ADVERTISING STRATEGY OF ADIDAS A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Adidas Inc. is a marketer of sports apparel and athletic shoes. The German manufacturer, through its marketing strategy which rests on a favorable brand

image, has evolved into a large multinational enterprise. In keeping with the brand image is its association with the distinctive logo and its advertising slogan, "Impossible is Nothing." In order to maintain and sustain this image, the company makes huge investments in advertising and brand promotion. At the critical time of global economic crisis, Adidas will react to the consumers pessimistic attitude and stressful emotion during this period. It may become a good chance for Adidas because it can take advantage of its previous advertising way of Impossible is Nothing campaign by sponsoring sports stars to express the corporate philosophy of grit, determination, passion and humor, giving people more courage and psychological comfort in face of economic crisis. But besides that, we also focus more about family function especially in Asian countries which emphasize a lot on family, which can provide caring emotional communication. Therefore, from both strong-willed hero worship and water-like fork environment, customers can easily link Adidas image with not only strength, but also warmth. The preferred media we choose are TV, specific magazines, outdoor and internet.

Figure: Adidas expense to advertising (billion Euro), (Source-www.wekipedia.org)

ADVERTISING METHOD & MEDIA SELECTION

The media that was used of The Brother Hood will be television, magazines and Internet.

1.1 Core Advertising Consideration

The core advertising factors of Adidas are as follows. Besides that a huge amount of data about Adidas advertising related activities. As a multinational company Adidas have separate advertising strategy in different area of the world.

1.1.1 Media Vehicles:

The media vehicles that were used for television will be ABC basketball games, TNT basketball games, ESPN basketball games and ESPN 2 basketball games and ESPNs Sports Center. The media vehicles that were going to be used for magazines were Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine. The media vehicles that are use for Internet were ESPN website (www.espn.go.com), NBA website (www.nba.com), Adidas website (www.shopadidas.com), Sports Illustrated website (sportsillustrated.cnn.com).

1.1.2 Advertising unit:

When it came to the advertising unit for television Adidas only runs: 30 seconds ads since most of these ads are played during NBA games. The ads in magazines are full page. When it came to the Internet ads are a top banner. For example, on page five you will see the ad which it a top banner.

1.1.3 Seasonality:
Since The Brotherhood is made up of The NBA the seasonality will be during the fourth quarter. The reason for this is that the basketball season begins in October which is in the fourth quarter. The time of day in which The Brotherhood would be run on television is during the evening while the NBA is holding their regular games. When it comes to the Internet The Brotherhood is advertise daily and at all times.

1.1.4 Target Audience:

When it came to any product the audience is very important. You need to know who are going to be interested in the product. When it came down to this The Brotherhood is mostly for boys ages 8-20 and for older males. For example, on page four you will see TMAC jersey for boys 8-20 and older males.

1.1.5 Advertising Media Consideration

The reason that this media was selected was because television, magazines and Internet were the best way in which Adidas were able to show there customers their products. As you see below the picture on the third page that says Adidas NBA Shop, in order for Adidas to promote the The Brotherhood they had to come up with a slogan in which

they called it NBA is a Brotherhood. Besides Adidas have several technique in media selection which have discussed in the following sections.

2.2 Advertising Media

Commercial advertising media can include wall paintings, billboards, street furniture components, printed flyers and rack cards, radio, cinema and television adverts, web banners, mobile telephone screens, shopping carts, web pop-ups, skywriting, bus stop benches, human billboards, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, banners attached to or sides of airplanes ("logo-jets"), inflight advertisements on seatback tray tables or overhead storage bins, taxicab doors, roof mounts and passenger screens, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on apples in supermarkets, shopping cart handles, the opening section of streaming audio and video, posters, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising. One way to measure advertising effectiveness is known as Ad Tracking. This advertising research methodology measures shifts in target market perceptions about the brand and product or service. These shifts in perception are plotted against the consumers levels of exposure to the companys advertisements and promotions. The purpose of Ad Tracking is generally to provide a measure of the combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting, and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Adidas use several advertising media to promote their product in the marketplace. Different advertising media use in the in the market like commercial advertisement, Print media advertisement, covert advertising, Infomercials, Celebrities advertisement, Online advertisement, Public transport advertisement, e-mail etc.

