Salience is a decisive aspect for creating brand equity, however, it is usually not sufficient on its own. The presence of sufficient awareness in the consumer’s mind can be seen as a prerequisite for creating substantial brand meaning. To constitute meaning to a brand, a plausible brand image needs to be established reflecting the consumer’s perception of the brand characteristics (Keller, 2001a). This is achieved by creating (1) strong, (2) favourable and (3) unique brand associations. (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). Based on Keller’s studies (2009a: 10) “these associations serve as the basis for the positioning of the brand and its points-of-parity and points-of-difference”. Although, most brand strategies aim to promote uniqueness by developing points-of-difference (PODs) in order to provide a compelling reason to prefer a brand. As important as a unique selling proposition are points-of-parity (POPs) with the category or competitors. (Kotler & Keller, 2009). Particularly, when a brand or brand extension seeks to position itself in a new market segment it must earn its “frame of reference” first (Keller, Sernthal & Tybout, 2002: 82). The frame of reference represents a structure of concepts, values, and associations, which are used by an individual or group to evaluate a brand (Keller, Sernthal & Tybout, 2002). It can be achieved by developing your band close or close enough to the brand experience of an already established competitor. These similarities are called competitive-points-ofparity (e.g. perceived quality). Competitive POPs are associations built to negate competitor’s PODs.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Keller, Sternthal and Tybout argue that (2002: 82f) “the more an extension differs from a base brand, the greater the importance of focusing on the frame of reference” becomes, as consumers tend to question the authenticity and fit of brands with differing meaning. According to Keller, Apéria and Georgson (2008) the two forms of brand associations- (1) performance and (2) imagery need to differentiated when speaking of brand meaning. Brand performance According to Kotler and Keller (2009: 245) brand performance relates to “[…] how well the product or service meets customers’ functional needs”. Brand performance has a central role in developing brand equity because it is the product performance, which shapes consumer experience in the first place (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). Keller (2001b) differentiates five important associations with brand performance. This includes (1) primary characteristics and secondary elements, (2) product reliability, durability and serviceability, (3) service effectiveness, efficiency and empathy, (4) style and design as well as (5) price. Brand imagery “Brand imagery describes the extrinsic properties of the product or service, including the ways in which the brand attempts to meet customers’ psychological or social needs” (Keller, 2009b: 143). It represents the rather abstract direct and indirect associations consumers have with a brand. In sum, brand imagery relates to how a brand strives to meet the psychological and social customer needs. Personal experiences, the exposure to advertisement or other sources of brand connotations, such as the word-ofmouth, help to form intangible brand associations with the consumer (see 2.4.4. Importance of online WOM). Associations and aspects influencing imagery are: (1) purchase and usage situations, (2) brand personality and values as well as (3) brand heritage and history (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.3.3. Brand response – judgments & feelings The third stage of the CBBE model, the brand response provides information about customer thoughts and feelings towards the brand. Brand responses are divided into (1) brand judgments and (2) -feelings (Keller, 2001b). Brand judgments First of all, brand judgments consist of personal opinions, impressions and evaluations a customer made based on his or her experiences with the brand (Kotler & Keller, 2009). Although, a vast number of different associations are possible, four important brand qualities are distinguished in particular: (1) Quality The perceived quality a consumer refers with a brand is considered to be the most important association. It is essential to the consumers’ decision-making process and reflects significantly the attitude towards a brand. Depending on the product and market segment the perceived quality can be even more important if the value added by the product depends on it (Solomon, 2011, Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008). (2) Credibility Brand credibility refers to the extent a company is regarded as credible in terms of: (1) perceived expertise

(innovation and competency), (2)

trustworthiness (dependability and having customer interests in mind) and (3) likeability (fun and gratification) (Keller, 2013). Especially, when a brand or brand extension recently entered a new market segment it may lack the perceived expertise and trustworthiness of the customers’. As consequence, it is most likely not considered in the awareness set. (3) Consideration Although, brand credibility weighs heavy, however, if the brand is still not taken into consideration for purchase, it is insufficient. Consequently, the consideration of the brand is an important element of the brand building process (Keller, 2013).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND (4) Superiority The extent to which one brand exceeds the others with regard to uniqueness is called brand superiority. Brand superiority is an important aspect for establishing an active relationship with the consumer. A superior brand image is based on strong, unique but rational associations with the brand (Keller, 2001a). Brand feelings Keller describes brand feelings as the “[…] customers’ emotional responses and reactions to the brand” (Keller, 2013: 118). Brand feelings relate to the question, which feelings have been evoked by the marketing measures of a brand? Brand feelings are distinguished between warmth, affection, fun or pleasure, excitement (adventure), security, but also social approval and personal achievement (self-respect). According to Keller’s research, the concept of linking a brand or a product to particular emotions and feelings seems to be an approach, which experiences increasing popularity among marketers. Feelings associated with a brand should be positive, as positive reinforcement enables a stronger emotional attachment to the brand (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008).

2.3.4. Brand resonance The final building block of the CBBE model, the brand resonance “[…] refers to the nature of the [overall] relationship customers have with the brand and the extent to which they feel they’re ‘in sync.’ with it” (Kotler & Keller, 2009: 245). It represents the most important step of the brand resonance pyramid as it defines to which degree a customer identifies himself with a particular brand. Brand resonance is said to influence the performance of a brand mainly four ways: (1) Behavioural loyalty Customers’ behavioural loyalty is a core component for brand resonance. Due to behavioural brand loyalty customers continue to purchase a brand and its products, even though competing products may be superior with 25

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND regard to price, performance or handling. With increasing loyalty the customers’ susceptibility to the competition decreases (Gill & Darwa, 2010). (2) Attitudinal attachment For brand resonance to occur customers must not only frequently purchase the brand, they also need to be emotionally attached to it (Keller, 2013). Attitudinal attachment may go even beyond satisfaction. In the best case customers will ‘fall in love’ with the brand. Brands that are able to create such intense, intimate relationships are called ‘Lovemarks’ (Nufer & Förster, 2010). This theory goes beyond appreciation and admiration it is rather about the passion for a brand. According to Nufer and Förster (2010) Lovemarks enable an emotional long-term relationship with the brand that is characterised by considerable word-of-mouth and customers’ indifference towards prices. (3) Sense of community The sense of community refers to the customers’ affiliation with a brand. Especially the proliferation of brand communities within social networks significantly increased the mutual exchange between brand followers. Social media enables like-minded customers to learn and teach others about the brand (Keller, 2009b). This way, brand communities create broader meaning to a brand, stimulate customer retention and spread brand information (Keller, Apéria & Georgson, 2008) (see 2.4.4. Importance of online WOM). (4) Active engagement Keller, Apéria and Georgson (2008: 72) assume that “[…] the strongest affirmation of brand loyalty is when customers are willing to invest time, energy, money, or other resources into the brand beyond those expended during purchase or consumption.” Active engagement in brand communities, chat rooms and brand related websites represent such investments. Customers who actively contribute to these platforms are called ‘brand evangelists’. Brand evangelists help to communicate the brand and its message to a variety of potential customers or strengthen the ties of the existing ones (Keller, 2001b).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.4. Social Media Even though social media exists for some time now, it remained in the focus of marketers. Social media may be defined as Internet based platforms, on which

users

create

relationships

with

other

users,

whereas

their

communication is not limited to an exchange of verbal messages only. In fact it integrates a broad variety of multimedia formats including pictures, videos, music- and audio recordings as well as games. The group of users of a social media platform is called community (Heymann-Reder, 2011, Hettler, 2010). According to this definition, social media can be primarily referred to as a conversation or a dialogue built on the thoughts and experiences of the participants sharing a common interest. However, social media cannot be seen as media in the traditional sense (i.e. television or radio) conveying an advertising message ‘one way’ from the company to the consumer. Instead social media differs by allowing multi-directional conversations between users (Hettler, 2010). Moreover, social media is said to have changed the role of potential customers for companies. Evans (2012: 31) states that “the act of sharing information is often for the purpose of making a better and more informed choice”. As social media significantly influences the user decision-making, by mutual information exchange and referrals, users are no longer just potential customers but also become ‘brand ambassadors’ influencing the opinion and decisions of others (Grabs & Bannour, 2012). The most important social media platforms will be outlined under 2.4.2. Social media platforms.

2.4.1. Web 2.0 & user-generated content In order to get an understanding for the origins of social media the terms web 2.0 and user-generated content need to be put into context. In general, these

concepts

are

closely

and

have

often

been

interchangeably in the prevalent literature (Grabs & Bannour, 2012).

used

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND The concept of the web 2.0 appeared for the first time in 2004, describing a change in the usage behaviour of the World Wide Web. Because of the technical advances of the web 2.0, including RSS Feeds3 and Web-serviceAPIs4, individuals and companies do no longer produce and publish content exclusively, as other users are able to participate, distribute or even alter the created contents (i.e. Wikipedia, blogs etc.) (Hettler, 2010). Hence, social media can be seen as Internet applications based on the ideological and technical foundations of the web 2.0, which enables an exchange of usergenerated content. According to Google Trends (2013) social media, as a term to describe interactive applications, has replaced the terminology of the web 2.0 almost completely (see figure 4).

