Adidas' Brand Defense

The new news brought by Adidas on that day is not only the latest sales performance and market performance - in the fast-growing Chinese sports equipment market, even the double-digit growth of sales performance was once regarded as normal rather than news, and its brand-new brand promotion method: adidas brand has gathered for the first time in history Let's go down to adidas sport performance, Adidas origins, and Neo, Y-3, SLVR.

In the latest Adidas advertising films on various TV stations, outdoor LED screens, video websites and SNS websites, football stars Messi, Beckhams and Hong Kong singer Eason Chan are interwoven, Chinese actress Li Bingbing and NBA basketball star Derek Ross are edited together, as well as popular American singer Katie Perry and Hong Kong popular artist Angela Along with these strange cross-border combinations is a very clever slogan: "Adidas is all in". Erich stamminger, executive board member of Adidas global brands, said: "all Adidas is the biggest marketing event in the history of Adidas. Its idea is to show the diversity of the brand, from the stadium to the show, from the stadium to the street, and interpret the unique brand label of Adidas with the same voice."

The meaning of all in, translated as "all in all" in playing cards, means to bet all the chips. It really fits in with the new climate in which Adidas concentrates its brands. Compared with nothing is The slogan, which is widely imitated in the Chinese market, is increasingly aggressive and antagonistic.

Indeed, in the eyes of observers, Adidas should have been fighting against those fierce competitors in the market. They not only include old rival Nike, but also Li Ning and China intention, which are equipped with brands for foreign sports, and Jinjiang Sports Brand represented by Anta, etc.

In recent years, in this long line of competitors, not only Nike has gradually widened the distance with Adidas, but also Li Ning, Anta and others have also successfully shortened the gap behind them, thus showing the possibility of catching up and surpassing. Can "all out" be a defensive counterattack carefully planned by Adidas?

Counter defense tactics

Compared with the rebellious boy Nike is trying to play, adidas' brand image is becoming more stable and diversified. Adidas has the Y-3 brand launched together with the designer Yaosi Yamamoto, and the fashionable Adidas clover, etc., but Chinese consumers are most familiar with the three line Adidas sports performance series.

Adidas in the steady operation of the long-distance run, the pace of 2008 is really some staggering. In addition to the impact of the global financial crisis, the high expectation of market sales after the Beijing Olympic Games also made Adidas fall into the dilemma of high inventory in the Chinese market. The termination of the contract with Daphne, Bailey and other distributors also put the channel problem in front of Adidas.

Fortunately, after more than a year of dealing with inventory and channel problems, Adidas is back on the track. At the end of last year, Herbert Hainer, the Global CEO of adidas Group, announced his goal of increasing sales by 45% - 50% in the next five years.

Haina's self-confidence must come from the rapid growth of China's sports equipment market. It is not only the residents of big cities who have initially formed the habit of purchasing professional sports equipment. The residents of the second, third and third tier cities and even the third and fourth tier cities have begun to exercise without wearing shoes and trousers. Some even begin to purchase sports equipment with various subdivision functions.

However, it is the foreign sports brands that seize the most important pulse of market growth. The rapid rise of the new growth pole of the third and fourth tier cities makes those foreign brands with low positioning and pricing grow at a high speed against the wind. With this, Li Ning breaks through the bottleneck of 3 billion yuan annual sales volume in previous years, while Anta and other latecomers have gone through the road of Li Ning's development beyond 20 years in a few years, and their profit rate and growth rate are higher than the industry average Cut a big level.

Therefore, even if the annual growth rate is more than double-digit in 2010, Adidas still has to face questions about China's market strategy, such as whether foreign sports equipment manufacturers like Li Ning and Anta can better understand the foreign market, and whether Nike and Adidas can maintain their leading position in the Chinese market

Colin Currie, the managing director of Adidas Greater China, was even asked whether Adidas could demand more foreign executives. He also points out that it is not only worthwhile to consider the high sales rate of the products, but also to consider the high sales rate of the company. But in this respect, Adidas, once suffering from inventory, now has more advantages than foreign sports brands. What's more, the independent market survey of the third party shows that Adidas is still one of the most favorite sports brands for consumers. Without considering the budget constraints, Adidas will be the first choice for more Chinese consumers.

This is not Gao Jiali's one-sided statement. Even foreign sports brands admit that they are far away from Nike and Adidas in terms of brand reputation. However, their price and channel advantages can still absorb those consumers with insufficient budget. Some of them "step on Li Ning'an's foot and look at Nike Adidas". Once their disposable income is in hand More high-end brands are likely to turn to the multinational camp. One of the time bombs hanging over the heads of fast-growing foreign brands is that, while they are enjoying the premium of a more growing market, it is hard to keep it going.

First of all, Anta and other foreign brands in Jinjiang have shown good growth, but most of them rely on the growth of the whole industry and the number of stores brought by the sinking of channels. According to this growth logic, it is easy to cause the profit margin to fall. In 2010, Li Ning closed some stores, which was attributed to the decline of profit margin.

Secondly, the high profit margin of foreign brands is also due to the advantage of capital rather than the premium of the brand. Apart from Li Ning, most of the foreign brands do not have their own designs. Some local brands in Jinjiang, which are developing rapidly, have admitted that plagiarism simulation is serious. If the labels are removed, it is impossible for consumers to identify the products from. Although in the clothing market, sports equipment is the least important to design and fashion, but with the maturity of consumers and fierce market competition, such brands are difficult to form their own style and competitiveness.

The harvest strategy of multinational companies on the Chinese market is often mature and patient. Their low terminal brands will gradually approach the price ceiling of foreign brands, and the channel advantages relied on by foreign brands will gradually disappear in the sinking channels of multinational companies. Such examples have been shown in mobile phones, television and other industries, and it is likely to repeat itself in the sports equipment industry in the future. Adidas is waiting for such an opportunity to fight back.