Table of Contents

TableofContents
ExecutiveSummary......................................................................................................................................2
MarketingResearch.....................................................................................................................................3
ProductAnalysis...........................................................................................................................................6
CustomerAnalysis........................................................................................................................................8
Positioning................................................................................................................................................8
Segmentation.........................................................................................................................................10
TargetMarket.........................................................................................................................................10
BuyingMotivesandSourcesofCustomerInformation.........................................................................12
FocusGroup...............................................................................................................................................13
SWOTAnalysis............................................................................................................................................13
CreativeStrategy........................................................................................................................................16
MarketingIssues................................................................................................................................16
KeyCampaignObjectives...................................................................................................................17
IntegratedBrandPromotionCampaign.....................................................................................................18
WebsiteCritique.................................................................................................................................18
RoughAdPromotionalMaterial(Whatisandexplanationofstrategy)............................................20
SocialMediaMarketingCampaign/Causerelatedmarketing/PublicRelations.................................23
MediaPlan..........................................................................................................................................25
Evaluation...........................................................................................................................................26
SummaryandConclusion...........................................................................................................................26
ReferenceList.............................................................................................................................................27
Appendices.................................................................................................................................................28
ExecutiveSummary
To better understand Adidas ‘current situation, we conducted a situation analysis by
researching the market, analyzing the products that Adidas sells, performed a customer analysis,
and constructed a SWOT analysis.
During the market research, we determined that the industry is one of the largest in the
apparel world, and that main competitors are Nike and Under Armor. Under Armor has recently
ousted Adidas as the number two athletic apparel company in the US, and is a growing threat
internationally. We also determined that Adidas is underutilizing athlete endorsements, but has
recently announced a plan to sign more American athletes to help change this.
We then took a look at the products that Adidas offers, and determined that they are on
par with the industry standard in terms of points of parity and points of difference. We also found
that there is a growing trend to wear athletic clothing in casual settings, and not just while
performing some sort of athletic activity.
When looking at Adidas’ customers, we found that they are targeting younger
generations with more active lifestyles. We also found that some people who regularly purchase
Adidas prefer Nike, but buy Adidas because it is cheaper.
After gathering all the background information, we started to construct an Integrated
Brand Promotion plan for Adidas. We decided that some key objectives should be to regain 2nd
place in the US industry from Under Armor, increase brand awareness in the US, and increase
US sales by 35%.
We came up with the slogan, “Conquer from within” for our proposed campaign, because
it signifies what Adidas as a company must do, and what athletes around the world must do
every day in order to become better. We also proposed a two-part social media plan for Adidas to
implement. The first part would be a cause marketing campaign that would give college
scholarships to inner-city athletes. The second part would be an interactive Twitter campaign that
would give fans a chance to meet an Adidas sponsored athlete and free tickets to a game. We
also think that Adidas should drastically improve their internet marketing, and start a direct mail
campaign in order to help drive traffic to both online and brick-and-mortar stores.
MarketingResearch
Sportswear is one of the most dynamic, fastest booming markets in the clothing industry.
In the 1970s, the athletic sportswear market evolved into something the world had never seen
before. Once a market full of product lines aimed at a small, athletic niche, the sportswear
industry blew up and was thrown into the mainstream, everyday clothing market. Prior to the
1970s, athletic sportswear was purchased by consumers for one thing and one thing only:
athletics. Today, as favorable healthy lifestyle trends continue to develop, more and more athletic
apparel and footwear is being bought for leisure and casual use. In 2013 alone, global sportswear
retail sales were estimated at $263 billion dollars, which comprised 15.3% of the overall clothing
market.
To no surprise, the United States market holds extreme value for athletic brands. “Valued
at an estimated $80 billion, the US market for sportswear is by far the largest globally, over three
times higher in value than the second-ranked sportswear market China” (Euromonitor
International, 2013). This makes the United States a much sought after, crucial market for major
sportswear brands.
The tides are turning in the United States sportswear and athletic footwear market, and
the world’s 2nd largest sportswear brand, Adidas, continues to plummet down the leaderboard.
Once a global powerhouse only posed a threat by the world athletic apparel leader, Nike, Adidas
is losing its crucial U.S. market share, and as of 2014, has a new competitor to deal with; Under
Armour. “Under Armour's sports apparel sales, which account for 14 percent of the U.S. market,
expanded to more than twice those of Adidas” (Mirabella, 2014). Under Armour’s total sales
jumped in 2014 by 32% to 3.08 billion, while Adidas’ net U.S. sales fell 7%. When Under
Armour’s CEO Kevin Plank was asked by the Wall Street Journal how he felt about Adidas, his
response was, “We’re not going to compete with our dumbest competitor.” While Adidas did not
respond with a viscous comeback, Adidas’ North American president did respond by saying,
“We’re focused on our business and fired up with all the energy we’ve got right now” (Germano,
2015). Under Armour’s recent success can be largely attributed to four key components of its
business: the company’s large U.S. marketing budget, its focus on innovative footwear, its
increase in international sales, and the company’s growing sales to women. In 2014 alone, Under
Armour spent a staggering $330 million on advertising, showcasing its willingness to further
establish itself in international market (Marder, 2014).
