ADIDAS

….IMPOSSIBLE IS
NOTHING
 INTRODUCTI
ON

Adidas is a German-based sports apparel

manufacturer and part of the Adidas Group, which consists
of Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-
adidas golf company, and Rockport. Besides sports
footwear, the company also produces other products such
as bags, shirts, watches, eyewear and other sports and
clothing related goods. The company is the largest
sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest
sportswear manufacturer in the world, after its U.S.
rival Nike
The company's clothing and shoe designs typically
feature three parallel bars, and the same motif is
incorporated into Adidas's current official logo. The "Three
Stripes" were bought from the Finnish sport
company Karhu Sports in the 1950's. The
company revenue for 2008 was listed at €10.799 billion
and the 2007 figure was listed at €10.299 billion, or about
US$15.6 billion.

Adolf Dassler was inspired by a single idea when he made

his first shoes in 1920, at the age of just 20. His vision was
to provide every athlete with the best footwear for his
respective discipline. It was this principle that guided him
right up until his death in 1978. 700 patents and other
industrial property rights worldwide are proof of his
permanent quest for perfection.

His first shoe, made from the few materials available in the
difficult post-war period, was produced from canvas. A
passionate athlete himself, from the very beginning Adi
Dassler was in close contact with sports participants and
was always present in person at important sports events.

Adi Dassler focused his work on the classic disciplines of

track and field. Athletes wore special shoes from his
workshop for the first time at the 1928 Olympic Games in
Amsterdam. In the mid 1920s he was already
experimenting with spikes.

In the mid 1930s Adi Dassler was already making 30

different shoes.In less than two decades adidas advanced
to become the world’s leading sports shoe manufacturer.

LIST OF PRODUCTS
ACCESSORIES:

∗ WATCHES
∗ EYEWEAR

∗ BAGS
 ∗ SHOES
∗ SOCKS
∗ T-SHIRTS
∗ JERSEY
∗ DEODRANTS
∗ PERFUME
∗ AFTERSHAVE
∗ BATS,FOOTBALLS,GOLFS…ETC
Salomon - Winter sports incl. skis, snowboards,
snowblades, ski boots and bindings, inline skates,
hiking, apparel. Mavic -Cycle components, Bonfire -
Snowboard apparel. Arc'Teryx - Outdoor apparel,
climbing equipment, Cliché - Skateboard equipment,
footwear and apparel, Taylor Made-Adidas Golf -
Golf equipment, golf apparel, golf shoes and finally,
Maxfli - Golf balls, irons and accessories.

BRAND
AMBASSADORS

1. SANIA MIRZA
Hartwin Feddersen, director of marketing, Adidas India
said, "Sania is one of the most recognisable faces of global
tennis and is a youth icon amongst young Asians across
the world. Her appeal goes well beyond tennis and the
sporting world and it's only natural for us to use her as a
global brand ambassador."
Commenting on the tie-up with Adidas, Sania Mirza said: "I
am extremely happy to be part of such a distinguished
family of players and brand ambassadors. I have been
associated with the brand as a junior and I believe adidas'
experience and expertise will be a key part of my on-court
performance. I am really looking forward to wearing the
stylish 3-Stripes for many years to come."

2. DAVID BECKHAM:

AN ENGLAND MID-
FIELDER,AND ONE OF THE BEST FOOTBALLER OF
 THE CENTURY IS AN MAIN AMBASSADORS FOR
ADIDAS
Footballer David Beckham is geared up to launch
his very own line of menswear with sports brand
Adidas.
The hunky sportsman has teamed up with
Undefeated sneaker boutique owner James Bond for
the fall-winter men’s line, Originals by Originals,
reports Contactmusic.
The fashion line will include classic American
sportswear and accessories along with footwear,
according to Women’s Wear Daily.
Beckham, who already has an athletic endorsement
relationship with Adidas, has no intentions to become

the face of his line.

