Westminster Brand Strategy Report: Nike vs Adidas Analysis

This report delves into the intricacies of brand strategy, beginning with an exploration of the purpose of brands in contemporary society, supported by relevant examples. It then narrows its focus to the footwear industry, conducting a comparative analysis of the strategic marketing and brand direction of Nike and Adidas. The analysis incorporates frameworks like STP and SWOT to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, and overall market positioning. Furthermore, the report presents strategic options for delivering brand growth over the next five years, considering the implications for brand development and marketing communications, offering insights into potential future campaigns and development strategies for both brands. The study highlights the significance of brand purpose, social responsibility, and ethical considerations in modern marketing.

Brand Strategy

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................................1
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
Explaining the purpose of brands in modern society along with examples.................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................3
Selecting the one industry and evaluating the strategic marketing and brand direction along
with utilization of framework and theories ...............................................................................3
PART 3............................................................................................................................................6
Presenting strategic options to deliver brand growth for the
next five years; explore the implications for brand development and marketing
communications...........................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Brand strategy is related with having the long term plan which has the objective of
making the particular company successful via creating the effective image regrading its products
among current & potential brands. In the current era, having the effective brand strategy is
crucial in turn significant ability to overcome the prevailing competition in the market. The
current study will pay attention on having the information regarding the purpose of brand in the
modern society along with the examples. This will emphasize on footwear industry so that
selecting two competing brands to evaluate strategic marketing & brand direction. It will include
the rationale for selecting the brand & strategic options to deliver brand growth for five years
along with brand development campaigns. The recent investigation will emphasize on
discussing the objective of the selected idea regrading development campaign.
PART 1
Explaining the purpose of brands in modern society along with examples
Branding simply means identification and recognition of the business by the customers.
It includes brand name, brand logo, etc. but it is much more than a mere logo and name
(Flikkema and et.al., 2019). Each and every of a global business gets affected by the branding
like addressing the customer services, sales promotion, uniform code for the staff, business
cards, marketing strategies and premises to such marketing, advertising strategies and premises
to such advertising, etc. and shall reflect what makes the business stand apart from the
competitors and its vision.
Brand purpose as the name suggests shows the purpose of a brand or a business which is
more than just earning revenues and profits. Through brand purpose, the business thrives to
connect with the customers on an emotional level i.e., it can be said that it is similar to the social
purpose of the business but not the same (Kim and Sullivan, 2019). Such purpose will be based
on the initiatives which are product led but will have aim to grow business and achieve
objectives & goals and also serve and benefit the society in general through its products and
services.
Now, in the modern society, the entrepreneurs consider the social responsibilities and
ethics of the society as a part of the brand purpose as they need to serve and cater the needs of
the society at last (Standaert, 2022). So the various ways through which a socially responsible
brand can be created and maintained are:
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 Customers tend to bend towards the brands that are more socially responsible with or
without implementation of the proper social policies. This can be done through social media
by analysing what the society needs and in what ways the business can assist them.
 The first and foremost step is to make the employees of the business socially responsible and
ascertain the operations of the business which affects the environment and community. If
employees are socially responsible, then the products or services will automatically come out
to be socially worth something.
 It is important that the goals that are to be set are realistic, feasible and achievable.
 It is advisable to address the causes that are connected the product of the business so that the
cause can be felt by the customers also and they will be able to support such causes.
 It is vital to manufacture the products that are sustainable towards the nature like avoiding
usage of plastic, using recycle material, etc.
 To be more socially and ethically responsible the business has to switch the idea of success
and growth from only revenues and profits to the social, environmental and ethical initiatives
that will be steering the course of business and thus equal efforts are to be put on profits,
planet and the people.
 The customers have become aware of the fake promotions and false PR activities and thus
actions which are authentic, real and specific shall only be implemented to be able to create a
brand value in the market as the worst thing that can happen is degrading of the image of the
brand.
 Developing a clear and authentic social mission will be very effective in building a good
brand image. This way, the business will be able to separate the corporate mission and vision
from the social mission and thus both the missions can be duly considered and also be
aligned with each other.