Nike, the global leader in the sportswear and athletic footwear industry, increased its
North American sales 10.22% in 2014. Boasting an acclaimed 60% of the U.S. athletic footwear
market share and 25% globally, it’s no surprise that Nike remains Adidas’ largest competitor
(Statista, 2014). Nike’s global success can largely be attributed to its established, globally
recognized brand. According to Forbes magazine, Nike was #21 in the world’s recognizable
brands in 2014, outranking #70 Adidas. The company invested 3.03 billion dollars in advertising
in 2014 alone, nearly double that of Adidas who has a working global marketing budget of 1.72
billion dollars. Over the years, Nike has managed to stay ahead of the technology curve which
has aided immensely in increasing its customer retention. The company’s innovative and
industry leading products have attracted some of the world’s most elite professional athletes,
from Michael Jordan to Tiger Woods. With such an established brand and powerful
endorsements, it’s not surprising that Nike remains the number one sportswear brand in the
world.
One of the biggest market constraints for the sportswear and footwear industry has been
the significant devaluation of the Russian ruble and other emerging currencies. Negative
currency effects wiped more than $615 million off Adidas’ top line last year (The Adidas Group,
2015).
While 2014 was undoubtedly a year of ups and downs for Adidas, the ups definitely
outweigh the downs. Although Adidas has lost market share in the U.S., the company continues
to prosper internationally. Adidas increased net global sales by 2% in 2014, and remains the
number two international sportswear and footwear company. Additionally, Adidas was the main
sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, and grew football (American Soccer) sales by more than 20%.
Adidas’ lifestyle businesses, Adidas Originals and NEO, increased 12% in 2014, and show no
signs of stopping the sales growth (The Adidas Group, 2015).
ProductAnalysis
Adidas has a large selection of many different athletic apparel products. Most of the
products that Adidas offers are intended to be used during some sort of sport or athletic activity,
and are under the brand Adidas Sports Performance. They also offer some products under their
Adidas Originals brand, which is meant to be a lifestyle line of products as opposed to athletic
performance merchandise. Another brand that they offer products under is the Adidas NEO line,
which is also a lifestyle brand, but it is positioned to be targeting a younger demographic than
Originals. In addition, the styles of the NEO line change much more rapidly than the Originals
brand, allowing Adidas to move into the world of fast fashion retailers. Adidas also owns
TaylorMade, Adams Golf, Ashworth, and Reebok, but we’re going to focus on the products that
are under the Adidas brand.
One of the most recognizable symbols that is on nearly every Adidas product is the
Adidas logo, three parallel stripes somewhere, or a combination of the two. The three stripes
have grown synonymous with Adidas over the years, and are nearly as recognizable as the Nike
swoosh. Adidas also offers several technologies that are incorporated into many products, most
notably Climacool, which is how Adidas competes with Nike’s Dri-fit technology. Furthermore,
they offer technologies such as Climalite (light-weight), Climachill (cooling), and Climawarm
(warming). These technologies are usually applied to their athletic shirts, shorts, and socks.
Generally Adidas shoes have other technology incorporated, such as Adiwear (rubber) and
Adiprene (midsole).
Adidas offers thousands of products for to consumers under Adidas Sports Performance,
Adidas Originals, and Adidas NEO. The company offers products in almost every moderately
popular sport played in the world, including, soccer, basketball, football, baseball, tennis, golf,
running, skateboarding, and snowboarding just to name some. The company has positioned itself
to be a direct competitor with Nike in every market worldwide. The two companies have been
rivals for years and while Nike has grown in popularity, they have also begun to raise their prices
higher than what Adidas charges for comparable products.
When most people think of using Adidas products, they are going to use them for some
sort of athletic event, whether it is soccer cleats to play a game in, running shoes to jog in, or a
Climacool shirt to lift weights in. The usage for Adidas Originals and Adidas NEO are different
though, with most people wearing those products casually as they would with jeans or t-shirts.
There is not much seasonal fluctuation in sales for Adidas, mostly because they change
their product line to fit the seasons. For instance, during summer they push tennis, golf,
skateboarding, and baseball gear. In the fall they promote soccer and football most. During the
winter they offer more options for basketball and snowboarding. According to their financial
reports for 2013 and 2014, their biggest quarter is Q3 by about 11%. This is most likely because
July-September is both back to school time and pre-season for many major sports.
Adidas has developed some of the best brand equity in the athletic apparel industry, right
behind Nike. Adidas obviously has salience since it is the second largest athletic apparel maker
in the world. If asked to name two sports performance apparel companies, most people in the
world would name Nike and then Adidas, showing the brand’s breadth and depth of awareness.
