The Adidas repositioning strategy
Adidas claims that, "the brand values of the company – authenticity, inspiration, honesty, and commitment – are derived from sport”. The key to revitalized success seems to lie in the considerable endorsement deals Adidas has developed with world-class athletes. Recent sports figures representing Adidas don’t only score high marks in their game – they also score high in their celebrity quotient. An example is the British football star David Beckham. Beckham´s relationship with Adidas has no doubt lent itself well to the brand’s visibility in the UK. It doesn’t hurt that he’s married to a highly visible, ex-Spice girl and is often seen in the tabloids sporting the Adidas logo. Stateside, Kobe Bryant is another example of a winning Adidas endorsee. The LA Laker and youngest NBA all-star player is an athlete with substantial celebrity leverage. This translates directly into sales, young men who idolize Bryant want to play basketball like he does, and thus will want to wear what he wears. Unluckily Bryant has received quite a lot of bad media attention lately due to troubled private life. The equally compelling Russian born, American-bred tennis star Anna Kournikova also meets these criteria. She’s a young, brilliant professional athlete whose celebrity extends well beyond the world of tennis – like Bryant and Beckham she’s captured the public’s interest in mainstream newspapers, magazines and tabloids. Reinvention was key, not only for the Adidas’s marketing strategy, but also for its product line. To keep up with the competition, Adidas generates close to 60 new foot-friendly designs each year. As a result, products have been repositioned in higher-end and sports specialty stores. As their main competitor has sprinkled flagship Nike Town stores throughout the US, Europe and Australia, Adidas has also embarked on a foray into retail. The first Adidas-Solomon megastore launched 2001 in Paris to capitalize on the brand awareness in that market. Adidas continues to prove itself as a brand built to last through a game plan of reinvention and it continues to strike savvy deals that capitalize on the star power of young athletes to increase its visibility in the marketplace.
Nike vs. Adidas
Which brand has the strongest positioning strategy, and why is it so?
Even if Adidas has managed to reposition them I still believe that Nike holds the strongest positioning strategy, in the market of sporting goods. The first brand that pops up in my mind when I come to think of sporting apparel is Nike and its products. They have created these strong and favorable brand associations through various marketing activities and the design of their marketing programs over the length of time. Nike has earned this top of mind position by its rich set of associations with consumers, its innovative product designs, its sponsorships of top athletes, its award winning advertising, its competitive drive, and its disrespectful attitude. Nike has managed to foster its sales by creating an emotional link with its audience, and successfully balanced the delivery of functional benefits with emotional ones.
2. Dell & Apple
Dell
Positioning and target markets
Dell is the king of direct selling. ’s business model is to sell PCs direct, whether by phone or online, and that straightforward strategy considerably focuses the company and its image.
The PC maker plans to remake itself into a bigger, fiercer competitor by selling servers and high-end services to businesses, and by moving into new consumer PC markets around the world. The company will continue to expand into product areas such as servers, networking, and storage while it sustains its PC business. The company is working to expand the offerings of its services arm, Dell Technology Consulting, in a variety of ways, including partnerships, organic growth, and acquisitions focused on Microsoft and Linux software. Dell has also redoubled its efforts to sell computers to large corporations. All the while, Dell plans to hold onto its role as the pied piper of the PC market by continuing to lead customers away from its competitors. Traditionally, Dell has stayed away from the sub-$1,000 retail PC fray. However, during 2001, it expanded its efforts in the U.S. consumer market after making what it called "major breakthroughs" in solving the economics of the market. Those breakthroughs included lowering prices and developing computer bundles--including financing, Internet access, and peripherals. Dell is already working to expand its presence in France, Germany, Japan, and China, where it has mainly targeted the business PC markets. The company will also look to grow by moving into the PC peripherals market with its own Dell-branded products. Dell tries to appeal to both the design-savvy and the design-averse. For example, Dell markets its "white boxes" to users who are concerned only with price and performance, and its brand-name computers to those who find aesthetics appealing.
