It is well documented that in recent years, Adidas has fallen short of the mark in terms of their products, sales and overall desirability in comparison to their main competitors. The year 2013 proved a challenging period for the German company as their sales dropped, meanwhile closest rival, Nike, were deservedly establishing themselves as the biggest and best name in sport. This would no doubt have left a sour taste in the mouth of Adidas CEO Herbet Hainer.
A dramatic change was imminent for Adidas as they were rightly forced to completely revamp their branding strategy. It was not long until they were back on track to fight for the position as the world’s top sports manufacturer.
Since then, Adidas have been instrumental in their marketing campaigns, using somewhat unique yet ingenious techniques to capture the eyes of the sporting industry.
In January 2015, they launched the ‘THERE WILL BE HATERS’ campaign, featuring controversial football star Luis Suarez and other big names like Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale. The advert focused on attacking viewers’ emotions, encouraging them to embrace ‘hate’ and turn it into motivation to be the best. Adidas followed up on this by engaging with viewers’ responses to the video, both positive and negative. The campaign went viral and has now been viewed over 21 million times on YouTube. A brave move but one they will never regret, it was a bold statement of intent from Adidas as they began once again to revolutionise the industry.
In April the same year, they announced a £750 million, 10-year kit contract agreement with Manchester United Football Club. This was another outrageous statement from the company, not only attaining the biggest club in the world in a record-breaking deal but also prizing them away from Nike who had served the club for 13 years.
Adidas were pulling the strings in the football industry, both on and off the pitch.
Prior to the 2015/2016 season, Adidas launched yet another stimulating campaign in ‘#BETHEDIFFERENCE’, promoting the new kits for the upcoming season, featuring their top clubs being marketed under the one umbrella strategy for the first time ever. This showed that Adidas have learned from their past mistakes of marketing each club individually and have now taken big steps to enforce a sense of togetherness throughout the brand. Their aim is to make fans lovers of the brand as well as the team, strengthening the size of the Adidas family and enhancing brand loyalty.
Adidas declared kit sales in partnering retail stores went through the roof, some recording an astounding 200% up on the previous year. Having Manchester United on board played a significant role in producing such figures, United sold the same amount of shirts in the first five days as they expected to achieve in one month, much to the delight of Adidas. Their major investment was already beginning to pay off.
Adidas have been actively promoting their brand across multiple digital channels, providing daily content to continue building bridges and relationships with followers. They have rightly identified the younger generation as the primary target for their content, inspiring and encouraging them to get involved with the brand through social media. ‘Boss Everyone’ was the next operation launched across their online accounts, a light-hearted, humorous and impressively engaging campaign involving professionals showing silky skills to help promote their new football boot, the ACE16+ Purecontrol. This subsequently went viral with fans from all over the world sending in their attempts at showboating, yet another success story for the Adidas marketing team.
The success story doesn’t stop there, Adidas have now got Italian champions Juventus on-board for next season and Spanish giants Real Madrid were victorious in the Champions League Final for the 11th time in their history, the future is certainly looking bright for Adidas in the European market. Looking further afield, Major League Soccer in the US is constantly growing in popularity with names like Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Kaka all choosing to play their football there. Adidas currently hold a kit deal with the MLS, which is due to end in 2018 so who knows what they have planned next. One thing for sure is, Adidas’ modern and innovative approach to branding is inspiring and turning heads worldwide as they continue to transform the rules of digital marketing.