The first times consumers use Adidas products they generally evaluate the brand based on the
performance of the merchandise. This is where Adidas shows off its points of parity and
difference with competitors like Nike and Under Armor, such as Climacool technology, the logo
and three stripes displayed prominently, and the durability of the product. Consumers also take
into consideration how effectively the product gets the job done, how much the product cost, and
whether or not they like the style and design of the product. Once the consumer moves on from
performance, they turn to their own judgments, looking at how the quality of the product was
compared to competitors while also looking at the value provided based on price. In addition,
consumers will look at how credible Adidas is compared to competitors, and how Adidas is
trying to differentiate them in the market. The next and final step to developing brand equity
with consumers is resonance. This happens when a consumer develops extreme brand loyalty
and sees the brand as a part of their identity. Consumers who reach this stage will actively seek
interaction with Adidas, whether it is over Social media, attending an Adidas sponsored event, or
becoming a part with other extremely loyal Adidas consumers to create a brand community.
CustomerAnalysis
Positioning
Adidas has many potential buyers caused by the amount of variation among the product
lines they offer. This world renowned company has recently shifted its focus and expanded its
target market by offering more clothing and accessories in addition to sporting equipment.
Adidas has a branded range of male and female clothing, shoes or body-care and eyewear. They
brand products into range of male, female and kids, according to geographic, psychographic, and
lifestyle segmentation.
From a geographical standpoint, Adidas uses a tactic referred to as geographic
marketing. This strategy allows Adidas to market specific products to certain areas in an
effective way. For example, Adidas soccer cleat commercials and ads are seen more in Europe as
opposed to America because soccer isn't as popular or as publicized in the United States as it is
in Europe and other external countries. “One thing's for sure: as a Group, we target the leading
market position in all markets in which we compete. Nevertheless, we still have to pick our
battles to reach the top. We have prioritized our investments based on those markets which offer
the best medium- to long-term growth and profitability opportunities. With this in mind, we
continue to place a considerable emphasis on expanding our activities in the emerging markets,
particularly China and Russia, as well as building market share in underpenetrated markets such
as the United States (The Adidas Group, 2015).” Adidas uses this strategy to reach achievers,
experiencers, and innovators in the VALS category. These customers are open to new ideas,
goal-oriented, and enthusiastic. They are most likely to live a lifestyle and purchase products
from Adidas.
Perhaps most successful and most applied segmentation strategy Adidas has used
has been psychographic segmentation, which appeals to people’s personalities, attitudes,
motives, and even our lifestyles. The aim is to not only appeal to the younger, generation but to
baby boomers as well. With the use of demographic variables such as age and location Adidas is
able to segment their approach to different target markets with ease. Age segmentation is
remarkably important as it allows them to market products to the most effective age group.
Similar to most active and performance gear brands, emphasis is mainly placed on marketing to
the younger generation as individuals who are younger tend to be more increasingly active than
people of older age.
Positioning statement: Adidas aims to be the global leader in the sporting goods industry with
brands built on a passion for sports and a healthy lifestyle. They are committed to continuously
strengthening their products and brands to advance their competitive position while supporting a
healthy lifestyle. (Refer to figure A)
Segmentation
In the recent years the Adidas executive board has taken a more focused approached in
lifestyle segmentation.” As part of our market segmentation strategy and to increase our appeal
to a younger, more price-conscious generation of lifestyle consumers, the Adidas NEO label was
established to cater specifically to their needs. Adidas NEO targets the young fashionable teen,
aged between 14 and 19 years. These teens are ‘digital natives’ and live for now. They are ready
to go, discovering their own way and style, and the NEO label is all about them. It is all about
being open and engaged with this teenage consumer, enabling them to participate with the label
and enjoy experiences that only NEO can provide, such as styling an outfit for Selena Gomez or
being part of the NEO collection created especially for the New York Fashion Week. To ensure
success, the NEO formula employs a ‘fast fashion’ business model. This means quick reaction to
emerging trends through shorter lead times and excellence in retail execution (The Adidas
Group, 2015).” This segmentation has the potential to generate more sales, however there are
then more target markets to focus on.
Adidas is mainly targeting competitive sports based on innovation and technology with
Adidas Sport Performance. This sub-brand is the multi-sport specialist. The target consumers
range from sports participants at the highest level to those inspired by sport or who simply love
sport. Everything at Adidas reflects the spirit of Adi Dassler, the founder of the company. The
main objective is simple: to make athletes better, with innovation at the heart of all Adidas Sport
Performance products. Football, running and basketball are our key strategic categories.
TargetMarket
As mentioned previously, another target market to consider is Millennials, ages 18-34.
This group traditionally has buying behavior and attitudes that make them important to target.
Millennials are more likely than other generations to shop, dine and travel with groups, whether
these are organized interest groups, less formal groupings of peers or excursions with extended
family, according to Boston Consulting Group data. Millennials don’t consume food, beverages,
services, products or media in silence. They eat noisily (so to speak) and very visually. They
review, blog and Tumblr, update Wikipedia entries and post YouTube, Vine and Instagram
videos. Often these posts concern their consumption activities, interests and aspirations. All told,
as Boston Consulting Group reports, “the vast majority of millennials report taking action on
behalf of brands and sharing brand preferences in their social groups (Solomon, 2014).” These
characteristics should not be overlooked, since many competitors offer similar products as
Adidas it is important that Adidas seeks out influencers for their products. Since this group is
very social they have high potential to serve as a reference groups to other potential consumers.
