Comparison of Brand Identity of

ADIDAS and NIKE

Submitted By:
Aditi Goyal
Nitish Kumar
Priti Roy
Priyanka Banoria
Introduction
• In 1948, Adidas was founded along with its identifying trademark,
the three stripes.

• As time has passed, Adidas has evolved and is now one of the
premier global leaders in sporting brands offering athletic
footwear, apparel and accessories.

• This feat has been cultivated through continuous innovation and a

broad product portfolio.

• Adidas discovered that in order to continue to evolve further its

strategy had to include the Internet. This led to the development
of www.thestore.adidas.com, an e-commerce site focused on
interactively profiling Adidas's extensive product offerings
accompanied by detailed product information. 
 Product Mix of Adidas
Sports Wear Footwear Accessories Sports Equipment Body Care

Jackets Football Bags Basket ball Deo

Jerseys Running Eye Gear Football Shower Gel
Scarves Tennis Watches Football pump Perfumes
Swimwear Basket Ball Watches Cricket bats After Shave
Pants & Tights Water Bottles
Tops Mats
Shorts Wrist band
Sweatshirts Padding
Tracksuits Hats
Shirts Socks
Skirts
Introduction
• Initially what started as Blue Ribbon Sports in 1962
became Nike Inc. in 1972, based in Beaverton, Oregon.
• Nike was named for the Greek winged goddess of victory.
• Nike has now grown to be a global leader in the sporting
goods industry. It is recognized as the world's leading
designer, marketer and distributor of athletic footwear,
apparel, and accessories for a wide variety of sports and
fitness activities.
• For Nike, an established and growing organization, a
strong Internet presence felt like a natural extension to
their already globally focused strategy.
• Today www.niketown.com, Nike's e-commerce site offers
a unique experience, products
Product Mix of Nike

Sports Wear Footwear Accessories Sports Body Care

Equipment

T-Shirt Football Bags Basket ball Deo

Hoodies Running Backpacks Football
Track Suits Cricket Sunglasses Golf Equipments
Track Jackets Basket Ball Gloves
Wind Runner Cycling
Tops
Shorts
Pants
KAPFERER represents brand identity diagrammatically as a
six-sided prism as shown below:

E I
E I
x n
x n
t t
t t
e e
e e
r r
r r
n n
n n
a a
a a
l l
l l
i i
i i
s s
s s
a a
a a
t t
t t
i i
i i
o o
o o
n n
n n
Constructed Receiver
 Two aspects of Brand Identity

Sender Receiver

Physique Personality Reflection Self-Image

Kapferer means Kapferer means the Kapferer means how Kapferer means how
what the central soul of the brand the individual in the the individual in the
purpose of the brand targeted group targeted group
is (that is what the identify himself as a identify the brand in
brand does) person in relation to relation to himself
the brand
The Relationship is, according to Kapferer, externalizing the brand from the
company outwards, and the culture is an aid for internalizing the brand in the
organization and in to the conscious of the customer

The Culture is, according to Kapferer, the strongest dimension in the prism. It
represents the difference between one brand and another
 Physique Personality
Sports Traditional, Brand identity
and Conservative,
Fitness Collective prism of ADIDAS
E I
x n
t t
e e
r Relationship Culture r
n Quality and European, n
a Heritage Traditional
a
l l
i i
s s
a a
t Reflection
True
Self Image t
i sportsmanship, A Relates more i
o good team player, to competing
o
Strong work ethic than to wiling
n n
 Physique Personality
Sports and
Winners,
like Tiger
Brand identity
Fitness
Woods prism of NIKE
E I
x n
t t
e e
r Culture r
Relationship
n American, n
Quality, ethic
a Just Do It
a
l l
i i
s s
a a
t Reflection Self Image
t
i Aggressive, Relates
i
provocation, more to
o determined, winning, o
n comfort athletic
n
Analysis
• To create brand awareness both companies have been using
celebrity endorsement strategies in their brand-building
programs.
• What differs is that Adidas focuses on sponsorship of teams
and events e.g. national teams and big sport events like the
Olympic Games and different World Championship events.
This helps them to create awareness with help from different
types of media.
• Adidas strategies were based on endorsement focus strategy,
advertising, sponsorship programs focusing on major global
events, sports associations, and teams, and sub-brands.
• In contrast Nike has their focus on individuals like M. Jordan
and T. Woods and the stars success stories. Their endorsement
focus strategy, creating a dominant media presence,
development of Flagship stores, Nike Town and sub-branding.
• Adidas made customer association by
experimenting with sport events. Example, the
Adidas Streetball Challenge a local three-person team
basketball tournament. By this consumer associated
the brand with sportsmanship, willing and team
player.