Figure 4: Usage frequency of the terms social media and web 2.0 (2005-2013) (Google Trends, 2013)

User-generated content on the other side describes the possibilities an individual may use to create and alter brand- and product information or evaluations, which were not originated by a company. It refers to original content that has been published on a public platform without having a primal commercial purpose (Solomon, 2011). User-generated content can be regarded as the essence of what concept of social media is all about.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "!Real Simply Syndication, family of web-based formats for publishing frequently updated content.! #!Application Programming Interfaces enable the web-based access to data and information.!! 28

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.4.2. Social media platforms When observing the social media landscape a broad variety of platforms and web-based applications need to be distinguished. In order to get an idea of the broad variety of platforms available, figure 5 shows the social media prism, which is clustered according to the sub-categories of social media products (Ethority, 2012).

Figure 5: Current social media prism (September, 2012) according to Ethority (2012)

In general social platforms need to be differentiated between the main categories (1) social networks, (2) sharing platforms, (3) blogging and micro blogging services and (4) business networks. Social networks such as Facebook enable a broad interaction and communication between users, whereas sharing platforms like YouTube 29

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND provides videos of all kind. Micro blogging services, with Twitter at its forefront are continuously updated information platforms. Business networks like Xing resemble social networks for professional usage. However, this paper focuses only on platforms important to companies with regard to brand positioning. Therefore, the three most important platforms Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are introduced (eMarketer, 2013). Facebook In 2004 Facebook was founded as an online community for Harvard students, only (Grabs & Bannour, 2012). Experiencing tremendous success, the community quickly expanded to other national universities, high schools and regional companies. After Facebook opened access to Internet users’ worldwide in 2006, it quickly became the world largest social network (see Business Knowledgebase, 2013). According to Mark Zuckerberg founder and CEO, it is Facebook's mission “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” (see Facebook, 2013b). In March 2013, Facebook reached 1.11 billion active users, half of which are accessing the social network on a daily basis (see Facebook, 2013a). Facebook allows companies to create brand pages, which provide the same functions of a profile and enable the integration of stores and plugins, in order to engage with their customers. Customers can ‘follow’, ‘like’ as well as comment on Facebook posts. YouTube YouTube is the second largest social media platform after Facebook and part of Google Inc., since its acquisition in 2006. YouTube is an open video-sharing platform, allowing registered users to watch, upload and comment on videos. In order to upload and comment on self-made and commercial videos, users need to sign in with a Google+ account. This recent change of the user conditions aims to incorporate YouTube further into Google’s own social network (Marsden, 2013). Unlike the social network, Facebook YouTube allows users to express their approval or dislike by providing a ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ function. As another key 30

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND feature videos can be embedded into websites and other social networks. Since its launch in 2005, YouTube created an enormous fan base with 1 billion unique users per month (see YouTube, 2013). Twitter Twitter is a micro blogging service, which allows users to send and read short messages, called ‘tweets’, which are limited to 140 characters. After its launch in 2006, the blogging service quickly received worldwide attention (Kirch, 2013a). Twitter can be accessed via a short messaging service, an Internet website or a mobile application. As a registered user tweets can be read, followed as well as posted, whereas unregistered users are only permitted to read them (see Twitter, 2013a). The #-symbol, called ‘hashtag’, is one of Twitter’s characteristic features and contributed to the success of the short messaging service. It can be used to mark keywords within a tweet, which enables a topic specific search (see Twitter, 2013b). With more than 218 million active users Twitter has become third largest social network behind Facebook, and Google+ (Kirch, 2013b).

2.4.3. Social media marketing Social media marketing (SMM) as a subcategory of digital branding provides amongst others, the means for branding activities by using social media platforms. It combines marketing communication with branding objectives (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). Using Facebook, Twitter and other social networks interested users and potential customers can become directly engaged with the brand via brand communities and -channels. The main objective of SMM is it, to use these communities effectively in order to (1) create brand awareness by increasing social media traffic, followed by (2) building a strong, loyal and emotional relationship between potential customers and the brand and to (3) ensure a positive brand image by carefully maintaining the external effect of your brand messages (Weinberg, 2011, Grabs & Bannour, 2012).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND In order to do so, SMM may also incorporate other marketing forms such as sponsoring and sports events (Wiedmann, Schwab & MĂśntmann, 2003a). However, SMM differentiates significantly from other marketing approaches with regard to: (1) Coverage Refers to the number of potential customers that can be reached via social media (Wiedmann, Schwab & MĂśntmann 2003a). (2) Depth Describes the ability to build profound personal customer relationships using the interactivity of social media and its potential for creating brand experiences. Hence, it provides the opportunity to charge a brand and its message emotionally (Weinberg, 2009, 2011). (3) Relevance Relates to frequency of the exposure to SMM and the fact that social media is based on the customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interest in brand and product information (Weinberg, 2009, 2011). This way, potential customers are addressed more precisely, avoiding scattering effects. Especially, online opinion leaders and influencers, who have had less impact in offline marketing, due to the more limited opportunities for mutual customer exchange, play a decisive role in social media marketing as they convey their message to a potentially indefinite audience. Hence, social media marketing can be referred to as earned media, driven by the word-of-mouth (compare 2.4.4. Importance of online WOM) (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Earned- media refers to user-generated content creating publicity through promotional efforts different from advertising (Grabs & Bannour, 2012). In order to use the word-of-mouth effectively an integrated social media marketing mix must be applied, combining various social networks and media sharing sites, to foster the dialog and to lead users from one piece of content to another. This way interested users become gradually more involved with the brand and a customer-brand relationship is more likely to form. On the bottom line, SMM is a viable marketing and branding tool, which needs to be applied along with 32

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND a shift in strategic conception, exchanging the “trying to sell” attitude with the aim of “making connections” (Erdogmus & Cicek, 2012: p1355). Because in the end “conversation is king” not content. Content is merely “something to talk about “ (Novak, 2010).

2.4.4. Importance of online WOM The concept of the word-of-mouth is not new, however it has become an essential aspect for understanding the importance social media marketing. Based on Solomon (2011: 445) the “word-of-mouth (WOM) is product information that individuals transmit to other individuals”. In general, it can be referred to as recommendations or referral from one person to another. Because customers often see themselves overwhelmed by the vast number of brand- and product advertisement, they tend to value referrals by friends and family, highly. The WOM is particularly powerful when customers are relatively unfamiliar with the product category (Solomon, 2011). The same applies if a brand is new in a specific industry or market segment (Keller, 2013, Solomon, 2011). In that case, potential customers regard information based on experiences of others as more reliable than advertisement. Bughin, Doogan and Vetvik (2010) state that the WOM can be in fact responsible for 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Hence, the WOM needs to be considered as a powerful advertising tool. As the WOM is not limited to offline communication, the online- or electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM), is an essential component for SMM. The E-WOM differentiates from the classic WOM by going beyond the one-to-one communication or the communication between friends, by including foreigners or even community members in general into the referral process (one-to-many) (Bughin, Doogan & Vetvik, 2010, Edelman, 2010). Not only have social networks and micro blogging services become important facilitators to the word-of-mouth they also increased the number of touch points between users. Brand and product messages, go viral, by being

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND spread from one person to another, are able to create tremendous awareness (Jobber & Ellis-Chadwick, 2012). As the reach and impact of social media continues to rise, brand and product advocacy in customer networksand communities is likely to become even more important in the future. Moreover, companies seem to loose more and more influence on the WOM leading to self-reinforcing tendencies (Pendleton, Dixit & Lundstrom, 2013, p1ff). Although, the E-WOM increases brand and product awareness significantly, it needs to be considered nonetheless that WOM facilitates the dissemination of both, praise- and criticism of a brand.

RESEARCH DESIGN

3. RESEARCH DESIGN This section intends to outline the research methodology used for the underlying study.

3.1.

Research Methodology

This study builds on secondary and primary research. As for the choice of the research design a multi-method qualitative approach has been selected, taking both forms of data collection into account. Moreover, it is explained how the theoretic background was used to define the scope and objective of the primary, exploratory research, which is based on a focus group interview (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2012).