Furthermore, this group should be the primary target to serve because more than a third of
millennials of all ages said they influence what products their parents buy, what shops and
restaurants they visit and what trips they take (Solomon 2014). Since baby boomers are most
likely to be their parents and they are openly communicating with them their parents will receive
double the marketing if Adidas focuses on these two groups.
It is important to note that Adidas has many endorsements with celebrities that
help them promote their brand to different target markets. They endorse celebrities in many
sports including football, gymnastics, baseball, basketball, golf, boxing, cricket, cycling, fencing,
soccer, field hockey, and more. These sponsorships assist them in marketing to new customers
because each one of roughly 30 sports that they sponsor is weighted differently in every country.
For example, soccer is a lot more popular in Europe, so they put more money and marketing
efforts into selling soccer equipment in this area than let’s say, China. Customer’s look up to
these various celebrities such as Robert Griffin III, Sergio Garcia, Derrick Rose, David
Beckham, and others, which positively influence their purchase decisions.
BuyingMotivesandSourcesofCustomerInformation
Adidas has a long history of offering top of the line sports equipment, apparel, and
accessories. Target members choose to buy this product for two main reasons, for comfort and
pleasure or pride and prestige. The equipment and clothing Adidas offers is top of the line in
both performance and style. Using these items makes customers not only feel good about
themselves, but also makes the customer feel better around their peers. The products Adidas
offers largely support the wants of people who are looking to live a healthier and more active
life. Their products promote an active lifestyle whether it is playing competitively or
recreationally. The company has always been an innovator whenever it comes to designing and
providing comfortable sportswear and sports gear for specific requirements of players. It has
made advancements to the designs that players used. Such advancements have led to certain new
creations that players found appreciable. The company has received various accolades for its
designs and styles, as these are always focused on supporting and enhancing the game of a
professional player. It is the love of people for this brand that has made the company one of the
biggest sponsors of leading sports events.
Target consumers worldwide see athletes like Derrick Rose, Messi, and others use these
products, which influences them to purchase them. Additionally, these target audience members
are happier while using the product because the target audience associates the product with the
sponsored athlete that uses it. There is somewhat of a chain reaction when it comes to how most
customers learn about the products they have to offer. First the customer sees a professional
player with the product; next they start noticing their peers with the product, and then, if they are
influenced enough, choose to purchase the product.
FocusGroup
Our focus group consisted of eight participants; it was divided into four females and four
males with an age group ranging from 19 to 22. We asked them a range of questions that would
help us understand what their thoughts about Adidas products were through their experiences
with the products they purchased. We asked them if they would buy Adidas products again and
majority of them said they would. This was great but when we asked what brand would they
prefer between Nike or Adidas everyone said they would prefer Nike more than Adidas, which
shows that Nike is still the leader in the market. Adidas’ advertisement is lacking in this area
because majority of them said they could not recall any Adidas advertisements or could not
remember what the advertisement was about. When it came down to celebrity endorsements for
both Adidas and Nike most of them did not know any Adidas endorsed athletes and the ones that
were mentioned were all European athletes. With Nike, a few participants could mention an
athlete that is endorsed by Nike. Overall Adidas needs to increase its advertising method to
improve brand awareness. (Refer to table A)
SWOTAnalysis
Strengths
1. The company has a long heritage and high brand value since 1924. Adidas has a strong brand
reputation across the world, especially in Europe.
2. The company sponsors major sporting events including the Olympics, as well as several
athletes and teams, which has increased their goodwill as a brand.
3. The company has worldwide presence and is internationally recognized.
4. The company has a very diversified product portfolio ranging from athletic shoes, sports
equipment, to clothing and accessories. They have well-known subsidiaries, such as Reebok and
Rockport.
5. The company’s strong and innovative marketing over the years has created strong brand
retention in the minds of customers with the help of 45,000 people employed by Adidas.
Weaknesses
1. The products can sometimes be costly due to innovative technology or production methods. In
order for Adidas to be competitive it needs to be consistent and continuous in its innovation,
which can lead to a rather high expenditure
2. Stiff competition and similar big brands means customers have high brand switching. Since
there is high competition in this industry Adidas needs to be dependent upon customer loyalty,
which has fluxed greatly over the recent years.
3. The macro- economic scale for Adidas products is highly susceptible to downturn in the local
and international economy, which is uncontrollable.
4. Although Adidas has several athletic endorsements, they do not utilize them to the best of their
ability, and often do not create memorable ads among consumers.
Opportunities
1. To keep up with the competition, Adidas generates between 60 and 80 new foot-friendly
designs each year. Additionally, they cover major sporting events each year in several countries
and tie-up with emerging sports teams/clubs/players internationally.
2. The company can venture into making more stylish designs and cuts
3. Have the ability to build their brand by setting up sports academies
4. The rapid health trend among many people shows that there a lot more potential customers in
the market
Threats
1. Other brands offer more styles and varieties, thus more competition. Competition has
increased intensely in the sports clothes and footwear market. Since the market has become
increasingly fashion orientated Adidas faces competition from designers such as Hugo Boss and
Lacoste.
2. There are other competitive brands that produce similar sports equipment and accessories at a
lesser price. An increase in competition in the same market has led to lower price for the same
product and thus less marginal profit on many products.