 Another effective way of building a socially responsible brand is via engaging with the local
organisations. The local non – profit organisations, charities and community groups can be
approached for the social responsibility activities in the local areas of its operation. This will
allow the forming of an equitable as well as sustainable environment.
Such achievement of the social responsibility and ethics can be discussed of Nike which
is a well know sports brand in the athletic market whose slogan for its 30th anniversary is
“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” In the current markets, Nike is
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one of the leaders in Corporate Social Responsibility. It has committed to reduce its
environmental impacts and also addresses the serious issues like Black Lives Matter, women
empowerment, role of women in sports and much more (Kim, 2020). Another market player
named Adidas views corporate social responsibility as a team sport in which it focusses on three
main regions namely sustainability of environment, human rights and employee development
thus employees, consumers and communities play an important role in the social responsibility
and sustainability of Adidas. It was the first in the industry to publish a sustainability report and
is founding member of initiatives like Fair Labour Association, Better Cotton and Leather
Working Group. It shall be noted that more than 70% of all the polyester used is recycled by the
company.
PART 2
Selecting the one industry and evaluating the strategic marketing and brand direction along with
utilization of framework and theories
Footwear industry is growing with the rapid speed in the UK which is offering the
number o the opportunities for the growth & development to the companies (Lu, 2021). There
are different firms in shoes sector that pay attention on having the effective offerings via
competing with similar organization. There are various brands in UK which are competing with
each other in order to get the leading position in the market . This includes the Nike, Adidas,
New balance, Crockett & Jones, Reebok, etc. many of these brands are operating on the global
platform via making reliable branding strategy. From the assessment of industry performance it
can be interpreted that Nike and Adidas are two larger competitors which formulates effective
marketing approach in respect to attract & retain customers. These both the brands are
competing a well on the international platform which ensures the selection of it in respect to get
in depth analysis. Competitor analysis in this two brands can be done effectively to get the
significant information via applying the strength and weakness model so that appropriate
information about their performance can be derived. There are different form of the models
which can be taken into the consideration for evalauting their practices which includes the STP,
SWOT, etc.
Nike
It is basically related with having designing, development, selling of footwear via
maintaining appropriate market share in the industry. (Jan and Victor, 2019) This is basically
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operates in the worldwide by positioning strong performance through building competitive
branding strategy. It has the brand strategy of building powerful position in market via
possessing effective customer loyalty. There are different form of the marketing actions which
is exerted by the firm in order to get the ability to coordinate with the changing circumstances.
As being one of the successful organization the firm pay attention on having the execution of
STP approach so that reliable execution of marketing practices can become possible.
Segmentation : the firm segments market so that achieving actions can be implemented to get
corrective outcomes. The firm uses the basis such as psycho & demo graphic so that achieving
the customers who are having specific lifestyle and personalities.
Targeting: its done by the firm through having the practical approach to attract those who have
objective of conducting practices such as running, playing, gyming, etc.
Positioning: this is executed by the firm through having focus on providing innovative &
premium quality shoes with low price. This direction for marketing & branding is utilized by
particular brand.
The firm is possessing the following strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths:
 there are different form of the strengths which is basically possessed by this particular
brand that helps to get the significant positioning in market (Nike SWOT 2022, 2022).
 The one of the significant strength which is basically possessed by Nike is to have the
lower cost of its products as uses inexpensive materials and less labor expenditure.
 Strong customer base by having the involvement of athletes and celebrities which tend
to show its products higher quality.
 Powerful core brand as it has created wider level awareness regarding its products among
the targeted audience which reflects the first thought that comes in mind while making
the decision regarding the shoes purchasing.
Weaknesses:
 Outsourcing manufacturing of products due to importing the material from the different
regions makes the firm dependent on the other organization that is the biggest weakness
(Kozielski, Kalinska-Kula and Medowski, 2022).
 There is ineffective publicity regarding the pricing approach which shows that the
company having the image of luxury brand.
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 Poor labor condition is referred as the one of the biggest drawback which can influence
the overall positioning in the market that is referred as one of the significant weakness.