3.1.1. Secondary research To begin with, it needs to be outlined that the theoretic background of this study is based on secondary data. Therefore, the study relies on peerreviewed journal articles, marketing & brand building textbooks and online publications. Peer reviewed journal articles have been used particularly to capture the current state of scientific research (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2012). Consequently, the literature review is based in parts on journal articles of the online platform EBSCOhost. The Marketing and brand building textbooks were used, for the brand building section and for generally accepted definitions and objectives around social media and SMM. Especially, with regard to SMM, Internet based information proved to be of varying quality. However, online articles have been used to capture the state of the art in this otherwise fast paced field. For the elaboration of the case study the social media appearance of Adidas Outdoor was analysed focusing on its integrated approach comprising the channels Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The conducted primary research was used to support the secondary analysis of the SMM practice and to provide valuable user insights. 35

RESEARCH DESIGN 3.1.2. Primary research The primary is based on an explanatory qualitative research and has been conducted in form of a focus group. The objective of the primary research is it to encounter, based on the example of Adidas Outdoor, how an already existing brand can be positioned successfully within a new industry or market segment using SMM. The primary research has been used to investigate the target group’s perceptions and attitudes towards Adidas Outdoor’s social media concept. Therefore, a focus group has been regarded as the most promising way to gain insights into this niche. Moreover, it enabled the collection of information taking personal experiences, participant discussions and social interaction into account (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2012). For the final analysis both secondary and primary research has been combined. Essential, for the realization of the focus group was the selection of the right participants. Therefore, focus group members were chosen based on two criteria: ‘Outdoor enthusiasm’ –the active practice and knowledge of outdoor sports and its prevalent brands– and their active social media engagement. Moreover, the number of participants has been limited to five individuals in order to guarantee that each person has the ability to elaborate on his points of view. With regard to the time frame, the focus group interview was conducted over a time period of one and a half hours.

3.1.3. Limitations The lack of statistical relevancy of the focus group results was encountered as the major limitation of the underlying study. The focus group was conducted to encounter more detailed qualitative insights into the customer perceptions of Adidas Outdoor, its social media engagement and the outdoor industry in general. Nonetheless, the generated insights do not bear the statistical relevancy of a quantitative analysis. Yet, the primary research results are based on the insights of experienced users, who have been asked in depth about their understanding of the outdoor industry, social media marketing and it related products. 36

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4. Case Study: Adidas Outdoor In this section, the Adidas Outdoor case is analysed. It begins with an introduction of the outdoor industry in general and then focuses on Adidas Outdoor in particular. This is followed by an evaluation of the company’s brand extension, brand building and social media strategy.

4.1.

The Outdoor Industry

Over recent years the outdoor industry – equipment and clothing for sports and leisure activities concerning the outdoors – has shown significant growth. In Europe alone, the industry generated a total annual turnover of more than 10 billion Euros (see European Outdoor Group, 2013). In comparison to the European apparel and retail industry, which accounted for 429 billion Euros in 2012, it is still relatively small in scale (see MarketLine 2013: 9). However, the sustained growth of the outdoor segment does represent a significant opportunity for international retailors and brands alike. Continuing trends such as indoor climbing, bouldering (rock climbing without rope near ground level) and slack-lining (balancing on a rope) lead to rising popularity amongst younger target groups. Simultaneously, more and more people are enjoying the outdoors in order to counter the daily routine. Another on-going and important trend is to wear fashionable outdoor products in an urban environment and everyday life. All these aspects add to the popularity of outdoor sports and its related products. From a competitive landscape point of view, the outdoor industry is characterised by a relatively small, but fast growing number of specialized manufacturers with well-established and highly trusted brands (Thomas, 2012b). Among those, Marmot, Mammut, Jack Wolfskin, The North Face, Patagonia, Arc’teryx and Salewa are the most popular outdoor brands in Germany’s most popular (Handelsblatt, 2013). Entering this industry proves to be difficult for new players, especially in the premium quality sector, due to the high requirements for product quality, performance and expertise in using 37

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor innovative materials (e.g. new GoreTex membranes etc.). Besides product quality, customers regard trustworthiness and authenticity of the brand – both essential to brand equity – as the most important criteria of the purchase decision (focus group findings).

4.2.

About Adidas Outdoor

With its brand portfolio comprising of Reebok, Taylor Made, FiveTen and Adidas the Germany headquartered Adidas AG is the second largest manufacturer of sportswear worldwide behind Nike Inc., generating a net income of 503 million Euros in 2012 (Adidas Group, 2012b). The Adidas AG, whose objective it is to be the world’s leading sports- and leisure equipment manufacturer, combines under its parent brand Adidas the sub brands Adidas Sport Performance, Adidas Originals and Adidas Sport Style. While Adidas’s primary business still lies within the athletic footwear, lifestyleand sports apparel segment, new industries such as the outdoor segment provide growth potentials in a not completely unrelated category. Alongside offering apparel and footwear for traditional outdoor activities (e.g. Mountaineering and trekking), clothing for trend sports such as sport- and indoor climbing represent business opportunities with sufficient points-of-parity with the core brand. Besides the significant sales potential, an engagement in adventurous outdoor sports may generate positive associations and prestige for the entire brand portfolio.

Figure 6: Adidas Outdoor - Terrex collection 2013 (Adidas Outdoor, 2013)

In 2008, Adidas re-entered the outdoor industry with Outdoor as the latest addition to the Sport Performance category, next to football, basketball, running and training. So far, the Adidas Outdoor product range encompasses technical footwear, apparel, backpacks and eyewear for outdoor fans (compare figure 6). 38

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4.3.

Brand Strategy & Objectives

For Adidas as a new player in the outdoor segment the main objective is to (1) create brand awareness amongst their desired target group and (2) to gain acceptance within the outdoor community. To achieve this, the brand needs to be established as an authentic, credible and trusted outdoor brand. Therefore, Adidas as a brand needs to be ingrained with typical outdoor activities (Thomas, 2012b). According to Rolf Reinschmidt â&#x20AC;&#x153;the [outdoor] communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recognition is priceless as it pays into [the] strategy of being an authentic player in the outdoor categoryâ&#x20AC;&#x153; (Thomas, 2012a). In order to do so, the target audience of the 14 to 19 years old are of particular interest for Adidas. As generally favourable brand responses have been encountered with 20-29 years old customers, greater significance is attached to establish a close relationship with future customers (see Adidas Group, 2012a: p72, Schmidt, 2012). To address this specific target audience an integrated marketing strategy comprising Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is regarded as very effective. As a matter of fact, particularly young users are mainly using social media with 83 percent in 2013 (Popescu, 2013) (compare 2.4.2. Social media platforms). Therefore, using social media marketing to engage with potential customers is considered as a fitting strategy.

Figure 7: Social networks of Adidas Outdoor on Facebook and YouTube (December 10, 2013)

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4.4.

Evaluation of the Brand Extension Category

Creating Adidas Outdoor a line extension has been used to enter the outdoor industry. In reference to the brand extension theory, the Adidas Outdoor Terrex Collection represents a classic line extension, offering mainly apparel and shoes for outdoor usage, under the existing brand name Adidas. Product line extensions may comprise new products, which differ from existing product range with regard to product features, -quality and the materials used (Kotler, Keller & Bliemel, 2010). Even though, all outdoor products are sold under the brand name Adidas, they are promoted under Adidas Outdoor (e.g. in printand social media) to emphasis Adidasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s outdoor affiliation. Besides, expanding its Sports Performance category by the Outdoor Terrex Collection, Adidas acquired FiveTen, the US based manufacturer of outdoorand athletic footwear, in 2011 (Thomas, 2012a). By incorporating FiveTen, one of the top-selling climbing shoe manufacturers worldwide, Adidas was able to gain vital product knowledge and knowhow for its industry entry (Thomas, 2012a).

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4.5.

Evaluation of the Brand Extension Authenticity

The four dimensions of the brand extension authenticity model after Spiggle, Nguyen and Carvella (2012) are applied on Adidas Outdoor, to assess the fit of the brand extension into the Outdoor segment (see figure 8).

Figure 8: Application of the brand extension authenticity model after Spiggle, et al. (2012) on Adidas Outdoor

The analysis shows that the maintenance of the brand standard & style is ensured by using Adidas’s well-known brand name and the iconic symbol of the ‘three stripes’ for its outdoor products and in advertising. This way the extension benefits from the tremendous recognition value of these trademarks and iconic brand assets. Adidas’s heritage lies in sports competitions, as competition sports have always been an important aspect of the brand. Adidas Outdoor maintains this tradition by establishing the sport climbing competition Adidas Rockstars as a figurehead of its outdoor engagement. In addition, the brand aims to promote its historic roots in the outdoor industry by referring to its first steps in outdoor over 30 years ago (e.g. equipping mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner for his the first Everest ascent without supplementary oxygen in 1978). Adidas highlights that the brand’s history of outdoor products dates back as

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor early as 1934, to create a sense of belonging with the segment (Facebook, 2014). The essence of Adidas Performance, which is the indispensable quality of the brand, is to “equip all athletes to achieve their impossible” (Adidas Group, 2013). Even though this seems fitting for an outdoor brand, Adidas Outdoor is not an independent category, which is noticed by outdoor enthusiasts. Focus group findings show that Adidas Outdoor is considered as being “not distinctive” or “specialized” enough (focus group findings). It can therefore be concluded that, mixing Outdoor with the categories Basketball and Football is not perceived as fit, despite having a shared focus on performance. Outdoor users do want to differentiate themselves from what they consider ‘normal sports of the masses’. They consider their sport to be more extreme, not that easily accessible than other sports as it requires a range of specialized skills and training and compared to all other sports, includes a very serious risk component. About the possibility of brand exploitation it is to say that Adidas seems highly committed to enter the new industry, which is reflected by the considerable advertisement and long-term marketing investments, such as the Adidas Rockstars event and athlete sponsoring. Consequently, Adidas is committed to its outdoor engagement. It can be concluded that Adidas is managing well the balancing act between preserving its heritage and adapting to the new segment. Therefore, the extension can be regarded as an extension fit. Nevertheless, the focus group showed that for devoted outdoor fans, Adidas Outdoor might not yet be distinctive or ‘stand-alone’ enough in order to be a true, authentic, outdoor brand (focus group findings).

