ADIDAS BRAND EXPLORATORY

Brand Mgmt & Product Mgmt

Brand Management & Product Management
Allen Ni
Dr. Yuvay Ferguson
04/10/2015
Brand Exploratory
1) Research
As of research, three participants will generate interviews. The
profiles of participants are as follows:
Interviewee
Pseudonym

Gend
er

Ag
e

Educatio
n

Occupatio
n

Date

Andri

Femal
e

35

Master

Marketing
Manager

2015.4.
7

Vivian

Femal
e

37

Bachelor

Beauty
industry

2015.4.
1

Charlie

Male

46

Bachelor

Banking
Manager

2015.4.
3

Questions to develop Adidas CBBE pyramid and key excerpts from

the respondents are as follows:
(1) What meanings of Adidas do you think are strong and
dominant? Which are unique from competition? Which are
positive and negative?
Andri:
When talking about Adidas, I always connect it with great brand
awareness. From the perspective of marketing, Adidas possess with
internationally known competitive publicity. Also it is a highly
recognized athletic wear equipment retailer. Nevertheless, I deem
that there is still a room for improvement to Adidas design
elements; the design of its logo and products are poor.
Adidas strongest consumer markets are with the 20- to 29-year-old
age group that is athletes or are passionate about sports. The
company is focused on targeting and strengthening its brand with
the next generation of athletes in the 14- to 19-year-old age group.
Adidas believes this target group is the most influential consumer
group in the world. As far as I know, Adidas experiments with new
techniques like miCoach, a new program for optimizing the
training-process, the company follows the trend to combine
sporting-goods with electronic tools like heart-frequency-meter or
smartphones. Following this trend and developing a right
marketing strategy means that the organization has the possibility
to enhance its exchange.
Vivian:
Nike and Adidas are two main sports brands that I usually
purchased. The core differences between two of them are that
Adidas gives more stylish elements, combining sports and street
style together. Furthermore, I believe that Adidas has put more
effort on younger appeal, casual athletics than Nike. In short, the
imageries Adidas gives me are sporty, creative, spirited, reliable,
and strong.
Adidas Originals as a brand stands for uniqueness, creativity and
self-expression, which are reflected in their collection. Adidas
Originals has successfully built a street culture with the association
of sneakers and sorts of products over the years. Further
association with Rappers Run DMC is reflected further down the

list of brand associations due to the preference of Run DMC for

wearing the sports shoe and their track; My Adidas. In addition,
Adidas continues to imbue their brand with cool through creative
collaborations with musicians and artists.
Charlie:
Adidas gives me a strong and high-level security, providing comfort
and assurance. Its products are high-end quality, durable, reliable,
and comfortable. I am pretty impressive to its sporting functionality
and reasonable pricing.
Although Adidas is trustworthy, to me it is still the secondary sports
brand to Nike.
Adidas gained core competency in sports goods by means of
remaining in constant touch with sportspersons and identifying
their needs. This competency has given Adidas a competitive
advantage over its competitors.
As Adidas is a worldwide operating company and engages high
professional employees with varied cultural backgrounds, I believe
that the company has to take into consideration all the social
aspects, religions, ethical issues and different cultures, which I
think the company still needs to carry it out. To work out a perfect
marketing strategy, Adidas has to adopt these mentioned criteria
on each country it wants to sell their products.

(2) Do meanings resonate with target market?

Andri:
I believe those meanings resonate with its target market to a
certain extent. However, as a low brand royalty customer, I do not
mind substituting other sports brands if needed.
When it comes to advertising, Adidas has a long tradition of
sponsoring important sports events. Entering different
sponsorships events such as World Cup, the Olympics or
Champions League has increased brand awareness and
strengthened its connection to sports. Brand recognition, especially
the three stripes, is high and well reputed. However, what makes
Adidas the choice of millions of consumers around the globe is its
wide variety of products. Whether someone is a professional or
amateur athlete, or only wants to wear comfortable clothes for
leisure, Adidas always has the right product, tailored for very
specific needs.
Vivian:
I truly believe Adidas meanings resonate with target market. The
main target market for Adidas is of around 13-30 year old
consumers who are involved in any given discipline or sports.
Adidas makes high end, high quality products for all sports, so this
will interest audience at its affordable price.
Charlie:

