Nike vs. AdidasIntroThe Nike and Adidas brand is well renowned globally and plays a major role in consumer decision making. The brand image for both Nike and Adidas is immense. Adidas has been slowly eroding the market share from Nike and Adidas has comfortably moved to the second spot in this highly competitive industry.
Adidas has evolved and is now one of the premier global leaders in sporting brands offering athletic footwear. Adidas relentlessly pursued innovation and refreshing content to differentiate itself from Nike. The markets and industry in which they compete are transforming rapidly, paced by the evolution - or revolution - in how 'sports' are defined.NikeBrief history and brand equityNike has built itself a solid reputation in the last 30 years.
The company's corporate overview relates the idyllic history of two running buddies from Oregon who grew their idea into one of the largest sports and fitness companies ever. Along the way, they have collaborated with other brands such as Cole Haan, Bauer, Freedom of Choice, and most recently the Hurley brand. The thing that holds everything together -- the partners, products, and marketing concepts has always been the "swoosh". The"swoosh" is Nike; Nike is sport.
Nike has a rich set of associations with consumers, revolving around such considerations as its innovative product designs, its sponsorships of top athletes, its award winning advertising, its competitive drive, and its disrespectful attitude. Their three-word mantra of "authentic athletic performance" is a guide to their marketing efforts. The marketing program, its products and how they are sold are reflected in Nikes brand mantra. Nike as a brand receives universal recognition.AdidasBrief history and brand equityWhen Adidas entered the marketplace some 50 years ago, its focus was to produce shoes crafted specifically for soccer and running.
Establishing the brand as the choice for professional athletes eventually parlayed into preference in the mainstream. In the 80's, Run DMC furthered Adidas's street cred with the rap "My Adidas", paying homage to their favourite shell-toe. But by the early 90's, Nike and Reebok were out-marketing Adidas. Kids weren't interested in the sneakers their parents wore, and Adidas found itself forgotten in the back of the closet. The new millennium has since brought about an Adidas renaissance; the brand has steadily regained market share over the past five years to become the world's number two athletic shoe company (behind Nike).The Adidas repositioning strategyAdidas claims that, "the brand values of the company - authenticity, inspiration, honesty, and commitment - are derived from sport".
The key to revitalized success seems to lie in the considerable endorsement deals Adidas has developed with world-class athletes. Recent sports figures representing Adidas don't only score high marks in their game - they also score high in their celebrity quotient. An example is the British football star David Beckham. Beckham�s relationship with Adidas has no doubt lent itself well to the brand's visibility in the UK.
It doesn't hurt that he's married to a highly visible, ex-Spice girl and is often seen in the tabloids sporting the Adidas logo. Stateside, Kobe Bryant is another example of a winning Adidas endorsee.The LA Laker and youngest NBA all-star player is an athlete with substantial celebrity leverage. This translates directly into sales, young men who idolize Bryant want to play basketball like he does, and thus will want to wear what he wears. Unluckily Bryant has received quite a lot of bad media attention lately due to troubled private life. The equally compelling Russian born, American-bred tennis star Anna Kournikova also meets these criteria.
She's a young, brilliant professional athlete whose celebrity extends well beyond the world of tennis - like Bryant and Beckham she's captured the public's interest in mainstream newspapers, magazines and tabloids. Reinvention was key, not only for the Adidas's marketing strategy, but also for its product line.To keep up with the competition, Adidas generates close to 60 new foot-friendly designs each year. As a result, products have been repositioned in higher-end and sports specialty stores. As their main competitor has sprinkled flagship Nike Town stores throughout the US, Europe and Australia, Adidas has also embarked on a foray into retail.
The first Adidas-Solomon megastore launched 2001 in Paris to capitalize on the brand awareness in that market. Adidas continues to prove itself as a brand built to last through a game plan of reinvention and it continues to strike savvy deals that capitalize on the star power of young athletes to increase its visibility in the marketplace.Nike vs. AdidasWhich brand has the strongest positioning strategy, and why is it so?Even if Adidas has managed to reposition them I still believe that Nike holds the strongest positioning strategy, in the market of sporting goods.
The first brand that pops up in my mind when I come to think of sporting apparel is Nike and its products. They have created these strong and favorable brand associations through various marketing activities and the design of their marketing programs over the length of time. Nike has earned this top of mind position by its rich set of associations with consumers, its innovative product designs, its sponsorships of top athletes, its award winning advertising, its competitive drive, and its disrespectful attitude. Nike has managed to foster its sales by creating an emotional link with its audience, and successfully balanced the delivery of functional benefits with emotional ones.
Dell & AppleDellPositioning and target marketsDell is the king of direct selling. Dell's business model is to sell PCs direct, whether by phone or online, and that straightforward strategy considerably focuses the company and its image.The PC maker plans to remake itself into a bigger, fiercer competitor by selling servers and high-end services to businesses, and by moving into new consumer PC markets around the world. The company will continue to expand into product areas such as servers, networking, and storage while it sustains its PC business. The company is working to expand the offerings of its services arm, Dell Technology Consulting, in a variety of ways, including partnerships, organic growth, and acquisitions focused on Microsoft and Linux software.
Dell has also redoubled its efforts to sell computers to large corporations. All the while, Dell plans to hold onto its role as the pied piper of the PC market by continuing to lead customers away from its competitors.Traditionally, Dell has stayed away from the sub-$1,000 retail PC fray. However, during 2001, it expanded its efforts in the U.S.
consumer market after making what it called "major breakthroughs" in solving the economics of the market. Those breakthroughs included lowering prices and developing computer bundles--including financing, Internet access, and peripherals. Dell is already working to expand its presence in France, Germany, Japan, and China, where it has mainly targeted the business PC markets. The company will also look to grow by moving into the PC peripherals market with its own Dell-branded products.
Dell tries to appeal to both the design-savvy and the design-averse. For example, Dell markets its "white boxes" to users who are concerned only with price and performance, and its brand-name computers to those who find aesthetics appealing.Apple-From personal computer pioneer to industry doormat to beloved design innovator-Positioning and target marketsApple does not neatly fit into the rest of the personal computer industry. Apple's target market is different "It's about fitting in with lifestyles. Apple's unique characteristic is its control of the whole widget.
Synergy is what Apple is trying to achieve and it is Apple's most powerful asset. Only Apple has quality control over all the various pieces. Only Apple can assure style and usability consistency for the user at every step. Thus, only Apple can provide the consistent and complete Apple experience for the user. Apple has previously been associated with limited compatibility, unclear operating system (platform strategy) and high prices. Nevertheless, at the same time, Apple is known for its superior graphics applications and performance, ease of use and attractive designs.
There is even a cult like following of Apple fans.Their latest product, the MP3 player named the iPod has become a hit on the market, maybe a sign of what will follow from Apple. This is a maybe a sign that Apple is trying to tap into a more mainstream market segment and grown again. Apple's latest move is to introduce very sharply prices laptops that will be that final push that a lot of consumers and corporate laptop user need to convince themselves and their IT departments, that finally they can afford what they always wanted: a superior product for the same or even better prices that makes you looks good.Apple will continue to focus on innovation, rise, and fall with product cycles and fickle markets, and keep its place as a quirky cross between technological innovator and slick consumer marketers.
