Differentiation and touch points for value creation.

Brands use differentiation strategy in order to gain a bigger market share. It is important to get remembered, to be remarkable, different from the competitors. Adidas and Nike, two brands that are very often compared need to be chosen by the customer and to be so they need to find this one unique detail, a value for a customer that would differ them from the brand that offers the same product for the same price.

What are the differentiation strategies of Nike and Adidas?

First of all, let's see why Adidas and Nike are considered as main rivals on the sportswear market. How did they gain this love and customers' loyalty and what makes them special? It's a lot about their marketing approach.

Both brands are represented a lot in a professional sport world: soccer jerseys, basketball uniform, sport equipment, sponsorship, etc. Nike and Adidas are often associated to beloved atheletes and sport teams (e.g. Messi vs. Ronaldo; FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid)

Both of the brands have a very strong social network marketing activity. For example, Nike has their Facebook and Twitter pages for the Nike itself as well as for every branches of the company. Adidas maintain their Facebook and Twitter pages very carefully (1-3 fb posts and 7-10 tweets daily).

Both brands create this amazing sport world and maintain close relationships with their customers, gaining their loyalty and raising their interest to their products. But this competing brands have very different approaches, differentiation strategies. Let's see.

To follow successfully the differentiation strategy Nike decided to focus on investing in their R&D department: they focus on individual benefits such as newest technology of producing clothes that let the skin breathe, footwear specific structure allowing to avoid or reduce injury and get the maximum comfort, new electronic devices helping people to stay healthy and active. As a result Nike's products have become very loved not only by a standart buyer but also by professional athletes. Their Leader R&D strategy has helped them a lot in achieving their differentiation proposing a product of quality for an affordable price. The advanced R&D strategy has been started by Nike a while ago, in the end of 1970s when they introduced a new air cushioning system for their footwear. Since then developing this project and creating new ones Nike has strenghtened its position of the leader in R&D in rhe sportswear industry

The other thing that makes Nike a customer's beloved brand is their personal approach, their emotional marketing we talked about yearlier. Focusing on increasing the customer's confidence and inspire them to follow healthy lifestyle and express themselves in sport.

Logical conclusion would be to remind Nike's mission: "To bring inspirationa and innovation to every athlete in the world". And by the word "athlet" Nike means "If you have a body, you're an athlet". 

What about Adidas differentiation strategy, what is this brand focusing on? First of all it's worth to say that Adidas is very focused on winning. Messages this brand tries to deliver to the customer are all about being the best, being a leader. Not surprising, Adidas mission is "To be the leading sport brand in the world". 

Adidas is also very focused on maximize the visibility of the brand, especially when it comes to the worlwide broadcasted sport events such as World Cup and Olympic Games: sport equipment, uniform, sponsorship. Even though Nike is also participates a lot in such kind of sports events, Adidas looks a bit more aggressive. Adidas uses their sponsor line as a brand communication with their consumers.

As for the positioning and influence on a customer Adidas is seeking to have on its customers. It's not so touching as Nike's but it appeals to other emotions of the customer: their competitiveness. And this move works as such feature as competitiveness often becomes very important for every amator and professional athletes. "Play to win!", "Be a leader!" sounds a lot like Adidas 

Both powerful brands Adidas and Nike and very loved and valued by sportswear buyers. These are probably first two brands that come to mind while thinking of the sportswear industry in general. The value they create, inspiration and motivation are strongly appreciated by their customers and this is how they keep performing succeddfully on the market.

Alexandra Tsarkova

http://www.lawyerment.com/library/articles/Business/Marketing_Your_Business/Branding/1318.htm
http://macias19.wordpress.com/2014/09/15/differentiation-adidas-vs-nike/
http://www.slideshare.net/singhalshubham/marketing-assignment-on-analysis-of-adidas

Consumers engagement with brands

To build a brand successfully, brand engagement should be created. There are two types of brand engagement - internal (employees' brand engagement) and external (consumers and external audience). Consumers need to have a reason to want your brand, to spend their time on it, to recommend it to their family and friends, to work for it, to invest in it. 

Some figures: 60% of perception based on a company, 40% of perception on a product. 70% of the purchase decision is made before some customers meet a salesperson. It means that a company's image is even more important than a product itself. 

Four main areas to build a brand:

1. Communication (make two-way conversation related to your brand)

2. Experience ( motivate consumers to participate in brand experiences)

3. Perception (involve consumers and attract their attention to your brand)

4. Promise (reinforce the brand promise to consumers) 

Brand should delight its audience by creating great experience, accelerated innovation and personalizing its interactions with big data insight. 