I will split this question into two parts. First, in terms of a sports
brand company, Adidas has really done a good job to letting people
resonate with its brand; Adidas is perceived as a European brand,
connected strongly with the German heritage. However, as a
fashion style brand, Adidas has launched lifestyle and fashion
products in the recent years; its aim is to be recognized not only as
a sports brand. But due to its long history related to sportswear, it
is rather difficult for Adidas to persuade consumers to perceive it
as a fashion brand.
(3) How do you perceive of Adidas?
Andri:
It was a good strategy that Adidas has been actively supporting
some certain specific sports events such as the World Cup,
Olympics Committee or sponsored entire sports teams, soccer
being the main target and that was by far the most impressive
perception that Adidas gave it to me.
At the present, the main goal of the company is to clearly
differentiate its products, balance fashion credibility with sports
performance and try to gain new customers in each segment
respectively. The Performance line returns back to Adidas roots,
emphasizing performance, sport spirit and quality.
Vivian:
The company perceives the fashion market as the most promising
one and with the highest potential and tries to target it accordingly.
In 90s, I perceive of Adidas was identic with the positioning. It was
recognized by both athletes and regular people as a true sports
brand. Later on, the introduction of the new line for sports
enthusiasts was greeted with much pleasure, as was the Style
extension. However, the stylish and cool aspects of the products
seemed to take over the performance aspect as the time
progressed and Adidas became more of a fashion brand rather than
a sports brand.
Charlie:
Nowadays, I perceive Adidas products as of the finest quality, wellperforming and generally an ideal choice for sports products.
However, it seems the general notion is to prefer Nike over Adidas
due to its more aggressive approach to advertising, earlier
celebrity endorsement, opposed to Adidas which has embraced it
only recently and an un-shattered brand image. It is debatable
whether the differentiation has or has not harmed Adidas image as
a true sports brand, but it is almost certain the diversification
should have been, and still should be, communicated more clearly.
Nonetheless, the products have always been perceived as reliable,
durable and high quality, which are in compliance with the brands
positioning.
2) Analysis
Brands associations

When we mention Adidas, everyone associates the brand with an

image of a sporty person, concerning about his/her health, with
athletic products of high quality and aiming at topnotch
performance while simultaneously having a flavor of stylishness
and coolness. Although the perception has slightly changed over
the course of the past few years, in its very core, the associations
have remained more or less intact.
POP and POD
Points of Parity
Durable, reliable clothing and
quality
High level of variety to suit all
tastes with each product
segment
Sponsorship for major sports
organizations (NBA, NFL, MLS,
Premier League)
Athletic technology

Points of Difference
Extending beyond athletes for
endorsement
Heavily influenced by pop
culture
Fashion oriented street and
athletic apparel

Globally renown and widely

recognized
Customer-based brand equity pyramid
According to the components of three interviews, the CBBE
pyramid is constructed through the key excerpts offered by the
participants.
Resonance Low brand royalty and attachment many will
substitute or prefer Nike brand.
Strong secondary presence in athletics community.
Judgment
Trustworthy. Secondary brand to Nike. Excellent
quality, which is dependable for sporting functions.
Poor design elements (to logo and product)
Feeling
High level of securityproviding comfort and

Performan
ce
Imagery
Salience

assurance. Mixed levels of social approvalStrong

and inspirational.
High-end quality productsdurable, reliable,
comfortable, excellency in sporting functionality,
reasonable pricing. Split views on product appeal.
Younger appeal, casual athletics, elitist in celebrity
endorsement, sporty, creative, spirited, reliable,
strong.
Strong brand awareness: internationally known
competitive brand name. Highly recognized athletic
wear equipment retailer. More depth than breath.

Strategic Recommendations
1. Expand into BRIC countries

Endorse local sports teams

Celebrity endorsement

Takeover of smaller local brands

Community event sponsorship (pickup soccer, cricket) to

create goodwill
2. More retail outlets to improve brand perception and retail
experience

Adidas original stores exist, but propose stores that focus

on performance or whole brand.

Social media marketing campaigns, contests, and

awareness programs.


Focus on positive customer experience.
3. Greater focus on socially responsible activities (CSR)

Sourcing organic materials.

Providing transparency through the manufacturing process

to dissuade perception of unethical manufacturing
practices.