Adidas Marketing Strategy: Unlock How They Dominates The Competition

Say it aloud with me- “Impossible is nothing!” ?

Let’s go one more time- “Impossible is nothing!”.?

Well, don’t you feel the rush of adrenaline through your body? That’s the purpose of the iconic 3-Stripes Adidas and its tagline- to cater to the sportsperson spirit hidden inside you.⚽️ In this article, we will cover Adidas marketing strategy.

About Adidas

We all can agree that Adidas is a star player when it comes to sports merchandise and, specifically, sports shoes.? Isn’t it so?

The company sincerely strives to add an element of difference in people’s lives through innovation in the field of sports.??

Have you also felt that Adidas offers the finest quality in sports products?

And, did you encounter their exceptional service and customer experience as well??

The brand expresses its commitment to fostering inclusivity as well as unity in sports. Sustainability is also a major goal that this sports brand tries to adhere to.

The sports company earned itself a name in Forbes’ most valuable companies of 2020. ?

Adidas’s History in Short

Founded by Adolf Dassler, Adidas is a German company that started with a dream to revolutionize sports. In the early 21st century, the company earned the title of being Europe’s largest sportswear maker and the second largest in the world after Nike. ?

The company took its original form in Dassler’s mother’s wash kitchen. It was formalized in 1924, and from there, it began its athletic journey. 

Following a conflict with his brother in 1948, Adi Dassler’s business became Adidas. In the 1950s, Adidas became popular, with their lightweight shoes being popular among soccer players.

From 1963, the company kept expanding its product line to include other sporting goods as well as apparel. 

All the hard work of the previous decades established Adidas as a star player in the athletic shoe and apparel industry. 

QUICK FACT?- After the 1948 split, while Adi’s business became Adidas, his brother Rudi Dassler’s business became Puma. 

Marketing Strategies of Adidas

Digitalization?

Adidas has built a major focus on utilizing digital campaigns to its advantage. The brand engages with its customers through a variety of digital marketing channels like YouTube. It continuously tries to produce interactive content on its social media.??

The company seeks digitalization to position itself as a leading global sports brand. Through these digital platforms, the brand also aims to educate its target audience about its diverse range of products.

The shoe manufacturer focuses on building an image of a brand that provides comfortable yet distinctive merchandise.

Consumer Interaction

Adidas is active in engaging with its customers regularly and building customized interactions. The company aims to instill among its customers a passion for sports. 

Adidas attempts to get a hold of every opportunity, like social media and retail platforms, to connect with its consumers.

The company strives to offer them an inspiring and personal life experience. Adidas makes use of the interpretations from digital analysis to build a better connection with its customers.

Open-Source Innovations and Collaborations 

Adidas encourages athletes, consumers, and partners to join them in shaping the sports culture and the future of sports. 

The company aims to introduce products that are practical and useful. Their endeavors are aimed at catering to the needs of the present as well as the future society.

One such collaboration was the iconic partnership with ‘Parley for the Oceans.’ The collaboration led to the creation of the three new Ultra Boost models, crafted from recycled plastic in the ocean. ??

Strategic Cities

Adidas has strategically placed six cities of London, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo high on its priority list. These cities significantly influence consumer perceptions, trends, and purchasing decisions.

The brand allocates a higher marketing expenditure in these regions. In the case of other countries, the brand tries to customize its offerings to fit their unique cultural market demands. 

For example, in Europe, the company focuses primarily on selling soccer ⚽ ️ products, while in the United States, the company is inclined more to promote basketball ? and baseball ⚾️.

QUICK FACT- The six strategic cities, along with ‘speed’ and ‘open source,’ were the three primary focuses of Adidas’s ‘Creating the New’ plan of 2015.

Sponsoring Sports Events and Athletes 

Adidas has achieved remarkable success through partnerships with various sports organizations and athletes worldwide. 

The brand is popular for its collaborations with the NBA, MLS, FIFA, and the Olympic games. Such partnerships are focused on long-term agreements for the creation of exclusive product lines. The result for Adidas is improved brand visibility and a strengthened appeal amongst a broader audience. 

Adidas also supplies kits for high-profile soccer teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Barren Munich. The brand also focuses on sponsoring individual athletes like Lionel Messi ⚽️, Naomi Osaka ?, and James Harden ?. 

Influencer Marketing

Adidas regularly collaborates with social media influencers and celebrities to create effective promotional content.

Adidas has previously engaged in a partnership with popular figures like Kanye West, Pharell Williams, and Beyonce to launch exclusive product lines specifically catering to the preferences of their devoted fans and followers.  

The brand has also collaborated with celebrities like Kendall Jenner and the legendary footballer David Beckham to create campaigns tailored for their audiences to enjoy. Through such campaigns, Adidas builds excitement and anticipation around its new launches. 

Customer Engagement and Loyalty

Adidas is all about customer engagement and strengthening mutual loyalty. The brand is regularly active on social media platforms to build better connections with its customers.

Adidas also runs loyalty programs like the Creators Club that offer rewards to customers for their purchases and engagement with the brand. Customers can avail of various benefits like early access to fresh launches, exclusive discounts, and personalized content. ?

Top Products of Adidas

Adidas Superstar

The ‘Superstars’ are amongst the most iconic Adidas sneakers of all time. These received love, especially from basketball players in the early 70s. These legendary creations are, without a doubt, one of the best sneakers of all time.?

Adidas Stan Smith

These Pro tennis sneakers gained popularity for their minimalist design with a simple leather upper and an EVA midsole. 

Adidas Samba 

These shoes were launched in 1950 as performance shoes for soccer players. However, they soon gained more popularity as a preferred pair of casual shoes in England.