Adidas and Nike look for being «lovemarks». They prefer to have fans than simple consumers. Their strategy indeed is to create communities of consumers. Historically societies are built around religions, values or interests. The idea of Nike and Adidas is to condition people living together around a common interest: their own brand. Having communities of consumers enable Nike and Adidas to get feedbacks easily.

For example, Adidas created a chat, where consumers are its members. In this community consumers - members have the possibility to be connected and to chat in live with athletes and managers. Adidas asks a minimum of formalities to be a part of this community.

Nike, on its side, is looking for consumers’ community creation and even more: for sportsmen even if they are not Nike addicts. In Paris, Nike is organising a run, where everyone (at the condition of being in good health) can participate. Nike proposes services to participants going from their customized shoes to a personal video filming of participants during the run.

There is no barrier for consumers to belong such communities so that brands become loyal easily and recruits members. 

On which level do they engage?

Nike and Adidas engage on emotion level. In creating communities, they emphasize the feeling of being a part of their group. Adidas gives consumers the possibility to chat between themselves and with athletes. Could they have the opportunity to address these champions without this community? Would they meet so many people with a common passion? Nike is organising the run, focused on the self-esteem and the notion of participants’ identity. Advertising of Nike running is focused on participants, step by step during the run. Moreover, customization services, personal videos, applications are the conditions, which make consumers think that brands are at their own service. Brands emphasize the feeling of identity by integrating them in a group and at the same way by differentiating them from the other members with customized services. 

Modern philosophers agreed to declare that Mankind is the common measure for everything. Now Nike and Adidas are turning their consumers into the common measure of everything.


Edouard Lévêque & Irina Kalashnikova

Sources: 

https://aytm.com/blog/research-junction/how-to-build-brand-engagement-part-1/

http://coolissport.fr/running-nike-est-dans-la-course/

http://blog.adidas-group.com/2012/04/adidas-insiders-pure-consumer-engagement-and-insights/

A Comparison of Brand Association Between Adidas and Nike

Brand associations are images, symbols, activities or famous people that associated with a brand, which is deep seated in customer’s mind. Now we compare the brand association of these two sport brands, Adidas and Nike. 

The brand agency collected a comprehensive list of more than 1.7 million associations that people from around the globe have with brands. And the above table just show the popular ones. The result is a good opportunity for these two brands to compare their meanings and messages of their brand communication strategy and brand positioning with the brand associations of a cross section of the market. 

As to be expected, both brands have a high level of association with terms such as ‘shoes’ and ‘sports’. But the two sports apparel brands have quite distinctive meanings with the market as we can see that they have their own associations in terms of design, function and emotion.

The Adidas Brand

"Soccer"

Adidas is more strongly associated with soccer than Nike. Perhaps as a result of its German heritage, Adidas has a stronger link to football than to any other sport. Nike started the 2014 World Cup with the most teams of any brand. Despite its spend, the Nike swoosh will not be prominently displayed on the jerseys of either Argentina or Germany, the two nations competing in the World Cup Final.  Both federations are sponsored by Adidas.

"German"

Adidas German heritage has a strong brand association, while Nike is seen as a global brand without a clear link to any particular country. Adidas’ German heritage is recognised as a positive association, the high quality and European history.

"Stripe"

The 3 stripes mark is the earliest symbol of Adidas which has become an easy recognition 

It is the No. 7 brand association which suggests Adidas has the potential to strengthen the role that 3 stripes plays in their brand communication to increase the level of brand association.

"All day I dream about sex"

Interestingly, adidas' slogan "Impossible is nothing" was not in the list of brand association while Korn's  "All Day I Dream About Sex" ranks top ten (the acronym of the track is A.D.I.D.A.S. ) However, the brand seems to have benefited from the association regardless. As we can see the following picture which is Adidas Propaganda Poster uses this association. 

"Cool"

Among the Adidas brand association list, the most distinctively unique associations which links to the emotion is the term "cool". With the association of "sneakers" at No.4 and "Cool" at No.6, we can see what the strategy Adidas has developed over the years. Adidas created the cool brand experiences through using technology such as their current augmneted reality campaign for their Originals range. Adidas also creative collaborations with musicians and artists to delver the cool experience. Collaborating with the French artist Fari, who is well-known her whimsical graphics, Adidas intent to bring the street styles to a range of footwear and apparel for girls.

The Nike Brand 

"Just do it"

The two strongest Nike brand associations are ‘Swoosh’ and ‘Just do it’, reflecting just how effective Nike has been in establishing and owning these two unique brand properties. "Just do it"  it is Nike classical slogan, surely the most powerful and perfect one there has ever been. It helped distinguish Nike from being a sports apparel brand to a brand that represented rebellion and youth. In 80th, all the other sports brand focused on sport, while Nike focused on renegades and heroes.