3. Pirated/fake imitations affect brand image and reliability of their products
4. Since the world economy is stressing the central bank this could lead to an increase in interest
rates, which unfortunately could lead Adidas to increase their borrowing cost and ultimately will
negatively affect their product line.
CreativeStrategy
MarketingIssues
This decrease in revenue and loss of the market is largely the cause of marketing issues
within Adidas. The right mediums are not being properly utilized. If Adidas wants to remain
competitive and increase brand loyalty they must modify their current strategies. A few of the
major marketing issues this company faces include lack of utilization of American athlete
endorsements, lack of brand recognition in the United States, and poor internet marketing.
In one of our first meetings our group took part in a recall test where we wrote down all
of the athletes we knew were sponsored by Adidas and Nike in the United States. The results
were overwhelming. The only athletes mentioned more than once among group members were
Robert Griffin III, Andrew Wiggins, and Derrick Rose. Nike sponsorships that were a consensus
among the group included Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Larry Fitzgerald, Drew Brees,
Vince Carter, J.R. Smith, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and more. Adidas
currently sponsors the MLS, 42 NBA athletes, 33 NFL athletes, and 5 baseball players. The MLS
is a growing organization, so they are succeeding in that area, but there is a dearth of NBA, NFL,
and baseball sponsorships in the United States. Nike, on the other hand, sponsors over 150 NBA
athletes, sponsors all NFL uniforms, around 20 NFL athletes, and 4 MLB players. They sponsor
many more than four baseball players (Pujols, Cano, Joe Mauer, Matt Kemp, Evan Longoria,
Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton are some of the top ones. They also have
some players signed under the Jordan brand (Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia) and Jason Heyward
under the Swingman series (Nike 1). Not only does Nike have way more sponsorships than
Adidas in the United States, but also makes effective use of their endorsements. Additionally,
our group could not recall the last time we saw an Adidas commercial on TV with one of their
endorsed athletes in it. These endorsements have a strong potential to serve emergent consumers,
but if no one knows about your product, especially through TV advertising, you cannot expect
consumers to try your product. Utilizing these endorsements through advertising gives your
product more credibility and better differentiates it in the market.
The other marketing issue identified was Adidas’ lack of internet marketing. To begin,
Adidas must modify their pay-per-click strategy in efforts to better compete with Nike in the
U.S. Google terms like basketball shoes, baseball cleats, football gloves, athletic apparel, and
more. They fail to appear at the top of any of these searches. When they do appear on the first
page Nike or Under Armour is higher on the page than them. In fact, our group found that the
only time it was guaranteed that Adidas came to the top of the page was when we typed Adidas
before the keyword (Ex: Adidas basketball jersey). Since a large part of Adidas’ target market is
regularly on the web and shops online they may want to consider investing more money in payper-click results. (Refer to figure B)
KeyCampaignObjectives
Our main objectives would be to increase Adidas’ U.S. advertising budget,
increase the number of athlete endorsements, and in turn, increase sales by 35%. Under Armour
is growing at an incredibly rapid rate (32% in 2014), and in order to gain the number two
position back on the market leaderboard, Adidas’ growth rate must be greater than theirs. Our
objective is to increase awareness in the U.S. about Adidas products through the utilization of
endorsed Adidas athletes in advertisements, promotions and campaigns. “Adidas AG plans to
sharply ramp up endorsement deals with U.S. professional football and baseball players in the
next few years, as the German sportswear maker tries to gain traction in the American
market”(Germano, 2015). As you can see, Adidas group has recognized many of the same areas
of improvement that we have listed, which we were not aware of until we conducted more
research on this company.
Advertising is one of the most effective ways of brand promotion. Advertising will help
Adidas reach a wider audience within the shortest possible time frame. This integrated brand
promotion campaign incorporates multiple advertising mediums including television, direct mail,
cause marketing, social media marketing and internet advertising to help Adidas reach its endusers, and furthermore, increase sales in the U.S. Our hope is that this campaign reinforces the
Adidas brand to consumers and motivates them to purchase Adidas products. Advertisements
will not only increase the consumption of Adidas products but will also improve brand image in
U.S. and will increase brand awareness among customers. We as marketers need to ensure that
the right message reaches the right customers at the right time. We need to be careful about the
content of the advertisement; after all you are paying for every second.
IntegratedBrandPromotionCampaign
WebsiteCritique
Overall, the Adidas website is what we would expect out of such a large company. To
begin, the site is aesthetically appealing. To begin, it is balanced; it organized and compatible on
both a computer and a phone. Formal balance is achieved with the placement of the pictures on
the site; they are placed in a logical and orderly sequence. Informal balance is achieved through
the weighing of the non-similar sizes and shapes on the site. You can easily tell where the
emphasis on each page and items are proportional relative to how they would be proportioned in
real life. In addition to the website being well balanced the colors used to design the site give it a
fresh and slick feel. Lots of blue, green, and white are used to accomplish this feel, which are the
Top 3 “Colors of Success” for web design according to the Sacramento Design Network (Sukin
1). Furthermore, all of the pages of the website use type font that is easy to read and consistent
among the pages. Lastly, and perhaps the most important aspect of this site’s aesthetics is the
connection of the site. There is unity and consistency across the webpages. The headlines,
subheads, body copy, and illustration used on the pages are also consistent and support several of
the brand’s values; specifically, authenticity, innovativeness, and inspiration. (Refer to figures C
and D)
Another area the website that we see as successful is the available content to the public.
