Detailed Marketing Report: Adidas's Strategies and Brand Positioning

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Adidas's marketing strategies, examining its product offerings, pricing approaches, distribution channels (place), and promotional activities. The report begins with a brief introduction to the Adidas brand, highlighting its historical background and evolution. The main body of the report delves into the four key elements of the marketing mix: product (including footwear, apparel, and accessories), price (analyzing skimming and competitive pricing strategies), place (covering retail outlets, multi-brand showrooms, and online channels), and promotion (including advertising, social media marketing, and celebrity endorsements). The report concludes with a summary of the key findings, emphasizing Adidas's successful brand positioning and marketing efforts.

Blogging to communicate
1

Table of Contents
INTODUCTION..............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................5
Product........................................................................................................................................5
Price.............................................................................................................................................6
Place............................................................................................................................................7
Promotion....................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
2

INTODUCTION
Adidas is one of the top brand which is established by Adolf Adi Dassler in year 1924 in
Germany. In the early 1900 the process has begin that is a boy name Adi Dassler has started
from small town in Bavaria from his mother's wash kitchen. In year 1924 he has set the mission
to provide the premium quality tools and equipments to the athletes. With hard work and true
dedication he would be able to gain the trust of athletes as Line Radke athlete won the gold
medal wearing shoes designed by Adi Dassler's in year 1928 (HR and Aithal, 2020).
In year 1949, Adi has started again that is at the age of 49 with the workforce of around
40 employees under registered name of Adi Dassler adidas Sportschuhfabrik stated work in
small town of Herzogenaurach. Moreover in the same year he also registered the soon to become
adidas 3-stripes with the motive to attract large number of potential and targeted customers.
In year 1954, an event is been organised in German named as World cup final in football
match where the winning team has played the match wearing Adidas shoes. This is one of the
unbelievable victory which has bring the change for the company as they able to gain publicity
and become famous in the marketplace.
Illustration 1: Adidas logo 2020
In year 1958, after company get recognition in the marketplace and able to grow its own
miracle where two British men named a Joe and Jeff Foster gave their grandfathers company a
new name Reebok after the popularity of Adidas.
3

In year 1967, model named Franz Beckenbauer has wear the shoes of adidas brand as it
become first apparel opening fro the whole new business. Furthermore the focus in year 1968 to
1970 is to gain the trust of Athletes where focus of Adi Dassler is to provide additional personal
ingredient by producing innovative products with the motive top support the needs and
requirement of the athletes. Moreover in year 1970 the company entered in the partnership with
TELSTAR where they will deliver the official match ball to every FIFA world cup.
In year 1972 with the introduction of Olympic games in Munich the company come up
with its new logo that was here to stay: the Trefoil. With the changing situation and preferences
of the customers the standards ate lifestyle changes but the trefoiled quality didn't get out of trend
(Ang and Rusli, 2018).
In between 1972-1978 the brand would be able to become one of the most trusted and
true brand as the name of company is been represented by Argentinean national team, Reinhold
Messner and many other famous personalities.
Illustration 2: Adidas 2020
In year 1978, Adi Dassler died, the man who is the founder of sporting goods industry
and has set benchmark and left the flourishing company behind. Adi Dassler son Horst took the
control of the company with the support of his mother Kathe (Alipour and Sabzikaran, 2018).
4

