Contents
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Executive Summary - Page 3 About The Brand - Pages 4-5 Brand Identity - Page 6 Consumers - Page 7 Brand Positioning - Page 9 Advertising - Page 10 PR - Page 11 Personal Selling - Page 12-13 Sales Promotion - Page 14 Direct Marketing and Social Media - Page 15 Bibliography - Pages 16-17
Executive Summary
In this report it has b een established that Adidas is a multimedia platform organisation which partakes in sustaining the environment heavily, and holding a connected relationship between the consumer and the business. This has been made clear due to the heavy customer involvement in the innovation process and has allowed Adidas to provide innovative sporting products of a high quality for its consumers. This report will investigate the history of Adidas, exploring how Adidas has become the successful conglomerate it is today. The communications mix has been examined and identified, allowing a better understanding of how Adidas thrives in such a competitive industry.
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About The Brand Adidas headquarters is located in Herzogenaurach, Germany. The company was founded by Adi Dassler who began his phenomenal journey in 1924, accompanied by his brother Rudolf (Adidas Group,n.d). However, the year 1949 is where the story really begins, when Adi and Rudolf’s partnership ended, creating animosity for years to follow. This resulted in Adi registering his first shoe with the famous Adidas three stripes and the beginning of the Adidas empire (Tomlinson, 2010). Adidas derived from Adi short for Adolf and Das for Dassler (Hall, 2009). Adidas now has employees in over 160 countries and more than 55,000 employees, a vast number more than the 47employees Adi started with (Adidas Group, n.d).
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Adidas sell in both retail stores, and outlets like Size, Office and JD which supply multiple products from a diverse range of sports brands. Adidas have a wide range of products including: shoes, clothing and accessories both for men and women, not forgetting the kid’s range, all of which are highend fashionable sporting products distinguished by one of three logos. However, the newer items are usually embellished with the logo in the shape of a mountain. Although, Adidas have not always provided this range of products - it was only in 1967 that Adidas ventured into the apparel section in the market. (Footasylum, n.d).
It is clear that Adidas have their consumers’ best interests at heart, as in 2015 they were rated as the 3rd most sustainable corporation out of 100, suggesting that they care about the planet a Unique Selling Point (USP) for the company (Corporate Knights,2015). In 2015 Adidas managed to ‘generate sales of €17 billion’ and produce more than 778million product units, putting into perspective the size of the company.
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Brand Identity Adidas is a respected brand in the sports industry, focusing on all sports at the highest possible quality. They have a key ambition ‘to be the best sports brand in the world with the goal to shape the future of sport through innovation’ and this will never change (Adidas, Group, n.d). Adidas strive to innovate based on what the sport’s needs to improve, rather than simply what looks good in the headlines; emphasising how much they care about their consumers, rather than exploiting them for their money.
‘Impossible Is Nothing’
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The global nature of the brand is possibly the reason for their heavy involvement in sustaining the environment. This year they removed all plastic bags from their retail stores which should eliminate around 70million plastic shopping bags a year (Adidas Group, 2016). On top of this Adidas and Parley have collaborated to turn waste into a running shoe (Adidas Group,2016). Emphasising the tagline as stated by Sarosh Waiz 2013 ‘impossible is nothing’.
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The 3 stripes logo is renowned worldwide, as is the brand name which is always displayed in the same font - AdiNeue (Modern Game, n.d). The trefoil logo is used on the Adidas Originals products (Stark, 2012), this enables them to distinguish the difference between different lines within the brand easily, especially for the consumer.
The main target audience for Adidas are 13-25 years old. Typically these consumers buy the product for fashion purposes rather than sporting, due to the big brand name and identity. This is why Adidas work with big fashion names like Kanye West and Stella McCartney - creating the Team GB kit for the 2012 Olympics (anon, 2012) on top of other lines in order to produce fashionable items which allow for the best sporting experience. Implying this is the reason Adidas provide a student discount of 15% (Adidas,2016). In addition to this another target market focuses on passionate athletes, who need the best equipment to enhance their performance.
Therefore, buying patterns vary. Depending on whether students have the money to afford the high brand prices, enabling them to invest in the essential garment to complete their wardrobe. Whereas, athletes may be lucky enough to be gifted with new items due to sponsorships or simply purchase the newest garments tailored to their sport. Furthermore, it is likely that consumers buying for fashion purposes may purchase through e-commerce rather than through bricks and mortar because they don’t need such a precise fit as an athlete would.