Pretty much any question you have about Adidas can be answered from the website. Tabs
include information for investors, public relations articles, their marketing strategy, history, and
more. If there is something you cannot find on the site you can live chat with a representative
who will quickly answer any question you have.
It is hard to spot negative aspects of a website that has thousands of employees working
on it daily, but there are some additions that Adidas could make to their site after comparing it
with Nike’s website. The first addition is to add an area on the website where they can give little
glimpses of upcoming products. Nike does this with a lot of their products, but mostly shoes.
There is a tab available on their site that contains a “Launch Calendar” where you can view all of
the dates these products plan to hit stores and the details of each product. This is a tab Adidas
should include on their site because it not only gets people hyped about the product, but also will
get their website more traffic. (Refer to figure E)
Another way that Nike promotes their products on their site that seems to be effective is
their promotion of apps. They have created several apps that will pair well with products that
they sell. Most of their target market customers have smart phones and downloading an app is so
quick and easy that even if you don’t buy something from their site you can download the app.
These apps aid in brand loyalty and recognition among customers because it reinforces their
products. Furthermore, customers who download the app most likely participate in the activity
with their friends, which increase conversation about Nike, and can ultimately lead to future
sales. Adidas sells the products to put this plan into action, but has ultimately yet to do so. (Refer
to figure F)
RoughAdPromotionalMaterial(Whatisandexplanationofstrategy)
For our promotional materials we have chosen to do two television ads, several print ads
for magazines, a direct mail piece, as well as how we can better our marketing presence online.
For the first television ad we will focus on our cause marketing campaign. It will show a few
inner city school students playing their individual sport wearing Adidas clothing and then it will
fade into professional athletes who came from inner city schools. Here they can each say,
“Everyone deserves a chance” or briefly state how much this scholarship program means to
them, because they never gave up their dream to get where they are today. It will then fade into
show these professional athletes playing a sporting game with the students. This will then fade
into an athlete saying “Never stop dreaming, you have to conquer from within” and then the logo
will appear at the end with a caption saying a percentage of proceeds from buying Adidas
products will go to the “Conquer From Within” scholarship fund. The strategy behind this is that
by showing a commercial for the scholarship program that Adidas will start campaigning for,
Adidas will show the public how they are trying to help society. It will give consumers more of a
reason to buy Adidas products, because a percentage of the profits goes to the scholarship
program for these young students who come from almost nothing. Including the athlete sponsors
shows that the endorsers believe in the cause as well which looks good to the public and being
able to stop by out of his busy schedule shows the importance of the cause as well.
Our next television ad will be to place emphasis on Adidas products. It should have a
more energetic feel to it. We will show athletes working out, viewers will be able to hear the
athletes breathing and grunting to show their hard work. We will air this during a lot of sports’
off seasons to show the athletes practicing intensely as they prepare for their next season. They
will be wearing Adidas clothing or accessories and drinking from Adidas water bottles. There
will be an athlete voice over that says “Just because it’s off season doesn’t mean we have off”. It
will then fade into an athlete entering into a stadium wearing Adidas clothing still, and the
sounds of fans can be heard cheering in the background. The screen will fade into a greyish
background and athlete will say in a voice over “Conquer from Within” and Adidas logo will
appear under slogan. The strategy explanation behind this is that this ad shows that Adidas
believes in people pushing themselves to their limits all year long. Showing that these athletes
wear Adidas in the off season shows it is their preferred athletic wear even outside of the
stadium. They feel comfortable working out hard in Adidas clothing. It shows that they are
working hard from their inner drive to be the best they can be for their upcoming season.
Overall, the television ads can be placed during popular network television shows in the
evening, like ABC Family, Fox, CBS, and NBC. These commercials can also be placed on sports
channels such as ESPN and Fox Sports. Placing these television ads on these channels will help
us to reach our target audience.
For our magazine ads we will show an athlete on a full page with the slogan “Conquer
from Within”. The magazines that these print ads could be displayed in are People, Sports
Illustrated, and health and wellness magazines. The strategy behind these ads is to create more
brand recognition among consumers by reaching out to a wider audience. Magazines also tend to
last longer than a newspaper ad, because people hold on to magazines longer. So this would be a
great place to put our ads. The print ads can also be interchangeable for billboards, in-store
displays, and transportation ads as well.
Our direct mail ad will be set up in postcard format. We will show an athlete on the front
wearing Adidas clothing. He will be looking very serious and next to him the slogan “Conquer
From Within” will appear. On the back a coupon will read “Use this coupon for 15% off any
product in any retail store or online”. The strategy behind this is to help develop more customer
loyalty and engage more traffic on the website as well as in retail stores.
