Adidas A Case Study Observing the Effectiveness of Adidas’ Advertising and Marketing Tactics as an Official Sponsor of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games Stephanie Clark

Adidas German Sporting Goods Store Started by Adi Dassler Designed the first ever running shoe Styles -Designed first ever running shoe -took from Germany to Amsterdam in 1928 -designed for Lina Radke -she won gold for the 800m -Styles -Originals -Silver -Neo -Y3 -Training -Soccer -Basketball -Running

Adidas Competition Twitter Facebook Page Puma Nike @adidas Like page -Puma is a German competition, but when the company came to the US, Puma did not have a large of a response as what Adidas did -Nike is an American company that became the new competition for Adidas -Reebok however is now owned by Adidas, but is still considered to be competition

Sponsor 2012 Summer Olympics Signage Posters, billboards, etc. Sponsor Olympics and Paralympics Legal Permission to use Olympic logo Campaign name ‘Take the Stage’ Goals Market leader in Britain -Campaign -more geared to athletes and athletic people versus how Nike left their campaign open to a broad category of the every day people -Goals -target China because if they continue to grow in China, the company will grow all over -target those who are anti-obesity -people that want to be healthy both young and old -keep the children healthy from the beginning so they will be healthy for life

Social Olympics Blackout Period Social Campaign Approach New Products Athletes Shoes vs. Clothing New Products adiZeroPrime Sp (Sprinting Spike) Adidas Swimsuits TechFit PowerWeb Smart Football -Blackout Period -time period that prevents non-sponsors from using Olympic trademarks in social media space -increases potential for sponsors to dominate conversations related to the Olympics -Social Campaign Approach -Take the Stage -has athletes in marketing content -uses social media initiatives to encourage users to interact with brand -encourages users to interact with Adidas sponsored athletes -Shoes vs. clothing -shoes = wear adidas shoes in Olympics, then personally sponsored by company -clothing = wear adidas clothes in Olympics, then sponsored by company through individual federations -3000 athletes in every sport but horseback riding wore Adidas shoes or clothes -New Products -spikes -wore by USA Sprinters Gay and Blake -swimsuits -retain less water and lighter than Beijing suit -techfit -stimulate muscles -smart football -heart rate and pulse rate tracker -makes more sense to introduce all their new products during a time when the company knows that more people than normal will be tuning into to the television stations and watching the advertisements

Success Sales were boosted Invested $156 million Increased global profile Close gap to Nike -Sales boosted -net profit of $201 million -an 18% increase for the year

Weaknesses Nike still received more attention Twitter Facebook -16,020 tweets with “Nike” and “Olympics” in it when only 9,300 tweets like that for Adidas -@Nike followers increased 11% -@adidas originals grew only 4% -Nike added twice as many Facebook fans as did Adidas

References MaNaughton, M. (2012, August 21). How nike stole social media gold from Olympic sponsor adidas. Retrieved from http://therealtimereport.com/2012/08/21/how-nike-stole-social-media-gold-from-olympic-sponsor-adidas/  Torry, H. (2012, August 02). Olympics boost adidas earnings. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100008723963904443 Olympics - update 1 - adidas sees benefits from healthier lifestyles. (2012, July 23).Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/oly-adidas-adv-idUSL6E8INGB720120723 Social and the olympics: A performance comparison on official sponsors' campaigns. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.dachisgroup.com/2012/07/social-and-the-olympics-a-performance-comparison-on-official-sponsors-campaigns/ Pagano, M. (2012, July 25). 100m in sponsorship - and the olmpics have adidas written all over them . Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/100m-in- sponsorship--and-the-olympics-have-adidas-written-all-over-them-7973367.html