Research problem:

How have Adidas used

the instrument Branding,
and which roll did it play
in the competition
between Adidas and
Nike?

Author: Karolina Tichá

 Brand Identity Prism - Nike
Physical product Personality
Sports and Like Jordan, Woods…
fitness

Relation Culture
Sponsorship, American
Ethics Just do It!

Reflection Self image

Aggressive, Cool
Provocative, ”Athlete”
In-your-face
 Brand Identity Prism - Adidas
Physical product Personality
Sports and Traditional, Conser-
fitness vative, Collective

Relation Culture
Quality and European
Heritage Traditional

Reflection Self-Image
True sportsmanship Relates more to
Strong work ethic competing than to
A good team player winning
 Brand Equity

Brand Perceived Brand Brand

Awareness Quality Associations Loyalty
•Endorsement
Nike: Nike:
focus strategy •Sports •Sales 1986:
•National •Life style $ 1 billion
advertising •Attitude •Sales 2002:
Nike: $ 9,9 billion
•Development of
Adidas: Adidas:
NikeTown stores •Heritage Sales 1992:
Adidas: •Tradition $ 1.7 billion
•branded •Quality Sales 1998:
grassroot $ 4.8 billion
sponsorship
 Three most important tools which have
enhanced brand awareness on Nike
• Endorsement focus strategy
– Participation of famous athletes with the company
– Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Andre Agassi
– They are heroes…
– Succesful strategy during 80s and 90s
– Costs – e.g. Jordan´s average salary about 20 million USD per year
• Nike Town
– 13 Nike Towns in the world
– High costs, cannot expect opening of a NT in the Czech Rep. soon
• National advertising
– Innovative way, big extent of advertising, uses all communication mix
– TV, internet, campaigns like „Just do it“
– Costs – approximate costs of campaign like „Just do it“ about 100 million USD
 Efficiency of strategies used by Nike

• Endorsement focus strategy

– High efficiency in 80s, 90s
– Jordan – possible to measure directly by amount of sales of Air Jordan
products
– Nike golf sales increased to 250 million USD from 100 million USD in 2000
– Supports brand awareness, has enhanced the image of the company
• Natinal advertising
– Hard to express efficiency directly
– Has helped to understand Nike mission, wearing Nike is more a live
philosophy than just a fashion
• Nike Town
– Has brought to the branding and marketing world something absolutly new
and original, created strong brand identification
 Expected orientation of Nike strategies

• New trend in the society – individuality  the

endorsement focus strategy will probably loose its power,
people do not want to be like Jordan anymore…
• We can expect orientation to campaigns emphasizing
individuality
• Possible transfer of investments from endorsement focus
strategy to national advertising
 How have Adidas used the instrument
Branding, and which roll did it play in the
competition between Adidas and Nike?

•media advertising,
•new subbrands,
•sponsorship
•branded grassroot sponsorship

Adidas used the same theoretical systems as

Nike to develop their brand building.
 Conclusion

• In this project were used two theoretical models –

Kapferer Prism model for branding identity and model for
brand equity
• Models were applied on companies Nike and Adidas and
showed and explained main aspects of brand building of
Nike and Adidas
• Revealed strong and weak sides of these companies in
brand building
• This theoretical approach can be used in comparison of
other companies due to its theoretical background
Thank you for
Your attention!