INTRODUCTION

Which is your most loving sports brand? Why you prefer it? What makes it unique? How it fulfills your needs? What characteristics make it a user-friendly? Why the customer is loyal to this brand? This article demonstrates one of the most liked and customer loving brands “Adidas”. The article highlights key characteristics, history, brand identity, and much more. Keep yourself updated through this article about the exciting prospects of Adidas.

Adidas is a German-based international sportswear brand. It is a multinational corporation and the second-largest sportswear manufacturer globally and largest in Europe. People call it by an acronym “All Day I Dream About Soccer” but it is not official. It is a multinational corporation and has headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It manufactures and designs shoes, clothing, and other accessories. Its founder is Adi Dassler.

BRAND LOGO

Companies spent a lot of money on making their unique logo. For them, it’s the logo that becomes their identity. Adidas is also the same in this regard. It stems from Adolf ‘Adi’ plus Dassler ‘das’  (Adidas). The logo of the company is a mixture of 3 stripes shoe design and a mountain shape. This represents the challenges that athletes face. So, the brand itself identifies as an answer for challenges and is focussing on developing products that a customer uses and finds himself/herself motivated. The funny part, using the brand will not solve that challenge seriously. It’s surely you who have to get over that challenge.

HISTORY

It is said that Adi Dessler gifted shoes to Jesse Owens, an American track-and-field star at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Surprisingly, the winning results produced by Ownen increased brand awareness globally. Adi and his brother Rudolf(“Rudi”) tried to rebuild the brand after World War 2, but unfortunately, this was not fruitful as they both parted ways due to some differences. It resulted in the formation of two companies. Rudi’s company was named “PUMA” and, Adi’s became “ADIDAS”.

Adidas made progress from 1950 to the early 1970s in developing may sport goods. It introduced football in 1963. It also produced apparel after four years. Adidas was a market-leader till 1978, but the death of Adi Dassler and tough competition from Nike misplaced it from a global leader to a second position. There were also several efforts made in the 1990s. Some of them brought fruitful results. For example, under the leadership of Robert Louis-Dreyfus, Adidas acquired the Solomon group in 1997. The company kept on coming up with innovative solutions and signed different agreements with many multinationals till 2016 for ramping up its brand identity.

ADIDAS CURRENT BRAND ATTRIBUTES

Founder: Adolf Dassler

Subsidiaries: Reebok, Matix, Runtastic

Web Address: www.adidas-group.com

Products offered: Footwear,Sports wear, sporting equipment

Brand Value: $16.6 Billion

Slogan: Impossible is nothing

MODERN MARKETING STRATEGY OF ADIDAS

The company is using modern tools for reaching and increasing its customer base. It is working on its e-commerce channel for rapid growth. The company is also streamlining its production process with an effort to make them as modern as possible and topple its main competitor Nike.

MARKETING MIX OF ADIDAS

Adidas is using marketing mix or 4 P’s of marketing or making its marketing strategy successful. These 4 P’s are:

PRODUCT

Adidas makes sports products for its customers. The brand has three subsidiaries for satisfying different needs of customers and gives a tough competition to its customers. These subsidiaries make different sportswear for their products and have their own strong portfolios. These include:

Reebok

Rockpot

Taylor made

Regarding Adidas, the brand manufactures products like

Men’s t-shirts

Women’s t-shirts

Jackets

Hoodies

Pants

Leggings

Bags

Caps

Perfumes

Facemasks

Fitness products

Footballs

Head protectors

Leg protectors

Body protectors

Men’s shoes

Women’s shoes

PRICE

Adidas uses both skimming and competitive pricing strategies for its products. It uses a competitive pricing strategy when it is competing with similar products already available from its competitors like Nike, Puma, Reebok, etc.

It uses a skimming strategy when it introduced new products in a market that has not witnessed similar products from its competitors.

PLACE

Adidas sells its products through online and using its retail outlets around the world. It has almost 1200 brand stores worldwide. These include markets like:

Middle East

Europe

America

China

Australia

Africa

PROMOTION

It uses channels like digital media and its own team of marketing professional to promote its products. It has used medium like

Social media

Magazines

TV commercials

Celebrity endorsements like:

David Beckham

Jeremy Lin

Sachin Tendulkar

Kanye West

Kylie Jenner

Adidas has also sponsored many professional teams and events of the world like:

Olympics

Chelsea Football club

Real Madrid Football Club

Fifa

Sports events in China

Cricket

SWOT ANALYSIS OF ADIDAS

Adidas marketing strategy can further be understood by doing SWOT analysis. This includes:

STRENGTHS

• Strong brand image.
• Huge retail and distribution network.
• Strong promotional campaigns.

WEAKNESSES

• Tough competition
• Comparatively high prices

OPPORTUNITIES

• Growth in developing and emerging economies.
• Use of online means to expand customer reach.

THREATS

• Trade wars.
• The pandemic of COVID-19 and its implications.
• People using the brand’s name and making below the average copy of its products.
• The threat of new entrants with low pricing and similar or better products.

ADIDAS BUSINESS STRATEGY

The company has a Sales Strategy and excellency team for focusing on new product innovation, producing new products or services at the corporate level. It has a target audience of 20 to 29 year age group. The company mostly targets athletes as its customer base. It aims to diversify its range of products through its business model in which the subsidiaries of the company are providing an extra advantage to bring more revenue for Adidas. They sell products which have a high customer demand and brand loyalty due to their own core competencies.

CONCLUSION

No doubt Adidas is one of the leading sports brands. The company has been responding to challenges faced by it by keeping in front of itself the past, present, and, future. Adidas is a customer loving brand with its massive global footprint. With the extensive research being carried out by the company, one can easily argue that customers will be using quality products on a continuous basis in the future. They will be getting their money’s worth and, most importantly, healthy competition will be encouraged.