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4.6.

Evaluation of the Brand Building Activity System

The analysis of the SMM concept of Adidas Outdoor outlines the tools that are crucial for achieving the branding objectives. The identified SMM tools are assessed against the framework of Kellerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brand resonance pyramid (compare figure 13).

4.6.1. Brand salience In order to create salience or more broadly awareness for its brand extension, Adidas extensively focused on an elaborated social media presence besides using traditional advertisement channels. With brand salience being the primary building block for customer loyalty, sufficient brand awareness is a prerequisite. Two aspects have been encountered as particularly characteristic for creating brand salience with social media: (1) The competent usage of social media platforms, directed to create additional value to outdoor fans and (2) the frequency of its content publication. For community members to watch and perceive the published content actively, they need to derive additional value from following the Adidas Outdoor brand channel (de Mers, 2012). Such added value may not be explicitly defined, however, it may consist of anything that offers either an emotional or rational appeal to the user (Weinberg, 2009). As a matter of fact, added value may stem from the interest in a particular sport, athlete or particular product or a catching story evolving around the product (HĂ¤usel, 2010). In the process, content especially in form of videos and pictures play a crucial role for creating salience. Posted content specifically visual one- is designed in a catching manner to stand out of the multitude of status updates Facebook users receive in their newsfeed every day. Visuals generally follow the same principle, i.e. transmitting emotionality, eye-catching images with featured products or brand logos (Grabs & Bannour, 2012, Weinberg, 2009). As for an outdoor brand this is implemented

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor by promoting spectacular climbing scenes, landscapes and stunning places from all over the world (see figure 9).

Figure 9 Exemplary social media content of Adidas Outdoor (see Facebook, 2013c)

This way, necessary cues are established associating Adidas with the outdoor category by linking Adidas with outdoor activities such as rock-climbing and mountaineering. Further, contents feature stories with dramatic tension to engage with community members (e.g. stories including perilous experiences, personal setbacks or summit successes) (HĂ¤usel, 2010). This way, Adidas Outdoor generates brand attention by integrating the viewer in the brand experience. Focus group findings show that consumers do follow brands on Facebook, but are first and foremost interested in athletes and professionals, who are pushing the limits of sports further (focus group findings). Participants stated that it is less the brand or the product itself they are interested in, but the actual person and the story he or she has to tell about the personal experiences. When discussing the participantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; habits of sharing brand content online, it has been encountered that the interviewees showed little willingness to share solely product related content. With respect to athlete related information a higher willingness to share content with others has been identified. Moreover, product referrals are highly valued within the outdoor industry, indicating a high relevance of the word-of-mouth for this category (focus group findings). 44

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor From this it can be concluded that community members, even though they are not entirely convinced of the brand and its products, associate particular personalities with the brand. This means that new associations with the brand or even image transfers from athletes to the brand are possible over time, even if it is the athletes that are at the centre of attention in the published content and not the brand and its products. This enables marketers to leverage athlete driven content in combination with strategic product placement and branding to help drive awareness and build brand associations. Athlete sponsoring and other measures for brand positioning are explained in the following part (see 4.6.2. Brand meaning & response). The frequency and the consistency of the content releases have been encountered as determinant factors of SMM. The frequent and repetitive exposure with the brand Adidas Outdoor leads to cue building and an intuitive conjunction with the desired category (de Mers, 2012). As a matter of fact, Adidas increases its chance of strong brand recall by releasing a constant stream of posts and tweets on an almost daily basis. On average this accounted for five Facebook posts per week for January of 2014 (21 overall FB posts for January 2014). This way, Adidas ensures foremost on Facebook that its brand message will appear in the news feeds of as many consumers as possible. Since an adaption of the Facebook algorithm in December 2013, the priorities of the content published in the Facebook â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;news feedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; has been changed, resulting a decline of natural reach of up 44 percent (Tobin, 2013). Hence, in order to compensate the negative effect on brand page awareness, marketers must counteract with more frequent content releases and paid media. In addition to Facebook, which serves clearly as Adidasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary social media channel, YouTube and Twitter represent supporting channels and increase the points of contact with consumers.

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

Figure 10: Sample of sensational Adidas Outdoor brand community content on Facebook (December 16, 2013) (see Facebook, 2013c)

Another important aspect for awareness is the transmission of clear brand characteristics by clearly distinguished brand pages and -communities. In fact, Adidas Outdoor as brand extension of Adidas is clearly separated from other categories such as Adidas Football or - Originals. This clear distinction of social media touch-points, across all platforms and channels, prevents a delusion of brand and product associations. Hence, via Adidas Outdoor channels the brand distributes content that exclusively focuses on outdoor sports and activities. Moreover, separated brand communities enable a differentiation of consumer target groups for monitoring purposes and allow content publication according to their specific interests. To conclude, Adidas was in fact able to create significant brand awareness and salience with its desired target audience. Today, the extension is known amongst enthusiastic users as well as leisure sports users (APENDIX C).

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor 4.6.2. Brand meaning & response In order to create significant brand meaning, comprising of brand performance and imagery, Adidas extensively pursues (1) athlete sponsoring and (2) the creation of a distinctive Adidas Outdoor brand event, as tools for its social media engagement (see Facebook, 2013c). Both may be considered as key concepts for strategic brand positioning in the outdoor industry. Moreover, these tools take help building brand meaning as well as brand responses. To address performance and imagery related attributes of Adidas Outdoor, celebrity endorsement in form of brand athletes represent a viable way to address brand performance and -imagery. Brand Athletes Following Adidas Outdoors’ social media presence across all platforms, one fact becomes strikingly obvious – brand athletes and the promotion of expert users are omnipresent. In fact, the who-is-who of the world’s rock climbing elite represents Adidas Outdoor either as sponsored athlete or promotion partner. Athlete related content, appearing in various forms ranging from interviews, photo series and promotion videos to articles, accounts by far for the greatest part of the social media content. With more than 60 national and international athletes, as promotion partners, covering all major outdoor activities, ranging from rock-climbing and mountaineering, to kayaking and mountain biking, Adidas established an impressive athlete base (see Discover Adidas, 2014). The most prominent representatives of the brand are the German climbers and brothers Alexander & Thomas Huber (‘Huber-Buam’), who have gained media prominence by achieving spectacular first ascents in Antarctica and Greenland (see Facebook, 2013c). Especially within the United States –a key market for Adidas Outdoor (Thomas, 2012b)– the brand managed to acquire an impressive team of well-known, national outdoor athletes encompassing famous rock climbing stars such as Sasha Digiulian (the reigning female world champion), 11-year-old Ashima Shiraishi (four-time American Bouldering Series Youth National Champion) and pro climber Kevin Jorgeson (D'Addario, 2013). Sponsored athletes and the promotion of professionals play a crucial role in 47

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor the branding strategy of Adidas Outdoor, as expert users serve three major purposes in the brand building & positioning process: (1) First of all, within the outdoor industry athletes represent a generator for actual content, which is needed for any social media strategy. Athlete generated content consisting of photos, videos, blog entries as well as tour descriptions and stories, provide interesting material about their adventures and outstanding performances in their outdoor sports. Yet, “conversation is king” holds true, as content is something that makes people talk about the brand and thus enables a dialogue with the brand in the first place (see Novak, 2010). Based on the focus group findings, outdoor enthusiasts are more willing to engage in content involving their favourite athletes, rather than plain product presentation. In short, people are interested in other people. Consequently, the best strategic social media presence proves to be useless, if the brand has no meaningful content to talk about in order to establish the personal link with the customer (Bagusat, et al., 2008). (2) Secondly, experts serve as brand ambassadors, creating attention and increasing the credibility of a brand by enabling an image transfer from beloved athletes to the brand. According to the focus group findings, (see Appendix A) outdoor enthusiasts do consider athletes to be credible and authentic whereas Adidas, as a newcomer within the category, is viewed with some scepticism. In order to benefit from the positive perception of athletes Adidas Outdoor aspires athlete associations to rub of on the brand extension. Pictures, videos and commentaries on social media platforms, transmit the desired emotions and support the process. These brand associations can be differentiated between points-of-parity with the outdoor category and points-of-difference. The close association of notorious athletes and their performances (e.g. ‘Huber-Buam’) with Adidas Outdoor elevates Adidas to the same level as historic outdoor brands and helps to gain acceptance among more reluctant user groups. Besides, establishing the necessary similarities with the category, points-of-difference are essential to distinguish Adidas from its outdoor competition. This is achieved by maintaining the typical Adidas’s brand name, style & design of the 48