In year 1984 with the increase in competition and increasing needs of people Adidas has
come up with new innovative range of shoe with micropacer feature in it. In current scenarios it
is known as Micoach which helps the athletes to measure their performance.
Later on in year 1986 the focus of the company is to provide everlasting art and sport
street fashion based shoes that to to expand its business in non-athletic range of products.
In year 1993 the new CEO Robert Louis Dreyfus has taken step where he come to know
that there is no need to reinvest in bankrupt adidas that is company need new direction in order to
hold its position. He has taken step by focusing more on the marketing of products of company
insight of sales. With due focus and proper strategy implementation within 5-6 years that is in
year 1993 the company went public with new slogan which is We know then, we know now.
In between 1989-1994 as company has taken step to grow and develop in the marketplace
as they need to come up with new innovative product. The various concepts such as Torsion,
equipment concept. Streetball campaign and predator football boot where born in that time
duration which can provide benefit to the company (Pirjamadi and et.al., 2016).
Illustration 3: History of Adidas 2018
In year 1997 company has added the new member in its team that is they have acquired
Salomon group and its name changed to adidas- Salomon AG.
In 2001 new innovative leader become the CEO of the company Herbert Hainer. He has
the ability to lead the company in the most effective manner in order to take it to next end.
In new century the company has reinvested in game sector again where focus was on new
lifestyle segment and sports street wear. The main focus of the company is to acquire new
position in the marketplace and able to take competitive advantage. With its new innovation in
5

year 2013 where it come up with new range of energy boost running shoe able to attract the large
number of potential customer and has acquired the large market share. The company with the
help of new strategies and business plans focusing on providing quality products to its customers
and to maintain its position in the marketplace.
MAIN BODY
Product
The Adidas group is having four segments or subsidiary which are first is its own brand
named as Adidas dealing in clothing and footwear, second is Reebok which is been overtaken by
Adidas, third is Rockpot which is dealing in outdoor footwear, apparel's, accessories and the
fourth is Taylor which is dealing in golfing clothes, equipments and many more.
Among all four sectors of the Adidas the most preferred and strong brand is Reebok. The
company is dealing in various products where the main product of the company which give
recognition to the brand is its range of shoes. With the changing taste, preferences of customers
and the up-gradation in the technology the company is coming up with different variety in
footwear that is robust and athletic (Hisrich and Ramadani, 2017).
Illustration 4: Products of Adidas 2020
The second product which is most preferred by the customers is apparel's and accessories.
Apparel's includes T-shirts, jackets, shorts and many more which are high in demand as
customers are satisfied with the quality of the product. In shoes major sales are done in Reebok
subsidiary where as Adidas major sales are done in apparel's.
6

Furthermore the focus of the brand is to provide best quality shoes and other range of
footwear to its potential customers with latest technology and design. The products provided by
the company don't come in the category of essential products but they are providing shoes which
are able to provide satisfaction to customers as their needs and desires are been fulfilled by the
company. The apparel range of the company is focusing towards providing comfort to the people
while performing heavy activities and exercises. The main target of the company is towards
sports wear and by providing apparel they are targeting youngsters.
Price
Adidas is using skimming pricing and competitive pricing according to its style and
design. Skimming pricing method is the one which is used by the business organisation when the
y are coming up with new and innovative product on the market place which is been first time
launched in the marketplace. In context of Adidas they use skimming method when they come
up with new and innovative product that is they are the first who have launched energy booster
shoes and the Micoach featured shoes. Thus in such cases they set the prices according to their
choice and preferences. Whereas the competitive pricing method is used by those organisations
which is facing high competition in the marketplace and in order to meet the standards they have
to change their prices according to prices used by competitors. They are using competitive
pricing because they are facing high competition in the marketplace so they need to identify the
strategy and the price of the products of competitors and have to make changes in its pricing and
strategy. Its competitors are Nike, Reebok, Puma and many more. The company is providing
quality products to its customers hence use high prices and is targeting high and middle class
people. Furthermore the company is not using penetrative pricing because it will has direct
negative impact on the brand equity of Adidas. Moreover they are charging high prices as they
are providing high technology based quality products and they rarely drop their prices.
7

Illustration 5: Adidas 2019
Place
Adidas is the first company which has identify the needs of sports essentials and come up
with the range of shoes specially for Athletics. They have established their brand name across the
globe and is selling its range of products through retail outlets. Furthermore they have their own
exclusive outlets where latest designed products are directly sell to its potential customers. On
the other hand the brand is available on many multi brand showrooms so that people can get the
products of the brand easily. The products of the brand is been provided to various multi brand
showrooms with the help of product distributors. Moreover they are using on more mode to
provide its variety of products to customers that is through online channels. The company has its
own website and also selling its products with other online popular applications that are amazon,
myntra, ajio and many more. As with the changes in the trends and preferences of people, they
mostly prefer to buy products online. Hence with the help of its own website along with other
online popular shopping application the would be able to earn more. The channel used by the
company in order to distribute its product is as follow-
From manufacturing unit to Adidas outlet and finally to end user. Secondly from
manufacturing unit to the distributor and in last to multi brand showrooms. Thirdly from
manufacturing unite to various online shopping applications or company's website and then
finally to the end user.
8

