Comparative Case Study of Nike & Adidas: Digital Marketing Strategies

This comparative case study analyzes the digital marketing strategies of Nike and Adidas, two global sports giants. It explores their approaches to app-based sales, online selling, effective advertisements, collaboration with social media channels, and more. The study also examines their segmentation and targeting strategies. Discover how Nike and Adidas use digital marketing to stay ahead in the competitive sporting goods industry.

Digital Marketing
Comparative Case study of Nike & Adidas
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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Digital Marketing..................................................................................................................................2
Digital Marketing and its application in Sporting Goods Industry.........................................................3
Nike...................................................................................................................................................3
Nike: Digital Marketing Strategy.......................................................................................................4
App based sales.............................................................................................................................4
Amazon as the medium of online selling.......................................................................................4
Brilliantly effective advertisements...............................................................................................4
Marketing under different sub-brands............................................................................................5
Collaboration with Social Media channels.....................................................................................5
Short Films and Videos with great messages.................................................................................5
Digital marketing Segmentation....................................................................................................6
Targeting.......................................................................................................................................6
Adidas...............................................................................................................................................6
Adidas: Digital Marketing Strategy...................................................................................................6
Digital Branding and Advertisement.............................................................................................7
Digitized production process.........................................................................................................7
Strong relationship with buyers through Social media channels....................................................7
Collaboration with ‘Creators’........................................................................................................8
Digital marketing Segmentation....................................................................................................8
Sports Event Sponsorship..............................................................................................................8
Targeting.......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
In today’s competitive world, no organization can survive without developing a competent
and strategic digital marketing strategy. Digital marketing is one of the most essential tools
for any business to thrive and climb high on the ladder of success. Identifying and deciding
on the most suitable digital marketing strategy is deemed to be one of the primary roles
during the launch of brand awareness programmes. Before diving into major points of digital
marketing, it is important to define digital marketing in the right terms (Baltes, 2015). This
business report involves a comparative and analytical study of the current digital marketing
strategies of two global business giants, namely Nike and Adidas.
Digital Marketing
Baltes, in one of his digital marketingbook, says, “Digital marketing is a total system of
online business activities designed to plan price promotes and distribute want-satisfying
products to target markets to achieve organisational objectives (Baltes, 2015).According to
Holtbrüggeand Schuster (2017), “Digital marketing is the process of planning and executing
the conception; pricing promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create
exchanges that satisfy individuals and organisational objectives.
In other words, Digital marketing is a system of business activities integrated to promote the
distribution of satisfying products to target customers, and ultimately achieving objectives of
the organization. The three major points which are focused ondigital marketing are
segmentation, positioning, and targeting. All four processes involve the implementation of
key decision about target customer, the best mode to reach the target market, and the most
appropriate message that should be delivered (Holtbrüggeand Schuster, 2017).
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Digital Marketing and its application in Sporting Goods Industry
Sports equipment is a billion-dollar industry where several brands have been on the peak.
Adidas and Nike are two of the widely popular and largest sports apparel companies. Both
companies have been at the forefront of the sports and fashion world (Baena, 2017).
Nike
Founded in the year 1964, Nike Inc. has become one of the biggest names in the global sports
apparel, athletic shoes, and sports equipment market. To keep its position intact, Nike follows
generic digital strategy followed by intensive growth strategy to suit the current business
scenario. As per ACSI digital marketing data, Nike produces more than 500 million products
every year. In the last ten years, Nike alone has generated sales of $150 billion (Mahdi,
Abbas and George, 2015). The digital marketing campaigns used by Nike are quite
aggressive and apprehensive. Being the top seller of sports goods, Nike’s Mission is to
introduce ground breaking sports innovations by designing their products more sustainably,
and by building a diverse and creative team to make a positive impact in the communities.
With presence is North America, Greater China, Middle East, Europe, Africa, Latin America,
and Asia Pacific, Nike sells its products worldwide.
Nike: Digital Marketing Strategy
Nike has seized control of its target market data for staying ahead of its competitors. The
marketing experts at Nike focused on app-based sales, social media selling and
advertisement, selling through e-commerce channels like Amazon, and the online-offline
connection (Brohi et al, 2016).