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Consumers
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Brand Positioning Brand Positioning is all about where the brand fits into the market segment against rival brands. Adidas is working in an extremely competitive environment. Competing with multiple companies of a vast scale like themselves, such as; Nike and Puma (the latter being founded by Adis brother Rudolf (Tomlinson, 2010) both of which collaborate with fashion icons to provide fashionable sporting goods - Puma and Rihanna collaboration. Adidas was the third largest footwear brand in the US in 2015, with Nike reigning at the top, suggesting that ‘the race is on’ between Nike and Adidas (Leach, 2015). Adidas focus on providing fashionable sporting goods as their main unique selling point, which in recent fashion has become very popular; recent trends have been all about comfort which sports-wear is all about; but there’s also been an
increase in sports apparel being worn when not partaking in sport. In order to emulate the professionalism of the brand for athletes, Adidas sponsor respectable sporting personalities . There are multiple emotional selling points (ESP) for Adidas. However, the main two ESP’s are their concern for their customers and the environment. Adidas make it profusely clear that everything they do is to improve the experience for their customers. Using signs in store reading: ‘Perfect fit? Great. Not perfect? No problem. Just ask us.’ to let customers know that they will do anything to provide the desired equipment and fit, enhancing their shopping experience. In doing so Adidas make their customers feel valued.
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news.adidas.com
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Advertising
Advertising is the way in which a product or service is promoted. Adidas choose to advertise through multiple different media platforms, using TV and printed advertisements and the use of billboards; frequently choosing to advertise in key times such as during the Olympics and when the World Cup or Euros are on. Allowing for the largest number of possible consumers to view the Ad. For example the advert release of the Fsoi football boot ‘was launched during the evening of the Champions League final.’ (Garrett, 2009) In
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January 2016 Adidas created the ‘Your Future Is Not Mine’ commercial, promoting the Adidas Originals collection highlighted with the trefoil logo shown on the garments worn (Birkner, 2016). This advert was particularly focused on the teenage generation that Adidas targets, asking consumers to ‘create their own future, and not look back’ according to Brandon Beaty, something which many teenagers feel they’re not allowed to do. This ad is still being played. Adidas also produce adverts which are catered more to the athletes
of the target market, enlisting famous footballers to star in their ads such as; Gareth Bale, Paul Pogba and Jose Mourinho (Williams,2016). Showcasing the quality aspect of Adidas rather than the fashion side. Using football fields and highlighting the skills of the athletes, implying that if you buy this product you’ll be as good as the top athletes in the world. Images from news.adidas.com
PR Adidas are sponsors of the world cup and have been since 1970. This has recently been extended until 2030. They were also official sportswear sponsor of the games in 2016, therefore every athlete at the games were representing Adidas(Bain, 2016). Adidas also sponsor football teams, Manchester United being one of these, holding a contract which lasts until 2025 and is yearly both £75million(TOTALSPORTEK2,2016).
On top of this they use celebrity endorsers such as David Beckham, who signed a lifetime endorsement deal with Adidas in 2003 worth $160.8million, this means that Adidas have faith in David Beckham continuing to be respectable and having an important stance for many years to
Adidas have collaborated with a number of different celebrities, Pharrell Williams, Kanye West, Stella McCartney and not forgetting Yohji Yamamoto with the huge Y-3 collaboration which even has their own retail stores. The name Y-3 derived from the collaboration of both parties with
Images from news.adidas.com
Adidas are able to promote their brand by choosing to sponsor teams and events. Expressing the quality level through the use of professional athletes without having to create an expensive advert, because if it’s good enough for the professionals it’s more than good enough for the aspiring athletes.
come (TOTALSPORTEK2, 2016).
the Y standing for Yohji Yamamoto and the 3 signifying Adidas’ 3 stripes, while the ‘-‘ represents the bond between the two as stated on the Y-3 website in 2016.
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Personal Selling
Adidas choose to sell using both the B2B(Y-3, 2016) and the B2C format. Selling their product in retail stores such as Selfridges - providing the more fashionable ranges (the London store provides both the Stella McCartney collection and the Y-3), while the products in stores such as JD are catered to the more professional sporting look. Obviously, Adidas have their own
stores in which they sell directly to customers with a much wider product range than in the separate retailers. By having their product in both their own stores and other retailers they are able to enhance the footfall number, which theoretically should increase the chance of
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consumers buying a product. In conjunction with this Adidas have had multiple ‘pop up stores’ in the shape of shoe boxes, for example the most recent one in Shoreditch, in January 2014, to promote the Stan Smith shoe collection (Clark Estes,2014).
Images from news.adidas.com
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Sales Promotion
Images from news.adidas.com
Your Future is not mine Sales promotion is as Doyle states in a dictionary of marketing ‘A direct inducement to buy, either by offering added value or a direct incentive to the indirect sales channel’. Adidas provide numerous different discounts for the consumersgiving customers’ discounts specifically for them, via email on their birthday, increasing the chances of a purchase; customers feel valued and therefore more loyal to the company. They also ask customers to write a review to get 15% off their next order this allows Adidas to receive customer feedback and improve their performance(Adidas, 2016). On top of this a student discount of 15% as stated on the Adidas website 2016 is provided, meaning students are more likely to buy
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a product from Adidas as this makes purchases much more affordable. Adidas have different tags on garments for the different lines. The Adidas Originals range is distinguished with a blue and white tag. A black and white tag represents the performance line. However all tags have the 3stripes on them which symbolise Adidas. The store is laid out in a way that makes it easy for shoppers to find what they want; signs stating where specific garments and products made for individual sports are allow for this. Once again, increasing the chance of selling an item because customers like convenience, they’re much less likely to buy a product if they have to look hard for it.