The company is having excellent brand image in the marketplace hence didn't face any
problem in operating and distribution channels. These activities helps in carrying the
promotional activities in the better and effective manner.
Illustration 6: Adidas stores 2020
Promotion
Adidas is using various marketing channels and vehicles in order to provide the proper
information to its customers across the globe. With the help of advertisement they are informing
their potential customer about the various offers, new arrivals and many other important
information. In the current scenario where everyone is dependent on digital ways where they are
using various social media platform to attract its customers. With the use of visual and graphic
content they are engaging and attracting the large number of customers. As people send most of
their time on various popular social media channels such as instagram, facebook, you-tube and
many more. Moreover they are using email marketing to maintain contact with its regular
customers that is by sending mail to them regarding current activities taking place within the
company they are able to attract them. Use of digital ways to inform and attract people regarding
their offering is one of the cost effective strategy where within few minutes they would able to
reach large number of customers. With the use of its tag line “Impossible is nothing” it is
engaging its target customers. Mainly Adidas is using television and social media marketing to
9

carry its promotional activities in the effective manner. Moreover they do their advertisement by
Lionel messi, Ronaldinho, Sachin tendulkar and many other famous celebrities.
Illustration 7: Adidas promotional strategy 2020
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been concluded that establishing business in the market place
is not a easy task as one need to look after many factors in order to get effective result in the
marketplace. There are many ups and downs which take place in the business and they have to be
ready in advance to handle them in the most effective and efficient manner. The marketing mix
is the activity which helps the business in identifying the areas and other related factors which
they need to focus on in order to obtain the desire results effectively.
10

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
HR, G. and Aithal, P.S., 2020. Establishing True Lifestyle Brand in India: An Integrated
Marketing Mix Framework. International Journal of Management, Technology, and
Social Sciences (IJMTS),(June 2020). 5(1). pp.261-284.
Ang, C. and Rusli, H., 2018. The impact of marketing mix 4ps and consumer behavior toward
purchase decision of adidas products. iBuss Management, 6(2).
Pirjamadi, S., and et.al., 2016. The Assessment of Marketing Mix Weakness of Iranian Sport
Company: The Study of Adidas and Majid.
Hisrich, R.D. and Ramadani, V., 2017. Entrepreneurial marketing mix. In Effective
Entrepreneurial Management (pp. 75-99). Springer, Cham.
Alipour, M. and Sabzikaran, E., 2018. Investigating the Effect of Brand Authenticity on the
Importance of Brand and the Desire to Buy (Case Study: ADIDAS Brand). American
Journal of Business, Economics and Management. 6(1). p.1.
Online
Adidas 2020.[online. Available through: <https://dobetter.esade.edu/en/adidas-research> ]
Adidas logo 2020.[online. Available through: <https://logos-world.net/adidas-logo/>]
History of Adidas 2018. [online. Available through: <https://www.designboom.com/design/adi-
dasslers-first-shoes-an-exhibition-by-adidas/>]
Products of Adidas 2020. [online. Available through:
<https://www.sdwerwer.xyz/products.aspx?cid=15&cname=adidas+all+products>]
Adidas 2019. [online. Available through: <https://www.prada.com/us/en/pradasphere/special-
projects/2019/prada-for-adidas-limited-edition.html>]
Adidas stores 2020. [online. Available through: <www.sdwerwer.xyz/products.aspx?
cid=15&cname=the+store+adidas>]
Adidas promotional strategy 2020. [online. Available
through:<https://www.piacreations.co.th/en/album/10892/adidas-home-of-classics>]
11