Analysing the advertisements of Adidas and Reebok

Résumé du document

This document presents the advertisement campaigns of Reebok and Adidas. Perhaps the most important reason for choosing these brands is that both companies target the same segment of the sportswear market; they aim to sell their products to young, urban and modern followers of fashion and not necessarily avid sportspeople, although Adidas is far more sports-oriented than Reebok. Another reason for my choice is that both campaigns are the biggest campaigns launched by the groups in the last decade. I found both advertisements to be particularly inspiring and persuasive in their own ways. The recent acquisition of Reebok by Adidas irrelevant to this study as the companies is kept separate and continues to pursue entirely different marketing strategies. I would like to introduce the two advertisements that I have chosen. The first is the "Impossible is Nothing" advertising campaign by Adidas and the second is that of Reebok, the "I am what I am" campaign. I would like to point out that, despite the fact that the Reebok advertisement was extracted from a magazine for men and features only male athletes, both campaigns have their respective male and female sections and neither attempts to target males or females in particular; they are indiscriminate of sex as they simply seek to portray the brand image in a new, proud and aggressive light. Along with Nike and Puma, Adidas and Reebok form the Big 4 of urban sports and street wear.

Extraits

[...] I have chosen to compare these advertisements for several reasons. Perhaps the most important reason is that both companies target the same segment of the sportswear market; they aim to sell their products to young, urban and modern followers of fashion and not necessarily avid sportspeople, although Adidas is far more sports- oriented than Reebok. Another reason for my choice is that both campaigns are the biggest campaigns the groups have launched in the last decade. I found both advertisements to be particularly inspiring and persuasive in their own way and find the recent acquisition[3] of Reebok by Adidas irrelevant to this study as the companies are kept separate and continue to pursue entirely different marketing strategies. [...]

[...] Similarly, both campaigns employed useful (although very different) media strategies. Adidas recognized the advantage of large audiences through television and that of the potential selectivity in advertising on the net. The campaign targeted sportspeople with a secondary interest in looking good and therefore advertised primarily in sports magazines, on the sports channels on television and on the internet on their own website. In this way, even though they employed the television as a channel of communication, the agency managed to largely avoid unintended audiences and managed to match their channels' audience profiles with their own consumer profiles. [...]

[...] Such people are motivated by hard work and success. The am what I campaign appeals to a variety of different lifestyle segments can be said to be aimed at the less active but perhaps the more individual consumer. Adidas aims their products at the sportsman, with fewer products aimed at the fashion follower and the reverse can be said of Reebok, who offers fewer products specific to certain sports than Adidas. (Adidas caters specifically for the following sports: baseball, basketball, tennis, running (track), aerobics, football, swimming, golf, mountain climbing). [...]

[...] It raises images of pride, of individuality. It challenges us, the public, and the target market, to be confident in ourselves and not to conform to societal standards. The use of such celebrated hip hop stars is in line with Reebok's brand image: the company's massive comeback in the 1990s was based upon hip hop commercialism and the brand is now marketed more towards urban youth fashion than towards sportspeople. Analyse the techniques employed by the marketer to project these images. [...]

[...] Caring, but very tactical. A final, unconnected point is how Adidas uses the Attribution Theory[24] to its advantage, reassuring inexperienced consumers of their likelihood to succeed. Analyse and assess the positioning strategy of both brands with reference to segmentation and the assumed target market Both Adidas and Reebok recognize the need to segment the market in order to best respond to the needs of certain groups. They understand that targeting certain groups will serve to maximise their profit as the marketplace is so diverse that neither could successfully satisfy the consumer society as a whole. [...]