Adidas Marketing Strategy
Abstract This look into the marketing strategy of Adidas has uncovered a company that has transitioned from its use of traditional marketing techniques as its foundation to one based on social media and allied theories. The company had been losing market share in the United States and it’s home European market as it was not appealing to the largest purchasers of trainer, the teenage and young adult market segment. This was because, in order to reach this target audience, a company has to embrace the communications mediums they trust and use social media.
This was found to be the core marketing segment explored in this study that reveals that Adidas has made considerable strides in terms of reaching the younger generation. This shift is already yielding revenue results that the company is building on as it reshapes its brand image to be more relevant in an Internet communication world.
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction4
1.1 Background4
1.2 Aims, Objectives and Research Question5
2.0 Literature Review6
2.1 Marketing Theories6
2.2 Social Media Theories7
2.3 Viral Marketing Theory7
3.0 Methods and Data9
3.1 The Approach to the Research9
3.2 Research Methods9
4.0 Analysis10
4.1 The Company10
4.2 Adidas Marketing Strategy Components and Analysis10
4.3 Adidas? Marketing Focus17
5.0 Conclusion21
References23
Tables
Table 1 – Preferred Teenage Clothing Brands11
Table 2 – Preferred Teenage Footwear Brands11
Table 3 ?Instagram and Facebook Yeezy Boots Campaign14
Table 4 -Adidas Marketing Mix17
Table 5 – Comparison of Adidas and Nike Marketing and
Consumer Orientations18
Table 6 – Adidas SWOT Analysis19
1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background
The age of the Internet has created new challenges for companies in terms of their marketing strategies (Challey et al, 2009). This is due to the fact that consumers can easily go online to compare products, read and use reviews, and look up any number of information points to aid them with their purchase decisions (Challey et al, 2009; Naik and Peters, 2009).
Another development is that an entire generation has grown up with the use of this medium as a means to gather information for all types of purposes (Rezabakhsh et al, 2006). This aspect has caused consumers to be less trustful of traditional advertising methods as they are aware that the ads and commercials are designed to appeal to them (Rezabakhsh et al, 2006; Berthona et al, 2012).