Lastly, for our internet advertising we will use Pay-Per-Click advertising so that Adidas’
website pops up at the top when people search for athletic wear. As of right now Adidas has a
very low internet marketing presence. Their website does not pop up at the top when someone
types in athletic wear. If we do a Pay-Per-Click ad, people are more likely to go to their website
very quickly, and right now Adidas has a promotional sale on their website that first time buyers
can get 15% off their first purchase. This will in turn help to increase sales and customer loyalty.
This is our strategy behind Pay-Per-Click advertising.
PrintAds(RefertofiguresG1-G7)
These Ads fit our stated objectives by highlighting athletes Adidas currently endorses in
the United States, but does not shy away from endorsed athletes in other countries that U.S.
citizens know about. These ads fit our theme of conquering the competition and possessing the
inner drive to do so. These ads focus on the individual rather than the group, which is also
consistent with our campaign.
SocialMediaMarketingCampaign/Causerelatedmarketing/PublicRelations
We have created a very interactive and exciting social media campaign that we believe
will build brand loyalty and spread awareness of the “Conquer from Within” campaign. This
social media marketing campaign has two main parts to it. The first part will accompany the
cause-marketing campaign we have developed that will donate a portion of profits in 2015 to
inner-city athletes. The second part is an interactive campaign that will use Twitter to host
contests, giving the winner a chance to meet an Adidas sponsored athlete from their city.
The first part is the portion that will accompany the “Conquer from within” campaign.
We are proposing that after Adidas gives the scholarships for inner-city athletes to improve their
chances of advancing to college, that a film crew should be sent to a number of recipients in
order to show how the grants have affected individuals’ lives. These videos would be much too
long to create a commercial of, and if they were cut down they would not be able to describe
exactly how much of an impact this would have on the individuals. These would be perfect for
posts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in order to let customers see the good they are doing
by purchasing Adidas products. Each video should be around 6-8 minutes long, based on how
intricate the recipient’s story is. They should show the young athletes playing the sport they love,
explain why they applied for the scholarship, a little background, maybe include some interviews
from peers or mentors/coaches/parents, and finally have the recipient explain what they play on
doing with the money and how that is different from their previous plans.
The second part is a lot more interactive over social media, and will mostly focus on
Twitter. The idea is that Adidas will have a contest every week on Twitter, and the winner will
get to meet an athlete who is sponsored by Adidas in their city, and receive two tickets to the
game for that day. The campaign will also take place in a new city in the US every week, and not
just focus on larger cities or the coasts. The promotion will start with a couple of tweets that will
let people know what city the contest will take place in, and what time the contest starts. Then,
Adidas will tweet out a trivia question about that particular city’s sports history, preferably about
the team who the athlete plays for, and see which fans can reply back with the correct answer the
fastest. The winner will then be contacted by direct message over Twitter, and will work out
specifics about where to meet at stadium or arena. The contest winner will show up early to the
game during warmups, be given free team gear, made by Adidas, be brought out on the field or
court in order to meet the Adidas sponsored athlete, get some gear signed, and head to their
complementary seats to enjoy the game. There should be some pictures or short videos taken
while the contest winner is interacting with the athlete and during the game in order to post on
Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This campaign should focus on football, baseball, soccer, and
basketball, however, other sports where Adidas has sponsored athletes, like tennis, golf, ice
hockey, skateboarding, and track & field should be utilized periodically. Also, Adidas sponsors
over 75 colleges and universities around the nation, so the contest should not only focus on
professional sports. When dealing with colleges though, we suggest that only basketball and
football be used, perhaps baseball if it is a College World Series game. In addition to hundreds of
athletes that could be promoted, Adidas also sponsors artists such as Pharrell Williams, U2, Daft
Punk, B.o.B., Katy Perry, Snoop Dogg, Run DMC, and Kanye West to name a few. This
campaign could also be expanded to include their concerts and tours across the nation at some
point in the near future if the campaign proves to be successful. (Refer to figure F)
This campaign coincides with Adidas announcing that they plan to sign 250 MLB and
250 NFL athletes over the next three years. This move would allow this campaign to be executed
successfully by letting Adidas have hundreds of athletes across the US to choose from every
week.
For our public relations campaign we are opting to use two different methods in order to
inform consumers of our new promotion. First, we will draft a press release telling about the
‘Conquer from Within’ campaign. We will talk about how the name we have given the campaign
relates to the cause-marketing campaign involving giving college scholarships to inner-city
athletes in the US, and how we as a nation need to conquer social hardships from within our own
country, just as we try to do in others around the world. The press release will also announce an
interactive Twitter campaign, a direct mail advertisement, a new online promotional offer, and
several new print and television ads. In addition to the press release, we will also send out an enewsletter to all of our existing customers outlining what was said in the press release, with a
link in case some would like to read over the whole thing. It will also have plenty of information
on how to get involved with the campaign, with a link to a new YouTube channel created just for
this cause.
MediaPlan
A large part of the media we post during this campaign will be over social media. Since
this campaign will only run for about half of the year we will be looking to push information at
current and potential customers at a high volume. For this reason we will mostly be using
continuous scheduling throughout our campaign. The social media team will create a social
media content calendar each week and use Hootsuite to schedule for each day. Volume of posts
will differ between each social media network. Twitter will contain the largest amount of content
from retweeting and responding to those participating in our campaign. We plan to be extremely
active in communicating and sharing consumer’s media to the public throughout this campaign.