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor characteristic three stripes. This way brand features are created and the recognition of the brand’s heritage is ensured (see 4.5. Evaluation of the Brand Extension Authenticity). (3) Ultimately, professional athletes serve as brand testimonials for the Adidas brand and products. Expert users enable the promotion of product usage via social media and serve as a proxy for product quality at the same time (Bagusat, et al., 2008). By promoting mainly expert usage under most extreme conditions, for instance at expeditions to Antarctica, Greenland or the Himalayans, Adidas products will be considered by the consumer as products designated to experts. Products for expert usage are generally associated with higher product quality. The focus group revealed this particular correlation in the brand image of Adidas Outdoor. Based on the interviewee’ notion the brand’s products must be of good quality, as they would not suffice for expert usage otherwise (focus group findings). The conducted focus group encountered that outdoor enthusiasts consider Adidas Outdoor as “too young” for being a trusted outdoor brand (focus group findings). The interviewees are convinced that the brand would need more time to become an expert brand. Brand events The promotion of brand events via social media has been identified as a viable measure to create brand response according to Keller’s brand pyramid model (Keller, 2013). Although brand events do not exclusively generate brand responses, as they affect also the meaning of a brand, a particularly strong correlation between events and brand judgments & feelings has been identified. When asked, whether Adidas is regarded as an authentic outdoor brand, the interviewees answered that the brand wouldn’t be distinctive enough to be considered for the purchase decision. According to the participants, innovative outdoor brands, which undertake efforts to bring outdoor sports forward, are highly valued (focus group findings). To respond to such issues, brand events may be used to establish the desired position. With the annual 49

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor climbing competition Adidas Rockstars, a brand event has been created that can help to shape both rational and emotional brand perceptions. The event, consisting of a boulder competition –the rope less climbing at moderate jumping height– and a live music event, create the vehicle of a vivid brand experience (Adidas Rockstars, 2014). As music drives people and makes emotional moments unforgettable, it elevates the sport event attracting both music fans and fans of the climbing sport. During the event the international climbing elite competes against each other making Adidas Rockstars an important event for the sport. Considering the rational associations (brand judgments) the Adidas Rockstars event adds credibility and authenticity through generating the customer experience that Adidas stands for outdoor sports and actively supports its development. Moreover, the alignment of the event as competition helps to add notions of superior quality and reflects Adidas’s strong attachment to sports competitions. Such familiar characteristics support the credibility of the brand. On the emotional level, brand events may trigger a wide range of emotions and impressions. Hence, the mix of music and sport conveys feelings of excitement and fun with Adidas’s passion to compete. This way desirable emotional responses are ingrained with the brand. According to neurologist Donal Calne emotions are key. He states, “the essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusions” (Roberts, 2005). In order to address as many interested users as possible and to create lasting associations, a social media trail is created, leading users from one peace of information to another. Because social media users possess accounts for various social media platforms, using them with varying intensity, social media efforts need to be spread over various channels (Grabs & Bannour, 2012). Whereas Twitter is doubtlessly most fitting for pre- and live coverage of the event, expanding the audience to mobile application users, Facebook on the other hand enables the integration of live video streams, spreading the event in real-time. Both channels allow an immediate and measurable feedback through comments and ‘likes’. Twitter is also used in the run-up phase to create tension and excitement for the upcoming event. According 50

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor to Wiedemann, Schwab & Möntmann (2003) the digital dissemination of physical events enables a multiplication of its medial impact. Hence, the digital dissemination of physical brand events has become as important as the event itself. All in all, using athletes and events for disseminating the brand message of Adidas Outdoor helps to add credibility to the brand promise of “fulfilling one’s personal impossible” and enables the customer to experience Adidas as an outdoor brand (Adidas Careers, 2014).

4.6.3. Brand resonance To obtain brand resonance, as the last building block for CBBE, a sense of belonging with Adidas Outdoor must be established with the fan base (Keller, 2001a). Therefore, the customer relationship needs to be maintained and nurtured in the long run. Besides, the mutual information exchange, customers need to feel appreciated by the brand. Three concepts were encountered, which benefit the purpose of establishing brand loyalty in a digital environment: (1) The Adidas Outdoor tablet application “Adidas Outdoor Magazine”, (2) social media raffles & sweepstakes and (3) active community engagement via Facebook. Adidas Outdoor magazine The Adidas Outdoor Magazine is an interactive tablet application combining videos, photos and stories on outdoor sports into an, interactive, Adidas exclusive, multimedia newsfeed (see figure 11).

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

Figure 11: Facebook promotion of the Adidas Outdoor iPad App (Published: October 11, 2013) (Facebook, 2013c)

The application can be either downloaded via the Apple App Store or accessed via Facebook. As a free of charge subscription, similarities with email marketing may be drawn. However, the quarterly magazine goes far beyond that, as it combines clear product promotion with value adding content and multimediality. Moreover, as brand resonance is characterized by a personal connection between the consumer and the brand, the application provides a close connection with highly invested customers searching for additional brand content beyond the social media channels (Keller, 2013). The app integrates the social media channels of Adidas encouraging multiplication effects through user referrals. Of all aspects encouraging emotional resonance, none is possibly more important than the connection that comes from great storytelling. By combining the story telling of a magazine with the product advertisement possibilities of a multimedia application, the link between brand perception and product consideration for purchase is established. Raffles & sweepstakes Raffles and sweepstakes are well known in marketing and are successfully used as promotion tool. Yet, its usage in social media marketing offers a wide range of possibilities. Social media significantly expands the possible 52

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor audience through online word-of-mouth and enables the usage of interactive media tools (Solomon, 2011). Promotion raffles appear in brand communities in various forms and customer involvement, ranging from a simple â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;likeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of a picture or post to answering a question. Giveaways and promotion contests create active customer engagement, going beyond the normal community engagement. However, strict regulations such promotion efforts need to be taken into consideration when you are planning such activities. Especially Facebook and

Twitter

have

clear

guidelines

for

promotion

activities.

Figure 12: Adidas Outdoor Facebook raffle (Published: March 08, 2012) (Facebook, 2013c)

Nevertheless, raffles enable Adidas to close the brand building cycle with invested customers. This way, the loop between brand associations and the actual product is closed using social media. Community engagement via Facebook In order to maintain a relationship with interested users online, continuous, active

community

engagement

through

social

networks

deemed

necessary. In the case of Adidas Outdoor Facebook qualifies for this task, as it enables the integration of a great variety of media. Active community 53

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor engagement needs to be understood as the nurturing of the fan base and brand page. Especially, the mutual communication should be fostered through regular brand page posts. A question asked by a fan requires a timely answer. With a single click or comment the user becomes a part of the Adidas Outdoor community. But not until the community has become a part of the user it can be spoken of a loyal customer relationship. Summary of the social media strategy of Adidas Outdoor The analysis shows that Adidas focused first on establishing brand awareness, using frequent community engagement and content release via brand channels (see figure 13). Athlete sponsoring and brand events, resembling step two and three, create the necessary brand meaning, associations and feelings with the brand Adidas Outdoor. Finally, creating a lasting customer connection through the Adidas Outdoor Magazine provokes a continuous in depth engagement of interested fans with the brand, leading to customer loyalty in the long run. Also, Raffles & sweepstakes enable customers to engage with the brand and more importantly with its products. Using the social network Facebook, long-term customer relationships are maintained through continuous community interaction. Thus, CBBE can be established, transforming interested users in customers and brand evangelists and finally encourages purchases.

Figure 13: Social media brand building strategy of Adidas Outdoor

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor

4.5.

Conclusion & Recommendations

To conclude, the aim of this study was to assess how social media marketing can be used to establish an existing brand within a new market environment. Therefore, important actionable models have been assessed and compared to the social media strategy of the company practise of Adidas Outdoor. The study was able to point out that the emergence of the web 2.0 and usergenerated content online marketing became increasingly interactive and dialogue orientated enabling SMM, as we know it today. Since than, the importance of SMM for brand building has grown significantly. The initial literature review revealed, for brand extensions in order to be successful, extension authenticity and extension fit are irremissible. Moreover, social media must be seen as the tool or the electronic mouthpiece to disseminate brand content to the desired target audience and consequently encourages interested users to engage in a dialogue with the brand. However, it should b taken into consideration that the strength of social media marketing does not rest with it as an independent brand building and â&#x20AC;&#x201C;positioning tool. Social media marketing should be rather seen as a component, significant though, of an integrated brand communication consisting of traditional and modern media. As social media usage across all customer segments continues to grow, the importance of social media for businesses is expected to increase further. At the same time mobile marketing â&#x20AC;&#x201C;online- and social media marketing specifically for mobile devicesâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; is emerging as the next major trend in digital media (Husson, 2014). Regarding the results of the case study, this analysis concludes that Adidas was able to position itself using SMM and successfully established Adidas Outdoor as an accepted outdoor brand (see APENDIX C). With regard to brand extension fit, Adidas Outdoor was generally able to gain authenticity, particularly among normal users, having sufficient in common with Adidas (i.e. brand name & symbols). Considering brand awareness, the brand has achieved to raise salience with enthusiastic users as 55

Case Study: Adidas Outdoor well normal users employing its social media platforms for disseminating its brand message. Amongst normal and less enthusiastic users, Adidas Outdoor achieved to establish itself as a trusted and authentic outdoor brand by providing quality storytelling through the promotion of brand athletes, brand events

and

interactive

social

media

presence.