Apple
-From personal computer pioneer to industry doormat to beloved design innovator-
Positioning and target markets
Apple does not neatly fit into the rest of the personal computer industry. Apple's target market is different "It's about fitting in with lifestyles. Apple's unique characteristic is its control of the whole widget. Synergy is what Apple is trying to achieve and it is Apple's most powerful asset. Only Apple has quality control over all the various pieces. Only Apple can assure style and usability consistency for the user at every step. Thus, only Apple can provide the consistent and complete Apple experience for the user. Apple has previously been associated with limited compatibility, unclear operating system (platform strategy) and high prices. Nevertheless, at the same time, Apple is known for its superior graphics applications and performance, ease of use and attractive designs. There is even a cult like following of Apple fans.
Their latest product, the MP3 player named the iPod has become a hit on the market, maybe a sign of what will follow from Apple. This is a maybe a sign that Apple is trying to tap into a more mainstream market segment and grown again. Apple's latest move is to introduce very sharply prices laptops that will be that final push that a lot of consumers and corporate laptop user need to convince themselves and their IT departments, that finally they can afford what they always wanted: a superior product for the same or even better prices that makes you looks good.
Apple will continue to focus on innovation, rise, and fall with product cycles and fickle markets, and keep its place as a quirky cross between technological innovator and slick consumer marketers.
Dell & Apple
Main points of parity
The points of parity on these brands are quite obvious, but at the same time, that depends if you are discussing computers or if you incorporate the brand as a whole, and the entire product portfolio. But if we focus only on computers:
-performance
-reliability
-features
Points of difference:
Dell
-Value priced product offers.
-Efficient and well managed logistics.
-Reliability
Apple
-Design oriented
-User friendly
-Innovative
-Trendy
-User groups dedicated to Apple
-Cool
-Graphics
Have they defined their positioning correctly?
Yes, I think they have. Both brands compete in the same market place but in different segments, even if Apple now is trying to show some mainstream appeal with a twist on it. Both brands are leaning towards diversification and this isn’t always good. It’s easy to loose focus and their true identity and that will inevitably result in loss of market shares to the competitors. Dell and its product line is a good example of diversification.
5. Sean “P.Diddy” Combs –the brand.
Sean “P.Diddy” (former Puff Daddy) Combs the multitalented producer, musician, artist, fashion designer, and entrepreneur is the man behind the brand I have chosen to analyze. The Sean Combs saga started out with an internship at uptown records in 1991. That would prove to be the beginning of the most successful and rapid ascent in the history of the entertainment industry. Sean Combs is today an owner of a multimillion conglomerate incorporating his own successful career as P.Diddy, the rapper, CEO of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group (BBWEG) and owner of the successive fashion line, Sean John. BBWEG’s span of operation includes music recording, music publishing, artist management, television and film production, marketing and advertising, apparel and restaurants. He also is giving back to society through different events and programs such as Daddy’s House Social Program that create educational programs and initiatives for inner city youth. In 2003, Sean Combs decided to run the New York City Marathon for charity. This event was televised and broadcasted at primetime. The goal was to raise money to support the education and health needs for children.
In my opinion, a more visible brand, and a brand that spans over so many different kinds of industries and media channels (television, press and radio) and in so many various settings, is hard to find. He is staring in his own produced music videos, he is frequently on the covers of the world’s most famous magazines such as Rolling Stone, and he receives media attention through his various community services and his upscale private life. He even has his own reality show on MTV, which is promoting the bands on his own record label.
I can’t say anything else than that Sean Combs is a very savvy marketer and businessman. He knows how to sell his brand, himself, and he has media in the palm of his hand. These days, everything that he seems to set his mind on, is succeeding.
Works Cited
Cocoran, Ian. ”Adidas earning its stripes”, article,
Hafferty, Evelyn. “Presto, huh?”, article,
Manning-Schaffel, Vivianne. “Adidas: contender”, article,
Olavsrud, Thor. “Pc Industry ready for an upswing?”, article,
Spooner, John. G. “Dell´s new goal: double in size”, article,