• Wherein, the Nike customer associated the Nike

brand with words like sports, attitudes and lifestyle.
Reasons for that is one can relate to or identify
oneself to Nike’s marketing campaigns like “Just do
it” and the companies front athletes like Michael
Jordan and Tiger Woods. For Adidas, consumers
found the brand very trendy, modern and cool.
• Adidas introduced a sub-brand in 1990 to serve the
high-end products for all categories of shoes and apparel.
The “Equipment” sub-brand would represent the best,
whatever the product was.
 
• The low-end products, for the “normal consumer” still
have a high technology and level of innovation. This
strategy made the Adidas brand take on a different
meaning; it still meant participation, emotion and
performance.

• According to sales figures for the both companies, it

seems that both Nike and Adidas companies have
succeeded to create a brand loyal customer who perceives
the Nike and Adidas products as top quality.
SWOT Analysis Of Adidas
• Strength
▫ Close to 2 million users from India were exposed to the adidas campaign
▫ Perfect sit between site traffic and brand TG
▫ High visibility and frequency
▫ High brand recall due to relevant product associations through the customized offerings
• Weakness
▫ Lack of big incentives in the form of high value prizes
▫ A robust offline media platform supporting the online activity would have helped in
building a 360 degree brand message
• Opportunities
▫ High voltage International Calendar in 2006
▫ Opportunity to associate with Big Non-India series and Indian Domestic Cricket and gain a
strong foothold in the cricket arena
▫ Added exposure frequency along with traditional media and reinforcing brand alignment in
order mass media
▫ Opportunity to dominate the Internet platform to reach the right audience in the most cost
effective manner.
• Threats
▫ Other competing/ non-competing brands and categories waiting to grab the opportunity to
ride on cricket season and building long term associations.
▫ Over dependence on one player in the cricket team could possibly lead to specific problems.
SWOT Analysis Of Nike
•Strength
▫ Strong and meaningful response to labor criticisms
▫ High quality products and good overall reputation
▫ Phil Knight’s management and leadership
▫ Brand recognition and effective marketing
•Weakness
▫ Poor communication of labor practices
▫ Insufficient line of affordable shoes
▫ Uninformed factory workers
•Opportunities
▫ Increased sales due to the strengthening economy
▫ More positive public perception of Nike’s social responsibility
▫ Growth through increased presence in low- to mid-priced shoe market
•Threats
▫ Increased awareness of human rights
▫ Growing competition
▫ Competitors attracting female consumers
▫ Mounting disapproval of alleged “corporatization” of college athletic
 
Conclusion
• The companies are benchmarking each other, using the
techniques from each other’s successes, when Nike
launched their sub-brand product Alpha line which was
benchmarked on Adidas already launched sub-brand of
the Equipment product line for the elite of sports men.

• Difference in the endorsement strategies is Adidas focuses

in sponsoring teams and global events, while Nike have
their center of attention on stars in specific sport like
basketball and Michael Jordan or in golf and Tiger Woods.

• As we can understand the two companies are aiming at

nearly the same targeted customer group but with a
slightly differentiation of attitude.
• Both companies have same scale and scope of
advertising but both try to communicate different
messages.

• The messages from Adidas is; the only one you

compete with is your self whereas Nike
communicate a provocative, aggressive winner
attitude which can be related to the American
sports attitude “You don’t win silver, you lose gold”

• The differentiation is based on the differences in

culture between the two companies and between
Europe and USA
THANKYOU