Sportwear Emotional branding

Emotional branding is a very effecting way to make a consumer to notice and try the product. Tools that marketing managers use to affect buyers' feelings work very well: this is why "sex sells" and this is why public service advertising is so shocking. Very often buyers don't choose and love the product relying on their reasonable perception but on their emotional perception.

Who is the customer of Adidas and Nike products? Very likely someone who likes sports, who prefers active living, who's going to gym, does yoga, jog quite often or does sports professionally. Words that come to our mind are "energy", "health", "activity". How do brands like Nike and Adidas use the emotional branding to reach their clients?

"Be aggressive" is a very common cheerleader slogan. Sporty people are very often very competitive naturally, they need to be aggressive, they need this energy, this motivation to be able to compete, to reach great results, to win. This is why sportwear brands like Adidas and Nike often address to this "aggressive" side of their consumers talking with them about the challenge, about competition, about strenght and victory in their ad campaigns. They want to awake this desire and adrenaline inside every sporty consumer. Or, very often, to inspire them, telling that their buyers are strong enough to get what they want. And Nike/Adidas/any-other-sportwear-brand will help them to do it!

Let's look at some examples where Nike and Adidas used the emotional branding in their advertising campaigns:

Nike is one of the brands that is often used as a good example of creating an emotional advertising. One of the stories is a Hero-Villain story. They address to a consumer's amotional and competitive side, challenging and inspiring at the same time: "You are the hero and your lazy side is a villain. They know that while some people may identify with an external foe, all people identify with an internal foe", says emotional marketing consultant, Graeme Newell.

Nike target the inner inside of a customer, the internal desire to be the best, to be the winner, to be the One! Their slogan "Just Do It" calls to their competitive nature, promisind success and a longing result, the accomplishment.

Adidas approach is quite different from Nike's one. Nike is focusing on inspiration of their consumers, making them believe that all they need is "just do it". Adidas approach is more aggressive. They're focused on superiority,  on speed, energy, passion, strenght, control.. They try to awake the warrior. 

There are different approaches to touch the consumer's feeling and Adidas and Nike has found good points to focus on: inspiration, challenge and desire to win, against the external or internal rival..

Alexandra Tsarkova

Sources: 

https://medium.com/marketing-102/emotional-branding-ac90ac79d784

http://602communications.com/2013/02/nike-brand-strategy-emotional-branding-using-the-story-of-heroism/

http://warschawski.com/blog/nike-and-adidas-play-for-brand-equity-at-the-world-cup/