 There is found to be lack of diversification which is results into the major weakness
that is required to be taken into the consideration as negatively impact the functioning
of firm.
Adidas
It is one of the crucial brand that is mostly liked by the people while taking the
purchasing decision (Kapur, 2020). This is concerned with taking the manufacturing process into
the consideration so that effective understanding regarding the various prevailing trends so that
reliable offering can be done. The brand possesses the competitive advantage which is related
with effectual marketing technology execution so that effective design and quality can be
attained to offer the sustainable goods.
In order to have the appropriate branding strategy the organization require emphasizing
on having application of STP approach which has helped firm to get reliable marketing actions
(Marketing strategy of Adidas, 2022).
Segmentation: the firm is segmenting on the basis of demographic factor which includes the
focusing on youth and urban people.
Targeting: differentiation targeting is done to attract the people of the age group 13-40 with the
objective of having competing with life style.
Positioning: on the basis of product quality, distribution network and brand equity is taken into
the process to position in the market. These are the ways followed by the firm to spread
awareness regarding its brand.
The particular enterprise is having the below strong and lacking areas.
Strengths:
 This possesses the strong & innovative marketing strategy so that strong retention in the
minds of customers has become possible.
 There is good brand value of the firm in the industry as comes in top ranking firms in
the sector.
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 Excellent product portfolio is possesses by the organization so that accomplishing the
competitive edge as products are globally operating in industry. This is helpful in having
leading e-commerce practices.
 It has the effective supply chain management which c an help the organization to
achieve the effective ability to coordinate with the prevailing demand in the market
which is depicted as strengthening part.
Weaknesses
 There are few lacking areas which is required to be taken into the consideration so that
effective insights about the prevailing performance can be identified.
 There is stiff competition and similar big brands which is resulting into the high brand
switching.
 There is improper management of the cost as there is requirement of the innovative &
technology parts in the brand which can incline ts expenditure which is making the
product expensive.
PART 3
Presenting strategic options to deliver brand growth for the
next five years; explore the implications for brand development and marketing
communications
Adidas is a leading manufacturer of shoes, clothing and accessories and is the largest
manufacturer of sportswear in Europe. The main reason behind the application of this brand is
that it is helpful in gaining the competitive edge in the international platform. Adidas is having
good brand image in the market which makes it more successful in its targeted market which is
showing that customers give preference to this specific product.
Adidas is now following its growth strategy named ‘own the game’ with the targeted
year of 2025 (Matović, Stanić and Drinić, 2019). It has targeted to shift its strategic focus on the
credibility of the brand, experiences of the consumer and sustainability and it business model to
DTC – led business model. It targets to twice the level of sales in the E – commerce between € 8
billion and € 9 billion. It has declared that out of every 10 articles it will produce, 9 will be
sustainable the technology will be transformed digitally by injecting the investment of more than
€ 1 billion (The latest growth strategy of Adidas, 2022). It has also targeted to increase the
revenues at a rate of 8% to 10% per annum on an average from 2021 to 2025. The company
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aims to reach the level of 12% to 14% of operating margin and thus also increasing the net
income at the rate of 16% to 18% per annum on an average from 2021 to 2025. Most
importantly, the total cash return to the shareholders are aimed to be between € 8 billion to € 9
billion. The particular brand is following this campaign in turn accomplishing the significant
ability to spread the awareness regarding its products among the current and potential customers
can be done. There are certain lacking areas which is required to be improved in respect to get
the significant brand development and communication can become possible.
Brand strategy
Adidas is one of the successful brand in the shoes' industry that focuses on having the
consumer centric approach so that proper focus on iconic design, etc has given in turn reliable
ability to coordinate with changing circumstances can be derived. There is focus on inclining the
brand credibility, experience for the consumers and obtaining the position to accomplish the
sustainability in the market. It has created the execution of innovation mind set among the
customers in turn accomplishing the effective approach to deliver the information attract the
consumers can become possible. The brand possessing the higher level of recognizable in the
worldwide which is helping to become the one of the leading firm in sector.