The

community

engagement via Facebook, the brand raffles & sweepstakes and the interactive Adidas Outdoor Magazine help to establish brand resonance by maintaining the customer relationships. Nevertheless, more attention should be drawn to Adidas Outdoor Magazine, as relatively little awareness seems to exist with this particular tool. However, with enthusiastic core users (possible influencers), comprehensive brand meaning & response and thus brand resonance has not been achieved, yet. Especially with regard to brand response Adidas has not been able to convince the core outdoor fan-base (see APENDIX C). Here a potential for improvement has been encountered. A possible reason for this could be the fact that enthusiastic users do not consider Adidas Outdoor as specific or distinguished enough form the core brand (see 4.5. A lack in Evaluation of the Brand Extension Authenticity and APENDIX C). To improve brand resonance greater attention should be directed to the promotion of brand- and product test events enabling (i.e. in climbing gyms) a first hand experiences with the brand, which can be disseminated further through the social media channels. With regard to the customer’s perception of the brand’s philosophy extended athlete endorsement is considered to enable a favourable change in perception. With regard to future studies, further research analysing different social media strategies of leading outdoor companies is suggested. With it, a quantitative comparison of the social media activities –across all channels– of leading outdoor brands is recommended. In the process the role of online word-ofmouth in social media marketing should be explored further.

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Tobin, J. (10/03/2013). Ignite Social Media: Facebook Brand Pages Suffer 44% Decline in Reach Since December 1. Available from: http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/facebook-marketing/facebook-brandpages-suffer-44-decline-reach-since-december-1/. [Accessed: February 10, 2014] Twitter (2013a). Twitter Help-Center: Tweets displayed in the Discover tab. Available from: https://support.twitter.com/groups/53-discover/topics/217tweets/articles/20169717-tweets-im-entdecken-tab. [Accessed: November 21, 2013] Twitter (2013b). Twitter Help-Center: Using hashtags on Twitter. Available from: https://support.twitter.com/articles/49309. [Accessed: November 21, 2013] Weinberg, T. (2011). Social Media Marketing. Strategien für Facebook, Twitter und Co.. 2nd ed. Cologne: O’Reilly. Weinberg, T. (2009). The New Community Rules: marketing on the social web. Cologne: O'Reilly. Wiedmann, R., Schwab, K., & Möntmann, H. G. (2003a). Werkbuch M wie Marke: Bausteine für ein erfolgreiches Brand Building. 4(5). Stuttgart: SchäfferPoeschel Verlag. Wiedmann, R., Schwab, K., & Möntmann, H. G. (2003b). Werkbuch M wie Marke: Bausteine für ein erfolgreiches Brand Building. Markenführung und wertschöpfung im Internet 4(5). Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag. YouTube (2013). YouTube - Statistics. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html. [Accessed: November 23, 2013]

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APPENDIX A Focus group objectives The conducted focus aimed to generate qualitative customer insights regarding the perception of Adidas as an outdoor brand, its social media engagement as well as possible problems and suggestions for improvement: 1. Has Adidas already achieved to establish itself as an authentic outdoor brand within the outdoor community? 2. Encounter insights how this was/was not achieved? 3. Why is/is Adidas (not) regarded as an authentic outdoor brand?

Focus group transcript (December 29, 2013) Hello, I am happy to welcome you to the focus group on the social media marketing practice of Adidas Outdoor and your perception of it. I am Fabian GrĂźnwald, I am going to be the facilitator. As the group moderator I will make inquires from time to time, in order to clarify your opinions and points of view on this topic. This focus group will be conducted as part of my bachelor thesis and will help to create insights on how the company entered into a new industry by extending its brand. Therefore, I am going to ask you to discuss a number of questions as a group. Before, we start with the introduction of all participants, I would ask you to participate actively and to respect the opinions and thoughts of your fellow participants. Nonetheless, please feel free to comment on the statements made, make amendments and present your differing point of view. So lets start with a brief introduction: PARTICIPANT 1: Hello, I am a student, studying Economics & Sports in Innsbruck, Austria. Currently I am in my 4th semester. About myself, I am a passionate sports climber and snowboarder for many years now and when I heard about this focus group I was interested in participating right way, because I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great topic. PARTICIPANT 2: I am a student, too. I am 25 years old. Studying forestry management. I have also a climbing background, especially in outdoor climbing, but I also do a lot of indoor climbing on artificial climbing walls. PARTICIPANT 3: Well, I am not a student, but I like climbing, too. In my professional life I am an engineering draftsman. Indoor climbing is the great hobby of mine, for almost 15 years now. I started climbing when I was 18. I would say I would I quite active, climbing at least once a week at the [climbing] gym. This way I also introduced my girlfriend [PARTICIPANT 4] to the sport. PARTICIPANT 4: As you already have heard I am relatively new to the sport. I do sport climbing for about half a year now and I am looking forward to this now, as I have no idea what to expect. LXIV

PARTICIPANT 5: Hello all together. About myself, I am a passionate sports person. I am very active in the outdoors, doing triathlons in my leisure time and also do rock climbing. About my profession, I am a physiotherapist. Thank you for introducing yourself and welcome to this focus group, which is going to take place over the next hour. To begin with, I would like you to write down a maximum of 10 outdoor brands –apparel and equipment manufacturer– that come to your mind? Start with the one, which is dear to you. PARTICIPANT 1: Mammut, Arc’teryx, Mammut, Salewa, Prana, The North Face, Icebreaker, Patagonia, Adidas. PARTICIPANT 2: Norrona, Fjällräven, Arc’teryx, Mountain Equipment, Marmot, Black Diamond, The North Face. PARTICIPANT 3: Marmot, Mammut, Salewa, Patagonia, Jack Wolfskin, Adidas, Meindl, Odlo, Berghaus. PARTICIPANT 4: Jack Wolfskin, Adidas, Marmot, Patagonia, The North Face. PARTICIPANT 5: The North Face, Jack Wolfskin, Patagonia, Mammut, Norrona, Mountain Equipment, Arc’teryx. Which brands did you put in the first place? PARTICIPANT 1: Mammut. PARTICIPANT 5: The North Face. PARTICIPANT 3: Marmot. PARTICIPANT 4: Jack Wolfskin. PARTICIPANT 2: Norrona. What do you like about your top priority? What makes it special? PARTICIPANT 3: My first one is Marmot. I didn’t want to put Mammut in the first place, because Mammut is for me an up-jumped outdoor brand. They ‘recently’ started to make a lot of clothing and today the brand logo is literally on every product, especially on the jackets. I don’t like this. I think of it as annoying. It’s just too much. But of course, they are one of the biggest brands in Europe. (…). Marmot is my actual favourite. It’s a real outdoor brand. It’s not extremely well known. You don’t see so many people walking around with it and its products are cheaper than the ones of other outdoor brands. Marmot and Salewa have been outdoor brands from the very beginning on, when rock climbing was a completely new thing. (…). PARTICIPANT 1: For me Mammut has been an outdoor brand forever. PARTICIPANT 2: I think of it as the pioneer for mountaineering, because of their rope manufacturing and manufacturing of climbing equipment. But now they focus on trendy cloths for the mass market. I don’t like it so much anymore. PARTICIPANT 3: Years ago you defiantly didn’t see so many people walking around in the city with a ‘Mammut Extreme Jacket’ [special collection for top level mountaineers]. I think today people, whose greatest sports achievement LXV