2.2.1 Covert advertising

Covert advertising is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report,

where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them "classics," because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot and Space balls also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Adidas also use this advertising technique.

2.2.2 Television commercials

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The majorities of television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product. Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience. Adidas has a large amount of TV commercial advertisements in the worldwide TV network like BBC, CNN etc.

2.2.3 Infomercials
There are two types of infomercials, described as long form and short form. Long form infomercials have a time length of 30 minutes. Short form infomercials are 30 seconds to 2 minutes long. Infomercials are also known as direct response television (DRTV) commercials or direct response marketing. The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals. Adidas arrange several infomercials in the sports based program.

2.2.4 Celebrities
This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific

brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products. Adidas use David Bekham as their brand ambassador and many more celebrities in every region to promote their product.

3.3 Advertising approaches

The positive impact on the market of the adidas Originals communication approach makes adidas Originals continue their successful new creative marketing tonality. The Fall/Winter 2005 campaign is, as the one from Spring/Summer 2005, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and underlines adidas Originals lifestyle relevance. To Celebrate Originality, and in a playful opposing manner to last season, adidas has switched from the black and white SS05 executions, highlighted only by the iconic blue Trefoil, to bright and energetic colours in FW05 ads; an engaging creative idea supervised by adidas Global Creative Director Michael Michalsky and Visionaires Stephen Gan. The shooting took place at Karl Lagerfelds studio in Paris. The frame of the ads shows humour and translates the freshness of the High Energy High Style concept. The result is a new advertising campaign that clearly communicates adidas Originals street relevancy. Adidas Originals contemporary street wear collections are inspired by the brands historical anecdotes. The Fall/Winter 2005 ads will break globally in July 2005 issues of key lifestyle and fashion publications such as Kult, Pulp and Black book as well as magazines such as Arena Home Plus and Teen Vogue. All adidas Originals marketing communication efforts will evolve around three pillars in 2005: to energize, globalize and contemporize adidas Originals.

CONCLUSION
Both Adidas and Nike have used the same theoretical systems to create their brand building programs. The companies are benchmarking each other, using the techniques from each others successes, when Nike launched their sub brand product Alpha line which was benchmarked on Adidas already launched sub brand of the Equipment product

line for the elite of sports men. We can find many similarities like endorsements strategies and the companies advertising strategies. What differs in the endorsement strategies is that Adidas focuses in sponsoring teams and global events, while Nike have their center of attention on stars in specific sport like basketball and Michael Jordan or in golf and Tiger Woods. About advertising do both companies have about the same scale and scoop of advertising but they try to communicate different messages. These messages from Adidas is; the only one you compete with is your self whereas Nike communicate a provocative, aggressive winner attitude which can be related the American sports attitude You dont win silver, you lose gold. As we can understand the two companies are aiming at nearly the same targeted customer group but with a slightly differentiation of attitude. Adidas stand for a competing and winning over your self-attitude, and Nike stands for a winning over everyone attitude. We in the group think this differentiation is based on the differences in culture between the two companies and between Europe and USA. As an overall reflection one can see that Adidas had to overcome, that the both companies had the same target group. Adidas choose a brand-building strategy that built on the same theoretical criterias as Nike. But they created a differentiation in identity of the brand (see comparing analysis in the Kapferer Prism Model above) compared to Nike. Adidas had the same strategy within creating equity value to their brand. They challenged Nike in endorsement strategy, and in advertising, but with a slight difference in communicated message, by doing it trough the same medias. To differentiate them self and make totally own awareness activities, events like Adidas Streetball Challenge was created. Events like those communicated the Adidas brand around the world. According to the results and positions the brand-building programs have given both Adidas and Nike in the sport industry, one can say that branding have been a totally determining factor. On top of that they made it so good that they are used as models in higher education.