Marketing and Adidas

Page 1: Introduction

Since it was established in Germany in 1949, by Adolf Dassler, adidas has been synonymous with the sporting industry. Today, adidas is a global public company and is one of the largest sports brands in the world. It is a household brand name with its three stripes logo recognised in markets across the world. The company’s product portfolio is vast, ranging from state-of-the-art sports...

Page 2: The marketing mix

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For most organisations the marketing function is vital for survival. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as: ‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer requirements profitably.’ This definition outlines the key purposes of the marketing function.

Page 6: Conclusion

An organisation’s marketing mix is its own way to uniquely position the brand and drive sales. For adidas, this includes understanding what its consumers want and producing innovative products that fulfil these needs. Using innovative methods of sports marketing, on a scale never before seen in the industry, enabled adidas to target the youth audience in London whilst also having a global.

Since it was established in Germany in 1949, by Adolf Dassler, adidas has been synonymous with the sporting industry. Today, adidas is a global public company and is one of the largest sports brands in the world. It is a household brand name with its three stripes logo recognised in markets across the world. The company’s product portfolio is vast, ranging from state-of-the-art sports.

Page 2: The marketing mix

For most organisations the marketing function is vital for survival. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as: ‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer requirements profitably.’ This definition outlines the key purposes of the marketing function. These are: to compete in a competitive marketplace to.

Page 3: Marketing strategies

Within the marketing function of any organisation there will be key goals, or objectives, to be achieved. For example, increasing the market share by 3% or entering a new market overseas. To achieve these marketing objectives requires a plan that details the actions needed. These plans are referred to as marketing strategies.

Page 4: Promotion

All elements of the marketing mix are important. However, in increasingly competitive markets innovative methods of promotion can create a competitive advantage. Promotional activity is used to communicate with consumers about the brand and its products. As there were more than 50 London 2012 sponsors, adidas needed to ensure it communicated the right messages, at the right time, through the appropriate channels for its target audience. It aimed to create national support for Team GB through its ‘Take the Stage’ campaign. The acronym AIDA is useful when planning promotional activity, promotion should aim to: initiate awareness amongst consumers generate interest for and desire to have the product ensure action to purchase.

Above-the-line promotion

There are many different methods of promotion. Above-the-line promotion refers to traditional methods of advertising, such as, print adverts in magazines and newspapers, billboards or online and TV advertisements. This form of promotion is expensive. As mass audiences become harder to reach through advertising, for example, an increasing number of people record TV and fast-forward the adverts, innovative methods of below-the-line activity is becoming increasingly important to engage the audience. Above-the-line activity for adidas’ campaign included TV adverts that showcased the best UK talent across sport, street and style. The adverts contained carefully planned product placement.

Amongst those featured were David Beckham, Wretch 32 and Derrick Rose. In addition to a significant outdoor media spend, adidas featured artist impressions of athletes on 17 London Metro front pages. TV adverts featuring athletes such as Jessica Ennis and Tom Daley were used to rally support for Team GB. In these adverts athletes shared their intimate goals, fears and thoughts, something which was dramatically different to other sponsors of London 2012.

Below-the-line promotion

In contrast, below-the-line promotion aims to reach more targeted groups of consumers. For example, through sponsorship deals, direct marketing, public relations and social media. Below-the-line promotion targeted at the youth audience was a key method for adidas to achieve its marketing objectives. It used a wide range of promotional activities to create deeper engagement with its audience, mixing traditional media with an innovative use of social and digital channels. The scale of the activation of this campaign was an industry first. Its TV adverts aimed to drive consumers to a website where they could demonstrate their talents for a chance to meet their idols.

Through ‘Project 32’, adidas had already rewarded 32 talented youngsters in London with the chance to meet leaders in their chosen fields, such as the sporting and musical industry, giving undiscovered talent the chance to ‘Take the Stage’. Social media played an integral part in adidas’ campaign. For example, on Twitter #takethestage became the summer trend for supporting Team GB. Videos on YouTube created hundreds of millions of views, including a video of Team GB athletes singing along to Queen’s ‘Don’t stop me now’. In addition, a large photo booth was set up at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford. Members of the public then entered the booth to show support for Team GB. Videos of peoples’ reactions to David Beckham making a surprise appearance received 3.2 million views, as well as international TV coverage.

Read about product functionality

Page 5: Measuring a promotional campaign

Promotional activity is very expensive. Organisations want to see a return on investment (ROI) for the money they spend on a promotional campaign. Sponsorship of London 2012 was no exception. Every aspect of its promotional campaign, both online and offline, was continuously monitored and measured. This enabled adidas to demonstrate that becoming the Official Sportswear Partner of the London Games and the exclusive licensee of all branded (adidas + London 2012) and event branded (London 2012 only) apparel was cost effective. Throughout the campaign adidas monitored all of its media coverage. This data was then used to establish whether the marketing objectives had been achieved. The table below demonstrates the significant return achieved through this campaign and how Adidas successfully achieved its marketing objectives. adidas | Planning effective marketing strategies for a target audience

Page 6: Conclusion

An organisation’s marketing mix is its own way to uniquely position the brand and drive sales. For adidas, this includes understanding what its consumers want and producing innovative products that fulfil these needs. Using innovative methods of sports marketing, on a scale never before seen in the industry, enabled adidas to target the youth audience in London whilst also having a global reach through social media and online promotion. Sponsorship deals such as adidas’ heritage with the Olympic Games are very expensive. However, as this case study shows, through well planned marketing strategies with clearly defined objectives they can offer a way of creating deeper engagement with consumers. Partnering the brand with London 2012, Team GB and the Paralympics engaged adidas’ target consumers and created huge amounts of support for Team GB before, during and after the Games.

Five performance benefits

To be relevant to our target consumer as the performance brand, we have identified five consumer benefits which will form the basis of our innovation pipeline for the next five years. We believe that serving these benefits will keep us at the forefront of the industry, building brand image and allowing us to leverage our technologies and positioning seamlessly across categories. Faster: To help athletes be faster, we will focus on reducing product weight, making the lightest products on the market. The franchise will be built with the adiZero platform. Already prominent in 2010, this will be a key initiative for 2011 where we will introduce even lighter products in football, basketball and American football.

Stronger:

With adiPower, we intend to create a franchise to own power enhancement in sport. This platform will include products such as Predator in football, Barricade in tennis and Techfit apparel.

Smarter:

Through interactive products, we will help athletes and consumers of all fitness levels to be, train and perform smarter. We work with the best athletes and coaches around the world. Through platforms such as miCoach, we will make this knowledge available to every consumer, helping them to define and work towards their individual goals.

Cooler:

These products will be geared to help the athlete to always have the right temperature (cooler, warmer, wind protection, etc.). This will be served through the Clima franchise, which is already one of our best-known franchises around the world.

Natural:

Natural motion is a major trend in our industry. Drawing on our long history, experience and understanding of the shape of the foot and movement of the body, we will create a new platform of products around natural motion over the next five years

. http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/adidas-unveils-new-global-brand-strategy/4005658.article

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