has been the sharpening of a pencil are wearing popular outdoor brands like Mammut. (…). PARTICIPANT 5: That’s true. Is it not authentic anymore or what do think has changed? PARTICIPANT 3: Well it has become another clothing brand. But it’s not really my provider of outdoor equipment anymore. I feel like PARTICIPANT 2. If an outdoor brand [e.g. Mammut] changes its focus from outdoor to mass market they loose their creditability and quality most of the time. PARTICIPANT 5: Maybe it’s because of the quality and functionality of the products when people start wearing outdoor cloths in their everyday life. For instance, if extreme athletes like the Huber Brothers can wear this jacket in Antarctica people can wear it for rain and bad weather in the city, too. (…). What is an authentic outdoor brand for you? What are its characteristics? PARTICIPANT 3: Berghaus. PARTICIPANT 2: Black Diamond. PARTICIPANT 1: I think the company and its employees should live the brand image. I mean they should actively live what they say they stand for. I now for a fact that at Black Diamond the employees are outdoor enthusiasts. In fact it’s a prerequisite for working at this company, to be a passionate sportsperson. On Facebook you see them making ski tours in their leisure time or go climbing. (…) I think at Adidas for instance, within the marketing department, you just need to do your job. Nobody really cares whether you are passionate about outdoor sports or not. (…) At Black Diamond, however, even interns live that lifestyle. (…). PARTICIPANT 2: I personally, think brands like Mountain Equipment or Black Diamond, which produce outdoor equipment exclusively, are focusing on that industry exclusively and consequently develop great products, which help to develop door sports. You can say they help to bring the sport forward - on the next level. And that’s what is really important on my behalf. For example, Mammut did so by producing the first ropes for mountaineering. A real outdoor brand does not exclusively focus on profit they also give something back to the community, maintain a social relationship with their employees, make events and sponsor athletes. The bigger the companies the less authentic they seem to be. Do you think that the brands you named in the beginning represent this? PARTICIPANT 2: Yes, I think so. On Facebook for example you can read about their projects such as the down-codex, so that dugs may not be killed in a cruel way for their down’s sake (…) or the use of recycled materials. (…) You can follow [via social networks] that they make products particularly for the outdoors and most importantly their products are actually used by persons who matter, for example athletes or professional climbers who actually develop the outdoor sports [mountaineering, ice climbing, rock climbing, …]. The products actually help the athletes with their performance and not the LXVI

other way round. When authentic professionals use certain products that’s generally a good sign (…). All of you are actively using social media platforms, which social networks do you actually use to inform yourself about brands and products? PARTICIPANT 1: For me personally only two sources are really reliable: Referral of friends and knowledgeable people or special outdoor dealers. Everything else is not reliable for me. I use Facebook a lot, but on Facebook every firm tries to sell their products. So the information provided is not reliable. If anything, I like to follow athletes and see what expeditions they did or what crazy stuff they are able to achieve. Of course, I follow a lot of brands and I see what products these brands do promote. But I wouldn’t say I use this for my decision-making. What is your opinion on product & brand referrals, do perceive them as reliable? PARTICIPANT 4: Absolutely. But I think referrals on Facebook are also reliable, the referral doesn’t necessarily need to come from a friend. PARTICIPANT 5: I think recommendations are the best way, too. But it depends how knowledgeable the person is who recommends something. I would only trust his recommendation, if the person has a real understanding of the products or the sport. (…). The only Facebook brand page I really actively follow is the one of Petzl. It’s a company producing climbing hardware and not apparel, but I buy their products and I really love their posts and videos on Facebook. I think they are really helpful. What makes this particular brand content helpful and important to you? PARTICIPANT 5: Well, they made a series of small video clips that showed how to improve your safety while climbing giving advise for right behaviour. For example, how you use their products correctly and how you should build a belay properly or rappel down a wall. I think that is useful stuff that really makes some difference to me. Moreover, it may help in a difficult situation. (…) That’s why I want to see all their new products. PARTICIPANT 2: Well, for me only the ‘recommendations’ of experts are really relevant. I usually buy what professional mountain guides and sponsored athlete’s use. I think that is the best way. How about brand athletes? Do you actively follow professionals athletes via social networks and why? PARTICIPANT 1: That’s what I do, because there is more information about brand athletes. The articles, pictures and videos are much more interesting and you get to see things you will never be able to do yourself, like climbing the hardest mountains in Patagonia or the Himalayans. News about what they did and how they did it is much more interesting than product advertisement. (…). LXVII

PARTICIPANT 4: I agree. That is more interesting and sometimes you can follow the updates live on Twitter while they are actually on an expedition. It feels a little bit like being at this places yourself. PARTICIPANT 1: But of course, all athletes wear the brand of their sponsors and this way you’re tempted to buy the promoted products yourself. But in general the achievements of athletes makes me follow a brand page. PARTICIPANT 5: But especially if you don’t have a great knowledge about outdoor brands and the sports related to them, it is critical what athletes use and wear. Especially, if they see famous athletes such as the Huber Brothers appearing in Adidas clothes from head to toe. For such customers it will make a difference. They will tend to buy these cloths. Let’s focus on Adidas Outdoor brand athletes. Do brand athletes make a difference in your opinion? Do they change your opinion or impression of Adidas Outdoor? PARTICIPANT 3: Well I’m a total Huber fan, I have been to their multimedia shows and met them personally, however, this does not tempt me to buy Adidas products. For sure, I got aware of the brand and its products but that wasn’t much more than an initial curiosity. Why wouldn’t you consider Adidas Outdoor in your purchase decision? Can you give an explanation on this? PARTICIPANT 3: I would say that for me personally, Adidas Outdoor as an outdoor brand is simply too young. It’s just not old enough. It hasn’t been on the market long for a long time. I don’t know how to express it differently. I have encountered some of the Adidas Outdoor products in the very beginning and they couldn’t convince me (…). PARTICIPANT 5: But I believe if I didn’t know about Adidas Outdoor and outdoor brands, I would say myself: well, Adidas is well-known as a sport apparel manufacturer, they should have great outdoor products, because they make sports equipment for all sorts of sports. PARTICIPANT 1: My experience with Adidas Outdoor was basically the same. I got aware of it through promotion videos on YouTube last year. Adidas was publishing promotion videos every other week or so that got my attention. In the beginning I was surprised, because they presented such a huge athlete team. I knew all the athletes but I had no clue that they were part of an Adidas team. I had a look at the products but I couldn’t get constable with them. That’s why I agree it’s too early to buy them. (…). PARTICIPANT 2: I think Adidas is right now the brand for people who do mass sports [football, running etc.] and want to explore outdoor sports such as climbing. For them Adidas is the right brand because they already bought it before, they are likely to trust on it again. But I see no reason why people who already have a favourite outdoor brand would buy Adidas. (…). Let’s have a look at the brand athletes of Adidas Outdoor? Can you please name the athletes that come to your mind in connection with Adidas? How would you connect them to the brand? LXVIII

PARTICIPANT 3: The Huber brothers of course. I really admire them. They do amazing tours. PARTICIPANT 5: Sasha Digiulian,who is a very successful female rock- and completion climber from the US. I think she has been the first US woman climbing as hard as 9a. PARTICIPANT 2: Kevin Jorgeson (…). PARTICIPANT 1: I heard about Sasha Digiulian, too. What events come to your mind when think of these athletes? PARTICIPANT 2: Expeditions to Patagonia, climbing the Cerro Torre and expeditions to Antarctica done by the Huber brothers. PARTICIPANT 3: That’s exactly why I think the products of Adidas Outdoor can’t be that bad after all. Because professional rock climber wouldn’t risk their lives using products of poor quality in such extreme situations. Do I understand correctly that you are convinced that these products are of good quality even though you wouldn’t buy them? PARTICIPANT 3: Yes that’s right. For me the products are simply too noticeable. Let’s come back to Adidas as an overall brand. What do you think does the brand stand for? PARTICIPANT 5: Mass and amateur sports. PARTICIPANT 2: Football. PARTICIPANT 4: Football and tennis. PARTICIPANT 1: Running. PARTICIPANT 3: I think Adidas’ thing is football. (…). PARTICIPANT 5: Team sports after all, but not niche sports like climbing or mountaineering. Can you remember when you encountered Adidas Outdoor for the first time and why? PARTICIPANT 3: I can remember it very well. That must have been in 2007, when they made the speed record on the Nose a route on El Capitan at the Yosemite Valley. I read several articles on the Internet stating that Adidas is now the proud sponsor of the Huber brothers. In your opinion, what does Adidas Outdoor stand for? What would be your associations with the brand? PARTICIPANT 1: A global sport apparel manufacturer that wants to earn some money with the outdoor industry. But I don’t see it as an outdoor brand. Not yet at least. PARTICIPANT 5: Well, I see Adidas as a follower not as a leader or innovator in the outdoor industry. LXIX

