Marketing strategy of Adidas
Introduction
Marketing communication is the process organizations apply to notify the company’s messages regarding the brand or
products they will sell to the customers to make them buy that
product or services. In short, the variety of channels companies adopts to
convey a detailed information regarding their products and services to the
targeted customers is called marketing communication. Marketing communication
can be further pursued through the help of cause marketing which refers to the
adjuvant of profit and non-profit companies for mutual benefits (Koekemoer, 2020).
Profit organizations being engaged in social charitable associations, and campaigns initiated by non-profit organizations will boost their brand’s corporate social responsibility. In this report, we will demonstrate the marketing communication plan for Adidas and its activities related to cause marketing along with its marketing communication mix tools, media mix channels, and campaign management proposal.
Adidas Brand Audit
Adidas is a manufacturing company of products for athletics
and sports persons like footwear, bags, sunglasses, balls, fitness tools,
apparel, accessories, gear, etc. The major purpose of this company is to
offer people a healthy lifestyle and aid in growing unheeded athletes around the
globe. Its mission of them is to be the leading sports brand worldwide and
achieve the power to change the lifestyles of sports persons and athletes in
the world. Adidas possesses its values of performance, diversity, integrity, and
passion.
The company accentuates the stakeholder’s requirements in
order to keep the eventual brand performance and they have realized the core
competitive environment of the sportswear. Their values are related to the
objective of offering the best sportswear to customers (Shahudin, 2018). They are acknowledged
for accomplishing things rights and they target to influence the people to
purchase their goods this is the strategy of the company of keeping the
customers loyal and having positive perceptions toward the brand.
Adidas applies a differentiated strategy for choosing and
targeting its core and valued customers. Their major targeted customers are
young people, kids, and children with an interest in staying fit and a passion
for sports. Their age target is from 13-45 years although their major customers
are aged between 15-30 years coming from diverse societies and classes.
This company adopts the diacritic strategy to build a
customer base and benefit-oriented positioning through which the company builds
strong and noteworthy brand recognition in the minds of its customers. They
generate the marketing program to clang the market and introduce themselves as
the Creator Sports Brands.
The major competitive advantage that Adidas has is the brand equity, ordination network, and higher product quality. With 2400 retail stores worldwide they have attained almost $4.3 billion in revenues in 2014. They sponsor teams in NBA, Cricket & Olympics, UEFA, and FIFA. For a long time, Adidas has been acknowledged as the best sportswear producer with comfortable, satisfaction, and perdurable (Usha, 2012).
Adidas has urged its competitiveness by maintaining the international relationship with International Labor Organization, and International Finance Corporation which supported it to surpass its competitors to build sustainability.
Adidas PESTEL Analysis
Adidas
is a
company of sports goods-producing several ranges of items for athletes. They have to take into account roughly their surrounding environmental
condition to stay in a competitive company through PESTEL analysis.
Political: Adidas ships their products and expand the
supply chain channel in different countries following the political regulations
of taxation, tariffs, custom, product safety laws, consumer safety goods
regulations, international trade agreements, labor laws, etc. Besides they
use political factors as mechanisms for interference with forged goods. Each
country has its own regulations and Adidas is bound to abide by those to
conduct business and distribute goods.
Economic: Adidas is one of the biggest 50 companies
that contribute 70% of their revenues. Adidas products are called leisure goods
which are sold on trends and perceptions (Frue, 2020). But they have to run against other leisure
industries, so Adidas need further research of distribution areas especially in
China as their economy is labor-intensive and should act strategically
regarding materials cost.
Social: Adidas introduces their products according to
their customer preferences and trends and are offered to several ages and
tastes people who have an interest in sports. They majorly intend to provide to
health-concerned customers. Also, contribute to several volunteer campaigns, and aid
in the Olympics to capture new customer attention.
Technological: Adidas examines their sportswear based
on the changing circumstances and strives to improve their performances for
professional athletes and players. Adidas extends its business through online
and social media and websites (Farooq,
2021). They are also preferring to adopt smart technology like Fitbit to
keep the advanced pace and explore the advanced industries.