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App-based sales
For Nike, the application-based purchase is surging and the online sales have doubled over
the last two years. In the year 2015, Nike has app-based selling of $2 billion, and in the
FY2017, the app-based selling increased to $4.1 billion(Brohi et al, 2016). The app users are
spending almost thrice as much as the website users do, which is an ominous sign for their
success. This is the reason why Nike is using digital marketing strategies to further boost the
visibility of their brand. The company is investing on using new-gen technologies to offer
better userexperience and offering strong brand value through a different set of informative
tutorials and secondary applications like MyFitnessPal, and Nike+ for enhanced
functionality(Brohi et al, 2016).
Amazon as the medium of online selling
Though Nike resisted Amazon for many years, they are finally selling their products on the e-
commerce giant. After Adidas, Nike is the most selling sports goods brand on Amazon.
Selling sneakers and sports equipment has paid off for Nike (Baltes, 2015).
Brilliantly effective advertisements
Nike employs effective advertisements to capture the target market’s attention and these ads
campaign with emotional benefits. The company sells aspiration through brilliant campaigns
and ads which appeal to the emotions of the viewers. The campaigns are so effective, with
focus on the meaningful stories that help the brand create a loyal base of customers. The main
motto of these campaigns is to evoke particular feelings which make these products very
meaningful for the buyers. In their advertisements, Nike uses a traditional narrative style
where the hero overcomes fights and hardships irrespective of the ‘You Can’t’ condition, and
later it leads to glory with the tagline ‘Just Do it’ (Brohi et al, 2016).
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Marketing under different sub-brands
Nike doesn’t only sell quality products through traditional channels. They create subsidiaries
like Jordan, Hurley, and Converse. Digital marketing under different sub-brands has helped
Nike grow. Through various channels like e-commerce sites, app-based selling, and reseller,
Nike is distributing its products worldwide(Hertrichand Mayrhofer, 2015).
Collaboration with Social Media channels
The reason for Nike’s success also goes to brilliant collaborative campaigns they conduct.
One of the examples can be the Facebook Messengers bot and Nike Air Jordan collaboration.
Such collaboration of with social media channels enabled the two-way conversations and it
also provided prospective buyers with an opportunity to connect with Nike. The bot generates
responses to specific phrases and it also led messenger users to Nike Collection website
through an external link that helped users to turn back to the messenger(Hertrichand
Mayrhofer, 2015).
Short Films and Videos with great messages
Here again, Nike touches the emotional nerve through the short films and videos they
produce by collaborating with different artists. For example, one of their short films included
LGBTQ rights and supportive messages and paid homage to the community created by
Latino LGBTQ and impoverished Black youth. Their ads have a motto to encourage athletes
to be fair to each other and respect players off the field.
Digital marketing Segmentation
Nike’s majority of customers have always been sportsmen and the company has focused on
sportsmen through agreements with the sports team. Nike has reached an extensive number of
client and customer by concentrating more on sportsmen rather than on the individuals
(Hertrichand Mayrhofer, 2015).
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Targeting
Nike relies a lot on sportsmen and athletes and implements a lot of strategies under this
sector. This includes product sponsorship by well-known athletes, celebrities, and sports
team. This targeting strategy has been successful as it has reached many sportsmen, and
through them, too many sports’ audience(Schmid, Dauth, Kotulla and Leding, 2018).
Adidas
The U.S sports apparel and shoe industry has shaped by the athleisure trends created by
Adidas’s innovative products. Where Nike steadily continued to dominate the industry,
Adidas made a strong ROI through innovative digital technologies and marketing (Schmid,
Dauth, Kotulla and Leding, 2018). The 2017 FY of Adidas has an exciting story to tell since
it shows fastest. Adidas, being equally competitive has been producing 500-600 million
products every year since 2007 and has generated sales of $180 billion in last one decade
(ACSI Report, 2016). Adidas focus has been on innovation, sustainability, and growth. The
company’s Net profit rose to 418 million euros by the end of FY2018(Schmid, Dauth,
Kotulla and Leding, 2018). The key elements in their corporate strategy are determination to
create new, focus on sustainability, focus on the key urban markets, marketing of higher
impact, investment in digital marketing. Their e-commerce sales generated the fastest
growing revenues (Schmid, Dauth, Kotulla and Leding,2018).
