Titan's war

As said, sportswear industry has huge competitiveness due to an increasing market. That is why brands have to fight against several competitors. There are two kinds of competitors: the generalist brands (Nike, Puma, Reebok, Adidas) and the specialized brands (Aasics, New Balance, Mizuno). It clearly appears in our previous analyses that the main leaders are Nike (31%) and Adidas (16%). Since more than 50 years, the two giants have entered a long but merciless battle adopting different tactics and strategies in order to become the best retailer in sportswear market.

Even if both companies produce roughly similar product lines of sportswear and also they offer comparable services, it is possible to differentiate them toward their unique and strong brand identities.

ADIDAS AND NIKE: 2 BRANDS, 2 IDENTITIES

According to the BrandZ survey, which deals with the Top 100 Most valuable Global Brands 2014, Nike is perceived as more creative, desirable and innovate but also more arrogant than Adidas. Adidas is thought of as the more friendly, caring and idealistic brand compared to Nike.

In one hand, Adidas has invested a lot in marketing campaigns to show their wide range collections and labels for various physical activities depending on culture. For instance, the “All In For My Girls” campaigns launched in China was a clear example of success. The aim of this campaign was to incite females to practice sport together in a fun and social way with a digital campaign.

In addition, Adidas has driven a product segmentation strategy based on lifestyle and fashion divisions. Indeed, the company recently extended Adidas Neo and Adidas Original in order to catch up many young consumers. To push its strategy in Germany, Adidas Neo launched 14 Fall/Winter collections with the collaboration of Selena Gomez as designer and brand ambassador. So, Adidas succeed in the teenage market.

All these concepts clearly illustrate Adidas’ strategy: Adidas wants to reinforce its identity with its strong and marketing campaign in order be closer to its consumers as an accessible brand, as a friend and to invite consumers to share moments of life.

On the other hand, Nike has a different approach. Indeed, Nike applies a premiumisation strategy preferring to place more emphasis on the performance and innovation aspects of its athletic wear. Due to its high level of consumers’ recognition and its first place as leader, Nike does not need to follow the fashion trend (even if it does) and it keeps developing high-tech product innovation. 

A typical example of successful campaign is “A day with Nike” with supermodel Karlie Kloss that promotes the performance of Nike’s products.

Nike communicates via athletes (ex Cristiano Ronaldo) and strong personalities about the performance of its products. That is why consumers place Nike at the top but they have difficulties to recognize themselves in this brand because the most of them are not athletes.

So Nike and Adidas has different strong brand identities, which they are clearly identify by consumers.

Sources:

- "A comparative analysis of marketing strategies followed by Nike and Adidas", Report, Anapama Venu...Sunanda Suresh, 2011.

-"BrandZsurvey2014", https://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/2014/Top100/Docs/2014_BrandZ_Top100_Chart.pdf.

- "Clash of the Fashion Titans: Adidas vs Nike", articles by Vivian Hendriksz, 09/2014.

- "Nike and Adidas: Different strategies for telling their brand stories", blog by Siegel Gale, 2013.