Environment: They are contributing to examining the
environmentally hazardous elements and eradicating them which is why they use
natural materials in their production. Besides, they assure to perform ethical
practices in import and export mechanisms to global markets.
Legal: They own the intellectual properties and IP address and also patent amenities to be saved from being copied by bogus brands. Adidas follows the rules of the Trademark and upholds the marketing mechanism through sponsorships in celebrity programs following the government laws.
Cause Marketing of Adidas
Cause marketing refers to the activities of aiding any
charitable organization or social issues and gets marketing benefits through it. Adidas
has been recognized for the best athleisure and sports gear products by its
target customers. They
had a noteworthy number of ambassadors like sports stars that demonstrates the intentions of the company of generating
awareness and extending brand promotions of sports through their branded
products.
Recently Adidas has initiated a marketing campaign to ensure
the opportunity and amenities for the unheeded children and foster their
inner talents and skills to get a chance in the sports industry and make shining
life in this international sports territory (Adkins, 2016). In order to get the intentions, turn
into reality they have tended to work on the campaign “gumption through sports” where
kids get a huge platform to extract their best talents and get every possible opportunity
to develop their abilities and emulate the international sports field.
In this respect to provide better and more effective services to the targeted unheeded kids and children in the UK, Adidas has decided to cooperate with a diverse charitable organization that will be considered as the major partner for this initiative campaign. Youth Sports Trust UK, Generating Genius, Children in Need and Sports England has become their supporting partners who aid the company to extend the cause marketing and support to trace the concentration in a proactive way.
Target Audience and Stakeholders
Adidas has majorly targeted the young and adults along
with kids with the intention of fitness and sports interests aging from 13 to
45, as most of their customers are 15 to 30 years of age. They also have
accessories targeting older adults and their products are categorized according
to age preferences and trends (Lim, 2021).
Their major stakeholders are employees, government, shareholders, customers, press, business partners, trade associations, suppliers and executive boards, and other service providers who support emphasizing the operations and event in an effective manner and convey the intention to their major stakeholders proactively.
SMART Plan Objectives
Adidas has intended to adopt the SMART (Specific,
Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound) in order to sell 50 thousand
units of their sports products by 2022 and to increase by 25% revenue to introduce
the cause campaign at the same time. They
are intending to recruit almost 500 employees by 2023 for the “Gumption through
sports” campaign.
Adidas
also plans for implementing its campaign for unheeded young children in
London by 2025 which will help them address the brand in a promotional manner
to the key stakeholders and target markets.
The creative strategy of Adidas
Their strategic
concentration is to expand the brand fidelity, extending the customer’s
experiences through their sportswear and surpassing the limitations of
sustainability in the target market. Their
recent marketing communication plan and campaign also require an appropriate
creative strategy to be implemented which will be conducted through a brand
logo and campaign branding which will support increase the brand name,
company messages, and company intentions to the target customers and generate a
strong brand image in the consumer’s views.
Adidas implement this logo strategy to get people to apprise of
the brand (Adidas, 2020). This
strategy will support the company in placing a vast sustainable base in the
marketplace while diversifying the customer base. Their
Creative strategic approach has been created througCiteh rationale marketing
which will help the company realize sports-related circumstances and help
them engage in corporate social responsibility effectively. These CSR
activities support the increase of the brand image and work as a promotional strategy,
which addresses the social issues to be developed and generates amenities for
the unheeded children and young in the target market as well as strengthen the
brand positioning.
Marketing Communication Mix Plan
Adidas
to expand the campaign awareness they have planned to adopt the marketing
communication plan which comprises direct marketing, sales promotion, events
and experiences, personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, PR and
publicity, and interactive marketing.
Direct Marketing would help to target the people suitable
for the brand through direct mail, email marketing, and telemarketing Media.
Events and experiences spread the awareness of the brand image to the audiences
(Chettiar, 2007).