3. SACHIN TENDULKAR:
Christoph Holland, Managing Director,
Adidas India, said, "Cricket today is one of the
biggest events," Adidas India's managing director
Christoph Holland said in Bombay. "And we hope that
by signing Sachin, we will be able to boost our sales
in India."
The signing amount was not disclosed. However,
given that Tendulkar was quoting in the region of Rs
20 million to Pepsi a year ago, it is obvious that
peanuts don't enter into it..
"I am very happy to be associatied with Adidas," the
Indian batting star said. "I have seen several world
champions endorsing the products of this company,
which is known for its quality sports footwear,
apparel and accessories. I am honoured to be among
such champions, and will work towards enhancing
the image of Adidas in India."
Interestingly, it won't be Adidas shoes that he wears
when he goes out to play for the country -- because
that has not been written into his contract

OTHER AMBASSADORS ARE:

∗ ZAHER KHAN
∗ ASHISH NEHRA
∗ DONOVAN BAILEY
∗ MAURICE GREENE
∗ PYROSS DIMAS
∗ LENOL MESSI
ADVERTISING
STRATEGY OF ADIDAS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Adidas Inc. is a marketer of sports apparel and

athletic shoes. The German manufacturer, through
its marketing strategy which rests on a favorable
brand image, has evolved into a large multinational
enterprise. In keeping with the brand image is its
association with the distinctive logo and its
advertising slogan, "Impossible is Nothing." In order
to maintain and sustain this image, the company
makes huge investments in advertising and brand
promotion. At the critical time of global economic
crisis, Adidas will react to the consumers’ pessimistic
attitude and stressful emotion during this period. It
may become a good chance for Adidas because it
can take advantage of its previous advertising way
of “Impossible is Nothing” campaign by sponsoring
sports stars to express the corporate philosophy of
grit, determination, passion and humor, giving
people more courage and psychological comfort in
face of economic crisis. But besides that, we also
focus more about family function especially in Asian
countries which emphasize a lot on family, which can
provide caring emotional communication. Therefore,
from both strong-willed hero worship and water-like
fork environment, customers can easily link Adidas
image with not only strength,
but also warmth. The preferred
media we choose are TV,
specific magazines, outdoor
and internet.
Competitor Analysis
Adidas has two lager competitors Nike and Rebook.
Besides that it would have several small
competitors. A SWOT analysis would be helpful to
understand the competitive environment.

SOWT Analysis:
A SWOT analysis comprise of strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threats. This four trends are
analyze below.
 Figure: Adidas expence to advertising (billion Euro), (Source-
www.wekipedia.org)

STRENGTHS
• Largest International portfolio of sport
ambassadors.
• Sponsors football teams with maximum fan
following in India and USA.
• Highest brand image in India according to our
survey.

WEAKNESSES
• Rigid pricing structure.
• Our survey shows Nike behind Reebok & Adidas
in market share in India.
• Has not do well in Indian subcontinent market.

OPPORTUNITIES
• Has a great opportunity to expand international
market.
• Increasing demand on the sportswear.
 • Positive and increasing market trends can
increase through the effective advertising.

THREATS
• Adidas larger competitor Nike has a grater
market share and having a big budget in
marketing activity.
• The newly born several brands like CAT, GAP has
increase their advertising budget in recent years.
• Amount of competitors increasing day by day.

ADVERTISING
METHOD & MEDIA
SELECTION
3.1 Core Advertising Consideration
• The core advertising factors of Adidas are as
follows. Besides that a huge amount of data
about Adidas advertising related activities. As a
multinational company Adidas have separate
advertising strategy in different area of the world.
 3.1.1 Media Vehicles:
• The media vehicles that were used for television
will be ABC basketball games, TNT basketball
games, ESPN basketball games and ESPN 2
basketball games and ESPN’s Sports Center. The
media vehicles that were going to be used for
magazines were Sports Illustrated and ESPN
Magazine. The media vehicles that are use for
Internet were ESPN website (www.espn.go.com),
NBA website (www.nba.com), Adidas website
(www.shopadidas.com), Sports Illustrated website
(sportsillustrated.cnn.com).