“Sweatshop” and “Child Labor”

Unfortunately for Nike, there are negative brand associations, like "Sweatshop" and "Child Labor". Nike is characterised of making its equipments in countries which are in the developing phase, having very cheap labor, authoritarian government and lack of human rights appeal and union movement. In doing this it has made greater margins on the cost of mere cents to its workers. So Nike success story is not based on good name and advertising alone but also attached to it is the tears of tortured workers and child labor.

"Jordan"

Liking a celebrity with a brand can transfer those associations to the brand. Nike is a good example. It has a clear association to Michael Jordan with the Nike’s Air Jordan Shoe Series. 

Resource :

http://www.trulydeeply.com.au/madly/2010/02/22/adidas-nike-brand-association-designer-melbourne/

http://slpglobal.com/blog/the-perfect-slogan-just-do-it

Edited by  Mengdi LI

Perceived needs and brand benefits vs sharing customers values

Nowadays, the brands have to analyze and take advantage on the different perceived needs of consumers in any sectors. The main issue is to anticipate the perceived needs even before the consumers can be aware.In our case, we identify several needs of consumers in the sportswear market. 

Firstly, the brands clearly identify the need of identity. The process is the same for everyone: we are all looking for find our right place in the society. This complex need combines both the need to belong to a group and the need of the individual distinctiveness of each person about it.

In the sportswear market, this phenomenon has resulted in not only a cultural influence since the 90’s where the rap became a cool and rebel way but also a new lifestyle where people paid more attention to health. This trend keeps being of significance today to the sportswear brands because it was emphasized by a fashion and sustainable dress code.

For instance, Adidas has launched many Fall/Winter collections in order to cover the demand. At the same time, Nike has launched several collections with the help of famous designer as Mark Miner, Ben Shaffer to create or to adapt to current tastes some products.

Secondly, Adidas and Nike have also launched a concept of customization. The aim tends to give the opportunity to any consumers to express their creativity toward personalized products. The customization offers the possibility to insert not only words, names, pictures, symbols or logos but also it permits to choose the raw material or the colors of each part. Adidas took more this concept further than Nike with a special application called mi zx flux.

Thirdly, The last need that we identify is the need of comfort. People are more and more concerned about their well-being and comfort. That is why they pay more attention to what they wear every day or to do sport in the best conditions. Nike’s Pro Bra collection in India illustrates a successful example in order to anticipate the demand. Indeed, concerning studies, 80% of women wear the wrong sport bra. So, Nike developed its new Pro Bra collection and introduced a bra fitting service that helps women to find their right size for their fitness level.

To sum up, all these needs represent main advantage for brands. However, they do not always share the values of consumers. 

What are values ? Values are anthropological structures resulting from your moral. Values are individual but result from collectiv process. Values are different from populations to another but as said descartes « le bon sens est la valeur la mieux partagée au monde » : Reason is the best shared value in the world.  All populations act in a certain way but with reason .We saw that Adidas and Nike adapt to local situations and specific problems to best adress their consummers. Nevertheless do they share the values of the people whom they sell clothes ?

Adidad and Nike do not do politics, they do not position them on ideological questions because they are sellers. Politics or ideology are not their business.Thus these are international companies with international coworkers. The values are even different inside the firms. Coworkers will tend to share personnaly the values the country they come from or where they work. For example a german executive in the headquarters of Adidas will not think as a brazilian seller for Adidas. The same for Nike.

If we have a glance at targets : Teenagers are targets for these two brands ? Do they share the value of teenagers ? As explain above values are anthropological so they are beyond gender, age so it is a mistake to think teenagers have their own values or women have values different from men. Unfortunately Nike has been at the heart of scandals where they was accused of abusing workers in the third world and of child labor in the manufacture of footballs. Adidas is not exempt of these accusations. This way of treating their workers or to take opportunities of countries where the law do not protect children and workers show that they do not share the value of reason of Descartes and a lots about their conception of mankind…

In a nutshell, if Nike and Adidas feel concerned about their consumers need because they know how to make benefit , they absolutely do not care of  sharing their values.

Marie-Caroline Lassagne & Edouard Lévêque

Sources :

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

-          “La logique émotionnelle”, book by Cayherine Aimelet-Perissol,.

                 http://www.adidas.fr/personnaliser

-          “Child Labor scandal hits UK”, article by Jason Burke, 11/9/2000 http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/nov/19/jasonburke.theobserver

-          “Les statégies commerciales qui ont terni l’image de Nike”, Blogspot

 byhttp://nike-strategies-commerciales.blogspot.fr/2011/03/ales-scandales-qui-ont-ternis-limage-de_22.html