Adidas more than sports

The company adidas started has a sports manufacturer in Germany, now it’s the largest sportswear company in Europe and the second biggest in the world. But How that happened. The three stripes are part of our culture, its an icon, its unique.  

But not just in the sport world, also in music, fashion, show business and so on.

Adidas has personality, a big group of  stakeholders feel passion about their brand. You can read that all over the adidas group website . If we analyze adidas throughout  the UAT Filter (The unique, authentic and talkable filter ) it easy to find stunt marketer that build adidas’ s personality. For instead, In the 1980s, Adidas sponsored rap group Run-D.M.C., a breakthrough idea. Many people knew about adidas because Run-D.M.C. People who might not like sports. Be can think , well that was great, unique, that marketing move make a big impression at that time. Now , 30 years after, that stunt become part of a large meaning. Seeing videos of  adidas Original advertising campaigns , you can notice that Adidas has become more than a sports brand.

Beyond that kind of stunts adidas became unique when in 50’s  Adi Dassler designed boots which for the first time feature removable studs. Adidas created a twist. A revolutionary footwear which helped Germany to won the Soccer World Cup in 1954.   In addition,  adidas showed be authentic , not just for their heritage, also they have values that their customers and stakeholders share.

How to be authentic, well have a credible and vast heritage. Adidas have enough story to built perhaps two personalities. If you read the history of the company in the website, you are able to know where the company comes from. For example, did you know that Dassler was the first business CEO to use sports promotion in order to make the public aware of his innovations.

In this point, I have to refer about the third filter in terms of defining your brand personality, be talkable.  In our time a  large group of sport companies use well-know athletes to advertise their product, that it’s the perfect way to promote footwear.   Now I am talking about more than 50 years ago when Dassler used athletes such as Jesse Owens ( Atletism ), Muhammad Ali ( Boxing  ), Max Schemeling ( Boxing ), Sepp Herberger ( soccer coach ) and Franz Beckenbauer ( Soccer ), that was a great hook to make people to talk and share the adidas’s message with friends and family.

Another strong point that I found about adidas their positioning throughout the branding details. Adidas creates an emotional bond with consumers through the mixture of elements such as image, name, logos , slogans. My last blog I mentioned about the adidas’s slogan impossible is nothing. In this one I want to focus in the adidas logo.

Adidas has changed their logo a couple of times, but every single logo have became in part of one line of product of the company. Perhaps , the old style adidas logo, the trefoil (flower) logo design which was adopted like the adidas official logo in 1972, now its use only on the adidas original line. But the signature of adidas is the three parallel stripes. That sign is in every adidas  product and its part of their heritage.

The adidas’s logo has become in synonymous of dedication, passion and hard work to produce high-quality product to help professional or regular athletes to reach a better performance.

 In brief, the adidas personality is one of the stronger signature of the company. The positioning of the brand is worldwide, and not just in the sports world. Adidas is more than just a name, a company, or logo. The company has become in a icon of sports, fashion and even a pop culture.

 Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adidas

http://www.adidas-group.com/en/home/Welcome.aspx

Bhargava-UAT A signature is not enought