Adidas LA

Adidas launched these shoes in 1984 without knowing that they would become one of the brand’s best-selling shoes.

Adidas Stockholm

With colors that hailed the Swedish flag, these old-school Adidas shoes were talked about the most for their minimalism, crisp upper, and grippy sole. 

Adidas Trimm Trab

These casual running sneakers made use of polyurethane in the midsole to provide a stable and shock-absorbent cushioning system. This feature gave the shoe a distinct identity.

Adidas Gazelle

The Gazelle was amongst the pioneers of retro sneakers, launched as affordable and dynamic running shoes with suede as the chosen material. The shoes debuted in 1968 with a list of colors like the famous blue suede.

Adidas Italia

The Italia was launched in 1960 and instantly became popular among athletes during the Rome Olympics.

Adidas UltraBoost 23/U UltraBoost Light

The Ultraboost is among the best Adidas shoes for running, walking, and training. 

Adidas TERREX Agravic Flow 2.0

With their light strike cushioning in the midsole, these shoes are your best partners for the trail, running, and hiking in rough terrains.

Adidas Powerlift 5 

Adidas launched these weightlifting shoes to provide support and stability for powerlifting, weightlifting, and even heavy exercises.

QUICK FACT?- In 2006, Adidas acquired Reebok, and they were together for almost 15 years till Adidas began the process of divesting Reebok in 2021.

Adidas Marketing Mix 4P Analysis

Product

Adidas offers a wide variety of products, including footwear, apparel, accessories, and sports equipment.

Out of all these, the company’s primary focus has always been on its foundational product category, i.e., footwear of athletic quality. Other products like t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, tracksuits, and sports bras are popular too. 

Adidas also focuses on supplying team kits globally for sports like football, basketball, baseball, and more.

The company doesn’t shy away from collaborations with researchers, creators, and designers to create innovative products. One such initiative included Adidas’ partnership with ‘Parley for the Oceans’ to create shoes out of plastic waste collected from oceans and beaches. 

QUICK FACT- Adidas debuted its first football in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. The ‘TELSTAR’ was the official ball of the world cup, designed to have better visibility on a black-and-white TV. ⚽️

Place

With its efficient manufacturing, Adidas outsources its products from over 400 independent factories in around 45 countries. 

The company sells its products through its own retail stores, malls, showrooms, major retailers like Walmart, and e-commerce platforms like Amazon. 

The company logs in the majority of sales through Adidas outlets, followed by multi-brand showrooms.

There are approximately 2000 outlets of Adidas across the world distributor. The outlets cater to different segments; for example, the ‘Halo stores’ offer experiential retail.

Similarly, the ‘Core stores’ provide locals with more flexible and relevant offers. And finally, ‘factory outlets are the destination for value-seeking customers.

Price ?

Adidas utilizes skimming pricing and competitive pricing techniques.

To compete with brands like Nike and Puma, the company relies on competitive pricing for its mill products.

In the case of fresh launches, the company uses skimming pricing to maintain exclusivity and then gradually reduces the price over time.

Even with premium pricing, Adidas takes its main competitors and emerging startups seriously. This is why the company considers them before determining its product pricing.

Promotion

Adidas TV ads are well-known for inducing a rush. They resonate with the brand’s commitment to sports. Television is a major promotional channel for Adidas. The brand also focuses on product placement, featuring the brand in movies and TV shows. ?

Adidas regularly partners with famous sports personalities like Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo. 

Adidas also invests in traditional advertising- billboards, newspapers, and magazines to maintain a strong game against its rivals in the industry. 

With an emphasis on digital marketing, Adidas regularly engages in social media marketing, influential collaborations, and paid advertising. 

Adidas’s Top Campaigns

With Mohammad Ali ?

In 2004 Adidas collaborated with the legendary Muhammad Ali to create the most iconic ‘Impossible is nothing’ campaign. The ad campaign features not just the phenomenal presence of Muhammad Ali but some of the greatest athletes like David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.

Mohammed Ali versus Laila Ali ??

Adidas made the best of technology to create a campaign that featured images of Muhammad Ali’s real-life matches against his daughter and boxer, Laila Ali.

With David Beckham 

David Beckham became part of the Adidas commercial in 1998. It was a big gain for Adidas, for Beckham is one of the leading figures in the world of soccer.

‘Take the Deal- Dare to Create’ 

Adidas launched this campaign in 2019 to promote its soccer brand ‘Adidas Football.’ The campaign features some of the most popular soccer players of contemporary times, like Lionel Messi, Mohammed Salah, Gareth Bale, and Paul Pogba.

‘Your Future is not Mine’ 

Through this campaign of 2016, Adidas targeted the millennials and the Gen-Zs. The brand sought to encourage them to be the sole creators of their future. 

‘When football is everything impossible is nothing’ ⚽️?

For the FIFA World Cup 2022, Adidas launched a new version of its classic campaign built around its ‘impossible is nothing’ slogan. The campaign emphasized the importance of family and highlighted how the love for football can bring families together.

Key takeaways

Adidas has a clear goal of encouraging innovation in sports. ✅️

It engages in collaborations aimed at designing top-quality products built with technology and innovation. ?

The brand wants to cater to all income segments without compromising on quality and comfort. ?

FAQs

References:

https://www.adidas-group.com/en/about/profile/

https://www.adidas-group.com/en/about/history/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Adidas-AG

https://iide.co/case-studies/marketing-mix-of-adidas/

https://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/social-impacts/supply-chain/

https://www.sortlist.com/blog/adidas-ads/

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