3.1.2 Advertising unit:

• When it came to the advertising unit for
television Adidas only runs: 30 seconds ads since
most of these ads are played during NBA games.
The ads in magazines are full page. When it came
to the Internet ads are a top banner.

3.1.3 Seasonality:
• Since “The Brotherhood” is made up of The NBA
the seasonality will be during the fourth quarter.
The reason for this is that the basketball season
begins in October which is in the fourth quarter.
 The time of day in which “The Brotherhood”
would be run on television is during the evening
while the NBA is holding their regular games.
When it comes to the Internet “The Brotherhood”
is advertise daily and at all times.

3.1.4 Target Audience:

• When it came to any product the audience is very
important. You need to know who are going to be
interested in the product. When it came down to
this “The Brotherhood” is mostly for boys ages 8-
20 and for older males. For example, on page
four you will see TMAC jersey for boys 8-20 and
older males.

3.1.5 Advertising Media Consideration

• The reason that this media was selected was
because television, magazines and Internet were
the best way in which Adidas were able to show
there customers their products. As you see below
the picture on the third page that says “Adidas
NBA Shop,” in order for Adidas to promote the
“The Brotherhood” they had to come up with a
slogan in which they called it “NBA is a
Brotherhood.” Besides Adidas have several
 technique in media selection which have
discussed in the following sections.

3.2 Advertising Media

Commercial advertising
media can include wall
paintings, billboards, street
furniture components,
printed flyers and rack
cards, radio, cinema and
television adverts, web
banners, mobile telephone
screens, shopping carts,
web pop-ups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human
billboards, magazines, newspapers, town criers,
sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of
airplanes ("logo-jets"), in-flight advertisements on
seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins,
taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens,
musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains,
elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on
apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles
(grabertising), the opening section of streaming
audio and video, posters, and the backs of event
tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an
"identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message
through a medium is advertising.
One way to measure advertising effectiveness is
known as Ad Tracking. This advertising research
methodology measures shifts in target market
perceptions about the brand and product or service.
These shifts in perception are plotted against the
consumers’ levels of exposure to the company’s
advertisements and promotions. The purpose of Ad
Tracking is generally to provide a measure of the
combined effect of the media weight or spending
level, the effectiveness of the media buy or
targeting, and the quality of the advertising
executions or creative.
Adidas use several advertising media to promote
their product in the marketplace. Different
advertising media use in the in the market like
commercial advertisement, Print media
advertisement, covert advertising, Infomercials,
Celebrities advertisement, Online advertisement,
Public transport advertisement, e-mail etc.
3.2.1 Covert advertising
Covert advertising is when a product or brand is
embedded in
entertainment and
media. For example, in a
film, the main character
can use an item or other
of a definite brand, as in
the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's
character John Anderton owns a phone with the
Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his
watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another
example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where
main character played by Will Smith mentions his
Converse shoes several times, calling them
"classics," because the film is set far in the future. I,
Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars
with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly
displayed on the front of the vehicles. Adidas also
use this advertising technique.
3.2.2 Television commercials
The TV commercial is generally considered the most
effective mass-market advertising format, as is
reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for
commercial airtime during popular TV events. The
majorities of television commercials feature a song
or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product.
Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular
television programming through computer graphics.
It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops
or used to replace local billboards that are not
relevant to the remote broadcast audience. Adidas
has a large amount
of TV commercial advertisements in the worldwide
TV network like BBC, CNN etc.
3.2.3 Infomercials
There are two types of
infomercials, described as long
form and short form. Long form
infomercials have a time length of
30 minutes. Short form
infomercials are 30 seconds to 2
minutes long. Infomercials are
also known as direct response
television (DRTV) commercials or direct response
marketing.
The main objective in an infomercial is to create an
impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the
presentation and then immediately buys the product
through the advertised toll-free telephone number or
website. Infomercials describe, display, and often
demonstrate products and their features, and
commonly have testimonials from consumers and
industry professionals. Adidas arrange several
infomercials in the sports based program.