PR and publicity would support the company attract the
target customers rapidly. Advertising will let the audience know the details
information about the products offered and personal selling will help the company
to analyze the customer’s perceptions. Along with these POS donation ads, kiosk
communication also works as an effective marketing strategy.
Media Mix Plan
A media mix plan refers to the composition of marketing channels that an organization uses in order to reach the target audiences. Adidas examining its target audience’s tastes, behaviors, and region have also intended on choosing paid media channels to scatter the information to the customers. In the digital and modern world, they should initiate social media platforms and websites which will speedily spread the brand image to the people (Dahl, 2021). Then, they should do email marketing to the interested customers and billboards will remind the customers regarding the brand products frequently.
Marketing Communication Implementation Proposal
Adidas has planned and introduced its recent market campaign
“Gumption through sports” in order to help the underprivileged children and
young in the UK. To make this initiative into realistic shape, the company has
intended to embrace several marketing plans. But it needs a sufficient budget
for the marketing communication to be effectively implemented. Thus, they have developed a proposal plan
and budget schedule where their investment will be demonstrated.
As Adidas has huge popularity on social media like Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter, it can implement its marketing strategy through these platforms.
Besides, YouTube videos will also help it grow public awareness of the brand
image and product details. On the other hand, physical marketing or
direct marketing will allow the company to reach its market of national or
international range.
Their recent cause marketing campaign has a 50000 GBP worth of investment in order to get the plan accomplished within time. Their marketing communication budget plan that is proposed for the new implementation is shown below.
|
Marketing
Budget |
Percentage
% |
|
Direct
Marketing |
8% |
|
Meeting
and Conferences |
16% |
|
Sales |
27% |
|
Digital |
22% |
|
Content |
10% |
|
Public
Relations or Advocacy |
9% |
|
Advertising,
TV, Radio, Print |
8% |
Self Reflection
Conclusion
From
the perspective of the report conducted, Adidas Company as a large sportswear
company still needs public awareness to be acknowledged worldwide. The
company initiated its marketing communication campaign, which benefits the
company to spread its brand image and effectively increase the positive audience’s
perceptions. The company has planned its campaign and marketing communication
strategies by adopting tactics like PESTEL analysis to get a better view of the
external environment, selected target customers, and examined them thoroughly,
partnered with a social charity organizations to get support. They have also
chosen marketing effective channels and adopted the SMART tool and marketing mix
plan and media mix plan that will support the company implement the initiative
with prosper.
A self-reflection must be about your performance within your team, how the team contributed to your personal and professional development; what you would have done differently and how you would improve in future team works. Who in your team worked well or not etc.
References
1. Koekemoer, L., 2020. Marketing Communication. Cape Town:
Juta & Company, Limited.
2. Shahudin,
H., 2018. Operational Risk and Its Determinants: Adidas Company and Its
Influences on External and Internal Factors. SSRN Electronic Journal,.
3. Usha,
D., 2012. Company law Reforms in India- An Overview. International
Journal of Scientific Research, 2(1), pp.16-17.
4. Frue,
K., 2020. PESTLE Analysis of Adidas. [online] PESTLE Analysis.
Available at: https://pestleanalysis.com/pestle-analysis-adidas/
5. Farooq,
U., 2021. Adidas PESTLE Analysis | Marketing Tutor. [online]
Marketing Tutor. Available at:
<https://www.marketingtutor.net/adidas-pestle-analysis/>
6. Adkins,
S., 2016. Cause-related marketing. [Place of publication not
identified]: Routledge.
7. Lim,
S., 2021. How has Nike Overcome Adidas?. The Historical Journal,
77, pp.441-473.
8. Adidas,
2020. adidas Brand Strategy - Adidas Annual Report 2019. [online]
Adidas Annual Report 2019. Available at:
https://report.adidas-group.com/2019/en/group-management-report-our-company/corporate-strategy/adidas-brand-strategy.html
9. Chettiar,
L., De Beer, M. and Reddy, M., 2007. Marketing communication.
Sandton: Heinemann.
10. Dahl,
S., 2021. Social media marketing. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
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