Brand communication
Adidas is having the significant on line and offline advertising & promotional practices
which pay attention on making consumer aware of its products (Amelia and Ronald, 2021). The
three stripes logo is highly famous among the clients which is showing that the consumers can
easily recognize its offerings. The main goal of the particular branding campaign exerted by the
organization is to incline its liking among the targeted audience in turn accomplishing the
significant growth of sales revenue can become possible. There is communication through
social media is done in order to ensure that answering to the questions of customers via social
media so that attaining the objective of offering significant experience to clients via ensuring
higher satisfaction.
Recommendations
 The one of the significant suggestion to the company to focus on having the execution of
digital technology so that proper growth by offering differentiation can become possible
(Huang and Rust, 2021). This can be executed by possessing the innovation in its shoes
design through involving sensor technology and digital communication which is highly
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trending in market. It can lead the organization towards the appropriate ability to offer
the customized goods to customers in turn significant performance by possessing
sustainable approach. This can allow to make the growth strategy more competitive.
 This is suggested to the specified firm to emphasize on achieving the competitive edge
via allowing the customers to speak with the advertising celebrities so that its slogan of
nothing is impossible for Adidas can implemented. This can boost the morale among the
consumer to interact with brand in turn achieving effective growth and development can
be exerted to uplift its non monetary and financial position.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that brand strategy is crucial for the firm in
turn significant communication with targeted audience can become possible. The current study
ah given emphasis on having the purpose of brands in modern society offering the reliable
information, etc. in addition to this, the focus has been provided on shoes industry by selecting
the two organizations such as Nike & Adidas. This has includes the STP and strengths &
weaknesses of both organization for competitor analysis. Own the game growth strategy has
been chosen for which reliable recommendations for improvement to attract customers has been
given.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amelia, A. and Ronald, R., 2021. Paradigma Nilai Pelanggan: Produk vs Jasa. Yayasan Kita
Menulis.
Flikkema, M. and et.al., 2019. Trademarks’ relatedness to product and service innovation: A
branding strategy approach. Research Policy. 48(6). pp.1340-1353.
Huang, M.H. and Rust, R.T., 2021. A strategic framework for artificial intelligence in
marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 49(1). pp.30-50.
Jan, A.D.A. and Victor, S., 2019. Measuring the Effectiveness of Segmentation, Targeting and
Positioning Strategy of L’oreal Products in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. IJO-
International Journal of Business Management (ISSN 2811-2504), 2(09). pp.68-79.
Kapur, S., 2020. The future of consumer behaviour and brand strategy post covid 19. Review of
Professional Management. 18(1). pp.58-63.
Kim, M., 2020. How Phil Knight made Nike a leader in the sport industry: Examining the
success factors. Sport in Society. 23(9). pp.1512-1523.
Kim, Y. K. and Sullivan, P., 2019. Emotional branding speaks to consumers’ heart: The case of
fashion brands. Fashion and Textiles. 6(1). pp.1-16.
Kozielski, R., Kalinska-Kula, M. and Medowski, M., 2022. New Perspective on Brand Portfolio
Management. European Research Studies Journal. 25(1). pp.846-874.
Lu, P.X., 2021. International luxury brand strategy. Routledge.
Matović, V., Stanić, M. and Drinić, I., 2019. Impact branding on consumer preference towards
buying a certain product: Comparative analysis of brands Nike and
Adidas. Ekonomika. 65(3). pp.35-44.
Standaert, W., 2022. Product digitalization at Nike: The future is now. Journal of Information
Technology Teaching Cases. 12(1). pp.28-34.
Online
Marketing strategy of Adidas. 2022. [Online]. Available thorough:
<https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-of-adidas/>
Nike SWOT 2022. 2022. [Online]. Available thorough: <https://bstrategyhub.com/swot-
analysis-of-nike-nike-swot-analysis/>
The latest growth strategy of Adidas. 2022. [Online]. Available through:
<https://notesmatic.com/the-latest-growth-strategy-of-adidas/>
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