Adidas has been one of the leading brands in the sportswear industry. Alongside other famous and popular brands such as Nike and Reebok, Adidas has become a household name for sports lovers and professional players.
The brand is one of the giants in the sportswear industry and has made a name for itself in the past decades.
Adidas History
Adidas AG is a German athletic shoes and clothing company and is perhaps one of the largest sportswear brands in the world. It is the biggest sportswear brand in Europe and the second-biggest sportswear brand in the world after Nike.
Adidas items are generally set apart with a three-stripe trademark, which stays a component in the organization’s “trefoil” and “mountain” logos. The brand is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
- The Name Adidas Came from The Founder, Adolf “adi” Dassler’s Name.
Initial days
The brand name Adidas came from Adolf Dassler, the brand’s founder. The Dassler family started making shoes after World War I. After World War II ended, Adi and his sibling Rudolf wanted to modify the Dassler firm, but that idea was dropped due to some personal feud among the siblings.
The business, in this way, split into two segments: Rudolf Dassler’s organization was named Puma, and Adolf Dassler’s brand was named Adidas.
The rise of Adidas
Adidas developed the brand consistently during the 1950s as the professional football players preferred the organization’s shoes because they were light in weight and highlighted screw-in spikes.
The organization, at that point, built up a line of sports goods and started making soccer footballs in 1963. After four years, Adidas started to make apparel. Adidas was the leading sportswear company till the 1970s, and then its greatest rival brand Nike came to the market.
The present-day
In the year 2005, Adidas ended its collaboration with the brand Salomon and sold it. However, the brand did not let go of the TaylorMade brand. In the year 2006, the brand name was changed to Adidas AG. In the year 2006, Adidas purchased the Reebok company.
Adidas Brand Value
The brand value of Adidas was estimated to be around USD 17 billion in 2019. It is the biggest sportswear brand in Europe and the second-biggest brand in the world after Nike.
For the brand Adidas, the footwear segment generates at least 55% of the brand revenue, and the brand sold around 410 million sets of shoes in 2018. European football leagues are one of Adida’s primary focuses, and the brand is an official supporter of many top clubs in the leagues. The brand is also a major part of the FIFA World Cup.
Lately, Adidas has invested a huge sum of money in advertising in the US markets, and most of the revenue came from North America.
Around 60 thousand people are working under the umbrella. The Adidas Group’s worldwide net deals generated an income of around 24 billion Euros in 2019. The North American region produced around 23% of the retail deals.
In 2019, the organization made around 450 million sets of shoes and 529 million units of sports attire worldwide.
- In 2020, an Estimated 6.56 Million People Used Adidas Sports Shoes, Making Them by Far the Brand’s Most Popular Product.
Adidas Brand Strategy
Product strategy
Adidas has consistently strived to give the most elite products to the professional players through its product innovation and product line. Adidas’s product strategy includes custom-made products for different games and regions. The brand also specializes in products such as gym bags and sportswear.
In the year 2000, Adidas came up with a new sportswear-inspired streetwear product line and it was the first ever brand to do that in the market. The brand’s items incorporate clothes, running and streetwear shoes, football shoes and other game utilities for tennis, golf, cricket, volleyball, rugby, skateboarding, baseball, field hockey and kabaddi.
The brand also makes watches, shades, socks and other products. It has a line of antiperspirants, scents, facial cleansers and aftershave lotions. The TaylorMade-Adidas golf section incorporates items for golf, and Reebok-CMM caters to the hockey segment.
The brand has recently developed an app called Runtastic that makes applications for outside and indoor wellness exercises. This campaign has been a successful one and has been highlighted by several fitness coaches and experts.
Pricing strategy
The brand has a specific segment of clients and endeavours to give them the best items and experiences. Because of its continuous innovation and pricing strategies, all the brand’s items are premium priced and are top-quality products. The brand’s pricing strategy has always focused on product quality and the competitor pricing of its products.
In today’s markets, Adidas produces shoes and apparel, which are made from high-quality materials and for that reason, the products are priced in a certain way. This might be a problem for developing countries, so Adidas has created a separate market segment.
The import guidelines and taxes levied in several regions, and zones might influence the valuing of various items. It has been reported that 94% of product manufacturing is done in Asia. This is because labour is cheaper in Asia.
The brand has maintained a high-quality standard for its products and continues to maintain it in the present as well.
Distribution strategy
Adidas has made its items accessible around the world through different distribution channels. The brand has adopted strategies such as franchising and retail outlets establishment and has included itself in the eCommerce sites for online distribution and selling of the products.
Adidas has created a distribution channel across the world markets, and it is quite broad in terms of service. In the year 1990, Adidas classified its deals into three classifications – Adidas Originals, Adidas Performance intended for players in various game portions and Style segment, which targeted the general customers.
Through these strategies, Adidas segmented the market into various parts and aimed to reach global customers accordingly. Adidas collaborated and joined hands with ILO and IFC.
This collaboration has given the organization the ability to perform and direct a supportable business. Adidas has its flagship stores and retail outlets spread across the global markets.
Adidas has penetrated the eCommerce market and has listed its products on all the major eCommerce websites in the major markets. The sales orders coming in from e-commerce are commendable and contribute to a substantial amount of revenue.
Advertising strategy
The brand has continuously utilized and innovated its marketing and advertising strategy effectively. Adidas incorporates the 360-marketing technique covering all parts of the promotional media and channels.
Adidas promotes itself through media sources such as television advertisements, print media, internet promotions, billboards, hoardings, etc. The brand has roped in world-famous athletes and celebrities such as David Beckham and Muhammad Ali.
In the ads, these celebrities demonstrated how they were not scared of their fear and how they conquered their fears eventually. Adidas came up with a motivational brand tagline, ‘ Impossible is nothing. This is considered to be one of the greatest and most successful campaigns of all time.
Adidas additionally supports players from different sports. The brand is featured on game platforms such as Sony PS and others. Every one of these strategies ensures that the brand is remembered by all and is not easily forgotten. By tailoring such clever marketing and advertising campaigns, Adidas has created a brand presence and awareness worldwide.
Conclusion
Adidas has come a long way since its inception, and today it is the second largest sportswear brand in the world. In spite of the tough market competition and the hurdles in the past, the brand has managed to stay on top and has created a scope for employment as well.
The future is shining for the brand as it paves the way for new market innovations coming it’s way.
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