Adidas Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)

Published in Products category by MBA Skool Team

Marketing Strategy of Adidas analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on Adidas marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the Adidas Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:

Adidas Product Strategy:

The product strategy and mix in Adidas marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

Adidas is one of the leading sportswear and goods brands. Adidas has always strived to provide the best of the best goods and equipment to the athletes through its innovations including the first shoes designed for ice and the first multi-studded shoes. The product strategy in the marketing mix of Adidas covers its entire product line across various sports and types. Adidas also deals with selling sports bags and sports-wear for people. In 2000’s Adidas was first in the industry to introduce a new lifestyle segment, focusing on streetwear inspired by sportswear, in addition to its sport performance offering. Adidas’ product range includes apparels, running and lifestyle shoes, soccer shoes and other sport utilities for tennis, golf, cricket, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, rugby, gymnastics, skateboarding, baseball, field hockey and kabaddi.

Adidas also designs and makes watches, sunglasses, caps, socks etc and it also has deodorants, perfumes, aftershave and lotions. The TaylorMade- Adidas golf segment includes products for golf, Rockport designs leather goods and Reebok- CMM caters the hockey segment. Adidas also a subsidiary in the social networking segment named Runtastic that creates apps for outdoor and indoor fitness activities. Basically, Adidas makes apparel and equipment for almost all types of sports.


Image: pixabay


Adidas Price/Pricing Strategy:

Below is the pricing strategy in Adidas marketing strategy:

Adidas has a particular set of customers and it strives to give the best products and experience to them. Due to its innovations and continuous product improvement which leads to top notch performance, all the Adidas products are premium priced.

The pricing strategy in the marketing mix of Adidas has focused upon high quality and competitor offering. The main reason of this is that the products are either customized as per need. Even if not, the price of Adidas products are already high due to the high quality of the material used. This is turn, makes the product less affordable to the customers of developing nations. The price is also impacted by the fact that the company invests heavily in marketing, advertising & sponsorships. Import regulations and duty and tariffs may affect the pricing of different products because 90% of the production is done in Asia, due to availability of cheap labor. However, Adidas never compromised with its quality and standards, and its price is always justified.

Adidas Place & Distribution Strategy:

Following is the distribution strategy in the Adidas marketing mix:

Adidas has made its products available around the globe through various distribution channels like franchises, mass merchandise, special stores and online retails (own and other e-commerce platforms). All these show the extensive global reach in its place and distribution marketing mix strategy. In the early 1990’s Adidas used to categorize its sales into 3 categories – Adidas originals (which sold the old and traditional Adidas designs), Adidas Performance designed for athletes in different sport segments and Style Essentials which catered the general public and their lifestyle. Through these methods, Adidas aims to outreach the customers in every segment and every country. Its associations with ILO (International Labor Organization) and IFC (International Finance Corporation) has provided the company a scope to perform and lead a sustainable business as compared to other competitors. Flagship Adidas stores are present all across the world. With growing internet penetration, Adidas is aggressively tapping the online market not only with its website, but with also other multi-brand ecommerce websites.

Ecommerce platforms has enabled the brand to showcase its wide product portfolio with its customers & get them delivered at home.


Adidas Promotion & Advertising Strategy:

The promotional and advertising strategy in the Adidas marketing strategy is as follows:

Adidas has always endorsed and promoted itself through media. Adidas marketing mix promotional strategy is to use a 360 branding strategy covering all aspects of media and communication. Adidas promotes itself through commercial campaigns on TV, print, online, billboards etc. In one of its most memorable marketing campaigns, with David Beckham, Muhammad and Laila Ali, they were shown facing their own fears and at the end they successfully overcame this. With over 35 million & 25 million followers on Facebook & Instagram, the brand constantly engages with its users online. With this Adidas’ tagline “impossible is nothing” was also released. It was the biggest campaign of all times. Adidas also sponsors leading players in different sports segments. Adidas is also featured in various game advertisements like Sony play station, etc. All these techniques make sure that the legendary Adidas brand remains in everyone’s mind, the brand awareness is increased and the targeted customers can be retained and attracted easily. Hence, this summarizes the Adidas marketing mix.


About Adidas:

Adidas is one of the world’s largest sports goods and accessories manufacturer. Adi Dassler registered the “Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik” in 1924 with a mission to provide athletes with the best possible equipment since then. Adidas is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany and it employees 54,000+ people. The brand has been established as a youthful brand since its genesis through its continuous efforts of providing the best and customer friendly product range. Adidas acquired Reebok in 2006 and since then Adidas caters the premium segment and Reebok looks after the midrange customers. The company has maintained a very strong financial position through its high quality products and effective distribution channel. Adidas sponsors major sport events like FIFA, NBA and Olympics along with celebrity endorsements which in turn has helped the company in increasing its visibility and brand awareness.

Its current tagline is ‘impossible is nothing’. As per Forbes List Adidas is ranked in Global 2000, and is one of the world’s most valuable brands and innovative companies.

This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

Browse marketing strategy and 4Ps analysis of more brands similar to Adidas. The Marketing Strategy & Mix section covers 4Ps and 7Ps of more than 800 brands in 2 categories.

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The names and other brand information used in the Marketing Strategy & Mix section are properties of their respective companies. The companies are not associated with MBA Skool in any way.

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