Adidas: Digital Marketing Strategy
Adidas issued a 5-year marketing plan in the year 2105, with their emphasis on creating
something new. Adidas describes itself as a digital company with the best quality sports
apparel since they use subsequent digitization as one of its key marketing strategies. They
spend almost ninety percent of their marketing budget on social media advertisement and
digital campaigns(Schmid, Dauth, Kotulla and Leding, 2018).
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Digital Branding and Advertisement
Adidas relies completely on the product image which has turned out to be quite favourable
for the company and helped it become one of the biggest companies in the world. Adidas has
invested a lot for product promotion, Television commercials, and has created strong brand
awareness among people of all age groups (Hertrichand Mayrhofer, 2015).
Digitized production process
Not only has Adidas employed digitization in their marketing and distribution processes, but
they have adapted to this in production processes too. The company takes pride in its high-
speed production which is an integral part of their marketing strategy. They use 3D printing
technology, advanced machines, and robotics at the speed factory. Adidas has introduced the
4D shoes that are designed with oxygen and lights. This is one of the best examples of the
brand’s advanced technology and R&D team(Schmid, Dauth, Kotulla and Leding, 2018).
They deliver personalized and innovated shoes for every athlete, and always ensure meeting
the high demand through quality production. Created with collaboration and innovation,
Adidas products are ever ready for buyers when and where they want them(Schmid, Dauth,
Kotulla and Leding, 2018).
A strong relationship with buyers through Social media channels
The brand interacts with the buyers and creates a personalized, connected, and premium
experience. They create excitement and enthusiasm about sports and related products on a
wholly personal level. Adidas employs every digital marketing opportunity like mobile, web,
social channels to reach consumers. Through taking insights from the Big Data and Digital
analysts, they try to be everywhere and promise to deliver unique, unified, and multichannel
experiences (Schmid, Dauth, Kotulla and Leding, 2018).
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Collaboration with ‘Creators’
Like Nike, Adidas also used advertisements and campaigns to attract the target market.
Where Nike focuses on emotions, Adidas focuses on Creativity. Their ad campaigns are
made of collaborations with athletes, players, and creative people, and through these
campaigns, the consumers are invited to create, learn, and shape the future of
sports(Baena,2017).
Digital marketing Segmentation
Adidas employed a differentiated targeting strategy for young adults and teenagers who have
a passion for sports and fitness. Adidas aligned its sale with distribution strategy which
propelled increased consumer-centric mindset. To expand distribution, they made their
products available through co-branded stores, exclusive stores, and other channels (Nufur,
2016).
Sports Event Sponsorship
Adidas has developed strong brand equity by sponsoring in several sports events like UEFA,
NBA, FIFA, Cricket, and Olympics. This has helped the company get associated with a
sports organization and get an edge over its competitors (Ryan, 2016). Through sponsorship
at various sports like Football and Cricket, Adidas reaches mass audience. The celebrity
brand ambassadors further help the brand establish recognition among the target market.
Adidas continuously reaches celebrity athletes and partners with them to create Instagram and
Youtube videos and ads.
Targeting
Adidas Used Competitive pricing combined with skimming pricing. One thing that helps it
set apart of its competitors is its segmentation strategy. Adidas products are for both people
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who hail from the upper middle class and the luxury class of customers. Their target
customers are in the age group of 15 to 30 (Kingsnorth, 2019)
Conclusion
Both Nike and Adidas are two of the largest sports companies, and they continue to make it
to the top with their effective digital marketing strategies. But, just like every firm in any
industry, these companies have their own set of goals. Adidas is struggling to expand its
distribution strategy to the global market as it is only limited to the domestic market of the
USA. Nike is also striving to distribute its products to more countries and regions to capture
more potential. For Nike, the application-based purchase is surging and online sales have
doubled over the last two years. In the year 2015, Nike has app-based selling of $2 billion,
and in the FY2017, the app-based selling increased to $4.1 billion. Adidas, being equally
competitive has been producing 500-600 million products every year since 2007 and has
generated sales of $180 billion in the last decade.
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