Videos will be posted on Facebook several times a day and the best ones will go on our YouTube
channel.
In addition to social media we will advertise our sales promotions and campaign on both
Network and Cable TV. We will air the TV commercial about our cause marketing plan
throughout the campaign to maintain a high level of awareness among customers. A TV ad about
our socks sales promotion will be aired right before the holidays in attempt to generate a large
amount of sales from November to December and preserve customers once the campaign comes
to a close. These advertisements will be largely aired over large network TV channels such as
CBS, NBC, and ABC. These will be aired over large sporting networks like ESPN and Fox
Sports to directly reach our target audience. Furthermore, there will also be an attempt to
advertise in every addition of the magazines mentioned above until our campaign is over to
reemphasize our campaign to the target audience. Evaluation
We will use several metrics to evaluate our integrated brand promotion plan; these
metrics include sales as well as both social media and google analytics. The sales metric will be
mainly focused on sales in the United States. Social media analytics will be used to track
customer feedback, engagement, and make refinements. Lastly, google analytics will be used to
see if the pay-per click ads are leading to more website traffic and purchases. We will conduct
another focus group after 2015 to a similar audience and see if brand recognition/recall changed.
SummaryandConclusion
Adidas has been struggling with sales in North America for quite some time now.
Although it’s focus is very strong in Europe, it is not too late for Adidas to make a comeback and
regain its market share in the sports apparel industry. If Adidas chooses to run this “Conquer
from Within” campaign they will stand out among its competitors. With the creation of the
scholarship fund program for inner city athletes, the social media campaign where people around
the nation get to meet an athlete each week, and the various sales promotions Adidas is sure to
create high brand awareness among consumers. These campaigns should ultimately increase
their sales in the United States and create a higher demand for their products.
ReferenceList
Endorsements. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 18, 2015, from
http://www.nike.com/us/en_us/?ref=https://www.google.com/
Germano, S. (2015, January 13). Adidas to sign up to 500 athletes for endorsements. Retrieved
April 23, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/adidas-to-sign-up-to-500-athletes-forendorsements-1421179139
Home. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 19, 2015, from http://www.adidasgroup.com/en/brands/adidas/
Padberg, N. (2012, August 20). Baby boomers control 70% Of The U.S. Disposable Income.
Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181070/baby-boomers-control-70-of-theus-disposable-in.html
Soloman, M. (2014, December 29). 2015 is the year of the millennial customer: 5 key traits these
80 million consumers share. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2014/12/29/5-traits-that-define-the-80million-millennial-customers-coming-your-way/
Sukin, A. (2012, August 23). The impact of great web design - Sacramento Design Network.
Retrieved April 24, 2015, from http://www.sacdesignet.com/the-impact-of-great-webdesign/
Appendices
FigureA
TableA
Questio
n
Male-19
Female19
Male-19
Male-21
Female20
Female21
Male-22
Female
-22
Have
youever
owned
anything
from
Adidas?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
What
didyou
thinkof
the
product
?
Itwas
bad
quality
itwasa
good
shoesand
itlast
longand
comforta
ble
Comforta
ble
Gotthe
job
done,
butwas
notbest
quality
pairof
sports
shoes
Ismore
wider
footedso
Adidas
was
comforta
ble
Itwasnot
thebest
quality
andtheir
werenot
comforta
ble
Comfortabl
e
Good
product
and
label
Would
youbuy
Adidas
products
Yesfor
fashion,
butnot
for
Yes
Yesfor
running
butnot
fashion
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
again?
playing
basketbal
l
Whenit
came
downto
it,
would
you
choose
Nikeor
Adidas?
Why?
Nikeplaying
sportsit
has
better
quality
NikeBecause
myfamil
ywearsa
lotofnike
Nike
Nike-
better
quality
interms
offit
and
durabilit
y
AdidasNike’s
shoesare
tooslim
fitting
Nike-
because
the
qualityis
goodand
itisa
multi
purpose
shoes
Nike-
personal
preference
NikeAdidas
is
cheape
rNike
is
better
durabili
ty
When
wasthe
lasttime
yousaw
an
Adidas
ad,and
whatdo
you
rememb
erabout
it?
Rememb
ersMessi,
Beckham
andshoes
Doesnot
remembe
r
Sawanad
forthe
Olympics
Yesterd
ayina
magazin
e-guy
was
jumping
and
their
logo
Doesnot
remembe
r
Doesnot
remembe
r
Lookedlike
anyother
athleticTV
advertisem
ent
“Allday
IDream
About
Soccer”
doesn’t
know
when
shelast
sawan
ad
Canyou
namean
athlete
that
endorse
sNike?
Yes
No
No
Lebron
No
No
Tiger
Woods
Lebron
James
Canyou
namean
athlete
that
endorse
s
Adidas?
Messi
and
Beckham
No
No
Beckha
m
No
No
No
No
FigureB
FigureC
FigureD
FigureE
FigureF
FigureG1
FigureG2
FigureG3
FigureG4
FigureG5
FigureG6
FigureG7
FigureF