Would you regard Adidas Outdoor as authentic overall? PARTICIPANT 3: Well, I think it has to prove itself first within this segment. And the brand needs to convince the outdoor community, at first. But after a while, yes. PARTICIPANT 2: So far they didn’t do anything for the sport itself [referring to outdoor sports]. PARTICIPANT 5: I wouldn’t say so. Experts such as the Huber brothers contribute to the authenticity of the brand. In order to sum it up, so far you do not regard Adidas as an authentic outdoor brand? PARTICIPANT 5: No the brand is still not old enough. It’s new … they should prove themself first. PARTICIPANT 1: Well, when I think of Adidas I always think of poor quality rucksacks, made in China. If I transfer that to climbing equipment, which might be used under extreme conditions, I would have my doubts (…). PARTICIPANT 2, 3: I agree. Does anyone of you have Adidas Outdoor products so far? PARTICIPANT 4: Yes, I have trekking boots of Adidas and I am very pleased with them. I was looking for new trekking boots and as I had running shoes of Adidas as well, I bought my trekking shoes from the same brand. PARTICIPANT 2: No I don’t. But I think the general problem with products of global brands is that within the outdoor segment, people prefer to use their cloths to express themselves and their life style. And that’s why small brands or more specialized brands are preferred. Adidas as a global player might not be fitting for that lifestyle of individualism (…). I wouldn’t like to buy a jacket I see everyday on the street. I would like to have something more individual. PARTICIPANT 4: I don’t see it this way. All these specialized outdoor brands are unfamiliar to me. Adidas after all, is a brand with a name you know. Are you familiar with the latest brand event of Adidas, the Adidas Rockstars? PARTICIPANT 3: Yes, I read about it on Facebook, it’s a boulder competition right? PARTICIPANT 1: Yes, it takes place in Stuttgart right? They have their own Twitter channel. I think that’s a great thing. I followed it for two days and it was almost like a live stream. PARTICIPANT 5: Actually there was also a real live stream on the Adidas Rockstars fan page. PARTICIPANT 2: (…) Well, that’s something, which brings the sports forward. (…). PARTICIPANT 1: (…) it’s important to me that I can benefit from such an event in some way. (…)

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Well, now you mentioned various social networks to me, which provided you with information and insights on Adidas Outdoor. Could you please elaborate on this a bit further? What posts did you notice? Can you remember the sort of advertisement? PARTICIPANT 3: Yes. It appeared to me on Facebook in two forms, actually. First of all, on the news feed. There you see all the breath taking pictures of their athletes, such as expedition footage, pictures about their first ascents and of course product advertisement. Lately they promoted their new Primaloft jacket. And secondly, the product advertisement on the right hand side of your start screen. But I wouldn’t be stupid enough too click on that. Because if you click on this add only once, they will start to bombard you with advertisement of the same type over and over again (…). And what happens if you like one of the promoted products? What would you do? PARTICIPANT 3: Well, I would Google it [use a search engine] and look for information on this product this way, because I don’t want to give them [Facebook] the information on my online search behaviour. Because they can track all the advertisement clicks on Facebook. So if a Facebook brand community or advertisements draws your attention on something and you like it, your next step would be to search for more information on the brands and products on the Internet - Outside of social networks? PARTICIPANT 3: Yes that’s about right. I would first follow the brand page more carefully and than use a search engine to gain more information. I think that’s the best way. (…). PARTICIPANT 2: If you have advertisement on the [Facebook] bar to your right, they already know that you like outdoor stuff. So what’s the point? PARTICIPANT 3: I guess that‘s a personal principle. Would you agree on this? What is your approach? PARTICIPANT 1: Yes. That’s certainly how I would proceed. PARTICIPANT 4: I do so, too. PARTICIPANT 2: I mean it is so handy isn’t it? You just copy what you’re looking for and insert it in the search engine. (…). Okay. So for you social media in combination with Internet based search is the way you interact with the brand online? PARTICIPANT 2, 3, 5: Yes. All of you are familiar with the Adidas brand community if I am correct. Are you also aware of the Adidas Outdoor App, the so-called Adidas Outdoor Magazine, which is an interactive tablet application, published every three months, consisting of videos, articles and interviews around Adidas athletes and the brand’s products. PARTICIPANT 3: No, I didn’t hear about that. LXXI

Participant 5: Me neither. PARTICIPANT 1: I didn’t know that they have their own app. PARTICIPANT 2: I heard about it, but I don’t have a tablet computer or iPad. So it’s of no use to me. Please have a look at the application. What is your impression on it? PARTICIPANT 2: I didn’t know something like that exists. PARTICIPANT 1: I didn’t know that they have so many athletes on their team. But the interactive application is really awesome. Great content. Especially the stories are quite interesting. (…). PARTICIPANT 5: John Jorgenson is also on the Adidas pay list? (…). PARTICIPANT 4: I think that’s great that they support athletes so much. That shows they care about the sport. PARTICIPANT 3: I like the App because the most of it about the actual sports and that’s what interests me. I mean it’s interesting too see somebody climbing. I wouldn’t really care about an app filled with products advertisement. (…) But here you have stories from all over the world from different athletes of different sports. I think I am going to download it regularly. Is there a sort of subscription? PARTICIPANT 1: It’s definitely very interesting. I haven’t seen a comparable thing from any other outdoor brand. I like it that you can get it via the App store or Facebook. That’s fairly uncomplicated. (…). PARTICIPANT 3: (…) I guess it’s really interesting for young people (…). According to your overall impression, is this application something you would share with your friends via Facebook or Twitter? PARTICIPANT 5: Yes, I would, but not because of the products. I think the videos are great. But of course, in each video the brand symbols are literally everywhere. (…) it is almost too much, but apart from that it is awesome. PARTICIPANT 4: It definitely deserves a Like and I would share it. PARTICIPANT 2: I’d share it, too. But I share only content regarding athletes and what they do. I don’t see a point in sharing product information of any sort. Maybe if it’s something that is completely out of the box, but that doesn’t happen too often. PARTICIPANT 1: The app makes a great impression. I would download it at least because of the videos and articles. (…). In order to sum it up once more, what is your overall impression on Adidas Outdoor now? Do you regard it as a true outdoor brand? PARTICIPANT 2: No. PARTICIPANT 3: Not, yet. They aren’t in that business long enough. It takes time to gain knowledge even for a global company like Adidas.

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PARTICIPANT 1: Maybe. (…) Personally I think Adidas is producing sport apparel for so long now that’s why I’m convinced that the products are after all now. And so many professionals are wearing and using it and that wouldn’t be the case if the products would be bad. PARTICIPANT 4, 5: I would say so. (…) But I can’t explain why. What would you change about the brand image if you could? PARTICIPANT 2: I would keep a little more understatement. At the moment it is a little bit too much [concerning the advertisement]. PARTICIPANT 3: I would create more attention to the App. It’s cool but I guess not too many know about it right now. PARTICIPANT 1: I would do more events such as Adidas Rockstars and make it a little bit bigger. An amateur competition would be great. Professional competitions are common but for amateurs you don’t see it so much. Of course I would continue to publish information about athletes on Facebook and YouTube. Customers most likely profit form that. Dear participants we have reached the end of our focus group thank you very much for your time and your active participation.

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APPENDIX B Focus group insights

Positive consideration among outdoor enthusiasts: innovation (+) ! Brands that move outdoor sports forward ! Forerunner position within a segment is highly valued Positive consideration among outdoor enthusiasts: authenticity (+) !

History and brand background in the respective field are regarded as important in order to be an authentic brand

Negative consideration: Mass usage and mass market products (-) ! Outdoor brands used by too many ‘normal’ people are no longer regarded as distinctive enough ! Corporations and global brands are regarded as being not specialized enough Social media platforms: brand content must provide additional value (+) ! Brand events & athlete related content represents relevant content ! eContent and online search ! Recommendations & referrals are regarded as valuable Social media platforms: brand athletes & events ! ! !

Community members are more interested in what athletes do & accomplish rather than following brand pages Customers are reluctant to share product advertisement, however, are very willing share brand athlete based content Enable the emotional charging of a brand

Positive consideration: Adidas Outdoor (+) ! Brand athletes take over role model functions ! Brand testimonials like “Huber Buam” or Sasha Digiulian create crucial associations with the brand. Authenticity is transferred from acknowledged athletes to the brand. ! Brand athletes serve as a proxy for quality ! products used for toplevel performance infers quality ! Among less extreme average amateurs Adidas is well known and perceived as high quality brand ! no resistance against Adidas Outdoor products Negative consideration: Adidas Outdoor (-) ! Too many “normal” people use Adidas products, it is not distinctive enough ! Is regarded to be too young for a trusted outdoor brand. Adidas is considered to need more time to become an expert in its new segment. ! Products are considered to be of good quality, however, core users would not wear it because of not being distinctive enough ! Little awareness of the brand application Adidas Outdoor Magazine LXXIV

Recommendations for brand image adaptations ! Omnipresent display of the Adidas trademark is regarded as excessive/intrusive ! more understatement required ! Adidas needs to bring outdoor sports forward by creating additional value to the outdoor community ! greater emphasis on brand events like Adidas Rockstars ! Greater awareness on Social Media channels necessary ! may be achieved by an increased integration of social media marketing in the overall marketing mix

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APPENDIX C

Synopsis of the SMM of Adidas Outdoor, based on the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s findings

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Statutory Declaration I hereby declare that the underlying thesis with title

Social media marketing as a strategic choice to establish a brand in a new industry â&#x20AC;&#x201C; based on the example of Adidas Outdoor has been composed by myself autonomously and that no means other than those declared were used. In every single case, I have marked parts that were taken out of published or unpublished work, either verbatim or in a paraphrased manner, as such through a quotation. This thesis has not been handed in or published before in the same or similar form. Moreover, the CD attached contains identical content to the thesis at hand.

Reutlingen ________________

____________________________ (Signature)

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