3.2.4 Celebrities
This type of advertising focuses
upon using celebrity power, fame,
money, popularity to gain
recognition for their products and
promote specific stores or
products. Advertisers often advertise their products,
for example, when celebrities share their favorite
products or wear clothes by specific brands or
designers. Celebrities are often involved in
advertising campaigns such as television or print
adverts to advertise specific or general products.
Adidas use David Bekham as their brand
ambassador and many more celebrities in every
region to promote their product.

3.3 Advertising approaches

The positive impact on the market of the adidas
Originals communication approach makes adidas
Originals continue their successful new creative
marketing tonality. The Fall/Winter 2005 campaign
is, as the one from Spring/Summer 2005,
photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and underlines
adidas Originals’ lifestyle relevance.
To Celebrate Originality, and in a playful opposing
manner to last season, adidas has switched from the
black and white SS05 executions, highlighted only by
the iconic blue Trefoil, to bright and energetic colours
in FW05 ads; an engaging creative idea supervised
by adidas Global Creative Director Michael Michalsky
and Visionaire’s Stephen Gan. The shooting took
place at Karl Lagerfeld’s studio in Paris.
The frame of the ads shows humour and translates
the freshness of the “High Energy High Style”
concept. The result is a new advertising campaign
that clearly communicates adidas Originals’ street
relevancy. Adidas Originals contemporary street
wear collections are inspired by the brand’s historical
anecdotes.
The Fall/Winter 2005 ads will break globally in July
2005 issues of key lifestyle and fashion publications
such as Kult, Pulp and Black book as well as
magazines such as Arena Home Plus and Teen
Vogue.
All adidas Originals marketing communication
efforts will evolve around three pillars in 2005: to
energize, globalize and contemporize adidas
Originals.
 CONCLUSION
Both Adidas and Nike have used the same theoretical
systems to create their brand building programs. The
companies are benchmarking each other, using the
techniques from each others successes, when Nike
launched their subbrand product Alpha line which
was benchmarked on Adidas already launched
subbrand of the Equipment product line for the elite
of sports men. We can find many similarities like
endorsements strategies and the companies
advertising strategies. What differs in the
endorsement strategies is that Adidas focuses in
sponsoring teams and global events, while Nike have
their center of attention on stars in specific sport like
basketball and Michael Jordan or in golf and Tiger
Woods.
About advertising do both companies have about the
same scale and scoop of advertising but they try to
communicate different messages. These messages
from Adidas is; the only one you compete with is
your self whereas Nike communicate a provocative,
aggressive winner attitude which can be related the
American sports attitude “You don’t win silver, you
lose gold”. As we can understand the two companies
are aiming at nearly the same targeted customer
group but with a slightly differentiation of attitude.
Adidas stand for a competing and winning over your
self-attitude, and Nike stands for a winning over
everyone attitude.
We in the group think this differentiation is based on
the differences in culture between the two
companies and between Europe and USA.

As an overall reflection one can see that Adidas had

to overcome, that the both companies had the same
target group. Adidas choose a brand-building
strategy that built on the same theoretical criteria’s
as Nike. But they created a differentiation in identity
of the brand (see comparing analysis in the Kapferer
Prism Model above) compared to Nike.
Adidas had the same strategy within creating equity
value to their brand. They challenged Nike in
endorsement strategy, and in advertising, but with a
slight difference in communicated message, by doing
it trough the same medias. To differentiate them self
and make totally own awareness activities, events
like Adidas Streetball Challenge was created.
Events like those communicated the Adidas brand
around the world.

According to the results and positions the brand-

building programs have given both Adidas and Nike
in the sport industry, one can say that branding have
been a totally determining factor. On top of that they
made it so good that they are used as models in
higher education.