German based company Adidas is one of the top runners in the shoe industry for quite a while. Standing just behind the giant Reebok, it has taken leaps and bounds on many occasions to match up with the standards and impressions that have already been set up by Nike. The company is striving hard to maintain their brand equity and has launched a series of successful promotional campaigns that have helped them in increasing their name and equity.
The company acquired Reebok International in 2006 in a move to saturate the market and make it difficult for the new competition to step into the market and also to challenge the sporting wears giant Nike. The acquisition was done in order to make the company more viable for consumers where they can create a synergy between both the companies so that they can challenge the rival. However, the acquisition led to mixed responses from the consumers resulting in a share value decline as well.Just before the Olympics fever gained momentum, Adidas took the initiative to launch another promotional campaign where they have highlighted their products and the ambassadors. This massive promotional campaign was launched in Europe and one could see huge structures of either Adidas shoes being loaded on a truck, or football players standing in a circle. All these initiatives were highlighting the presence of the brand in the forefront of such a major even in sporting history, whereby players are supporting their attire etc.
The combination of the two big brands present in the shoe industry can termed to be a positive sign for the company.They can combine their efforts; match their strengths together in order to create a new level of a brand. However, there are threats of brand cannibalization which led to the main slump in prices when the merger news was spread around. Both the companies are positioned at different levels in the minds of customers.
However, Nike beats them on many accounts and it is upon the company to realize their differences and backdrops with the help of the synergy created and highlight their strength more in order to flourish in the market.The recent campaign that was launched was covered extensively in print and television media. In this campaign they are focusing more on their founder Adi Dassler in their campaign shots. With the help of this campaign Adidas should be able to present a brand image to the world.
Since their penetration is high with around 80 subsidiaries around the world, they can capture the market with the help of reviving their brand as being a perfect alternative to Nike till they can bank on something new and innovative to challenge their traditional rival.Their efforts from the current marketing campaign were sure to create hype amongst the customers at hand; however, much is needed to be done in the product quality and product image department in order to match with Nike. By banking on their acquisition, they have a chance to provide their audience the right mix of promises to create the brand Nike already has. The post-acquisition strategy can make or break them; as long as their strategy entails around being complementary to each other, they can achieve great heights.