Direct Marketing and
Social Media As mentioned before Adidas email to communicate with customers providing previous customers with updates on the product and informing them about the current discounts being provided. By keeping customers informed they won’t forget about the brand, although customers may find this annoying rather than helpful.
Adidas have pages on Youtube (Adidas Youtube, n.d), Twitter (Adidas Twitter, n.d), Facebook(Adidas Facebook, n.d), and Instagram (Adidas Instagram, n.d) . Choosing a free method of communicating with customers, considering the target market is mainly teenagers who have a big standing on social media; it is a cheap easy and effective way of advertising their products. They’re able to broadcast their TV advertisements via these websites giving their adverts a huge coverage, and continue to update customers frequently.
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Bibliograhy Adidas. (2016). Student Discount. Retrieved from http://www.adidas. co.uk/student-discount Adidas. (n.d). Promotions. Retrieved from http://www.adidas.co.uk/promotions Adidas.(n.d). Youtube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/user/adidas Adidas. (n.d). Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/adidas/ Adidas. (n.d). Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/adidas?lang=en Adidas. (n.d). Facebook. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/adidasUK/?brand_redir=182162001806727 Adidas Group. (2016, April 22). Adidas Group Make Plastic Shopping Bags History. Retrieved from http://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/ news-archive/press-releases/2016/adidas-group-makes-plastic-shopping-bags-history/ Adidas Group. (2016, June 7). Fact Snacks. Retrieved from http://www. adidas-group.com/en/magazine/fact-snacks/ Adidas Group. (n.d). Shaping The Future Of Sport. Retrieved from http:// www.adidas-group.com/en/brands/adidas/shaping-future-sport/ Adidas Group. (n.d). History. Retrieved from http://www.adidas-group.com/ en/group/history/ Adidas Group. (2016), Fact Snacks. Retrieved from http://www.adidas-group.com/en/ Anonymous. (2012). ADIDAS. Campaign, 15. Bain. M. (2016, August 5). Athletes aren’t the only ones who’ve waited years to compete in the 2016 Olympics. Retrieved from http:// qz.com/749860/athletes-arent-the-only-ones-whove-waited-years-tocompete-in-the-2016-olympics/ Birkner. C. (2016, January 25). 4 Influencers Break Away From a Dystopian Future in Adidas’ Edgy New Campaign. Retrieved from http://www. adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/new-adidas-ads-show-exodus-dystopian-future-169185
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Clark Estes. A. (2014 ,January 28). London’s Giant Shoebox Is Actually An Adidas Pop-Up Shop. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/londons-giant-shoebox-is-actually-an-adidas-pop-up-sho-1510895695 CK Staff. (2015, January 21). 2015 Global 100 results. Retrieved from http://www.corporateknights.com/magazines/2015-global-100-issue/2015-global-100-results-14218559/ Dearey. G. (2009). Adidas. Revolution, 68-69. Doyle, C. (2011). Sales promotion. A Dictionary of Marketing, A Dictionary of Marketing. Footasylum. (n.d) Brand History. Retrieved from http://www.footasylum. com/adidas-history/ Hall. A. (2009, September 21). Adidas and Puma bury the hatchet after 60 years of brothers’ feud. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ news/worldnews/europe/germany/6215542/Adidas-and-Puma-bury-thehatchet-after-60-years-of-brothers-feud.html
Leach. A. (2015, November 9). Nike vs. adidas: Who Owns the Mar-
ket?. Retrieved from http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/11/09/nike-adidas-market-shares/
Stark. T. (2012, July 11). The Adidas Logo. Retrieved from https://www. logaster.com/blog/adidas-logo/ The Modern Game. (n.d) Jeremy Mickels adineuePRO. Retrieved from http://www.themoderngame.co.uk/jeremy-mickel-x-adidas/ Tomlinson. A. (2010). Adidas. A Dictionary of Sports Studies, A Dictionary of Sports Studies. TOTALSPORTEK2. (2016, October 28). Footballs 10 Most Expensive Kit Suppliers Deals. Retrieved from http://www.totalsportek.com/football/expensive-kit-contracts/ TOTALSPORTEK2. (2016, January 27). Biggest Athlete Endorsement Deals In Sports History. Retrieved from http://www.totalsportek.com/money/biggest-endorsement-deals-sports-history/ Waiz. S. (2013, June 8). The Adidas Slogan: All You Need To Know. Retrieved from http://www.advergize.com/advertising/adidas-slogan Williams. E. (2016, August 2). Enough of the ‘blah blah blah’ says Adidas in new ad campaign. Retrieved from https://www.creativereview.co.uk/ enough-of-the-blah-blah-blah-says-adidas-in-new-ad-campaign/ Y-3. (n.d). B2B. Retrieved from http://www.y-3.com/us/#/b2b/ Y-3. (n.d).YOHJI YAMAMOTO. Retrieved from http://www.y-3.com/us/#/ yohji-yamamoto/concept/
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