Target Audience
The target audience refers to a particular group of people that the product or service is aimed at. In this case the product, Adidas is around 14 to 25 year olds. This piece of advertising highlights this as Adidas have use a music video theme, including a few of the most popular celebrities that this particular age group are interested in today.
"Adidas Originals' biggest strength and point of difference is the ability of the Trefoil brand to be a relevant part of people's lives -- in whatever lifestyle they have -- skater, rocker, artist, musician, sneakerhead, sports fan whatever," explained Hermann Deininger, CMO Adidas Sport Style Division. "This is a campaign that celebrates all of them and offers an open invitation to consumers to come and join in."
Type of Medium used
The type of medium that has been used for this advert is a TV commercial, there are many advantages to this, Adidas, being a well known product will be able to broadcast to a large audience, with high impact – colour, sound and movement of their product. Furthermore, to advertise on the TV it is low cost per exposure and as research can be done to find out what type of programs the target market are viewing, it can be easier, through the TV medium to target specific groups.
On the other hand, there is a very high overall cost, especially with the house party advert to have so many famous names promoting the product, in the current economic climate it may not be wise to have such an expensive advertisement. Another problem could be that there is very limited prime time space therefore the target market may not see the advert as often as the business would like. Adverts can be very short lived, with a lot of adverts, once a consumer has viewed it once, they may not be interested again. Also with new technology where consumers can now fast forward past adverts, it is likely that the advert may not even be watched, like “visual wallpaper”. As there are so many channels today also, the number of the audience is reduced. In addition an TV ad can only convey a limited message.
Overall however, even though using the TV medium is costly, due to the nature of the advert, including all the big names and a popular record it is likely that it may be something of interest to their target market.
Length of Campaign
The campaign launched in the US on November 25, 2008 and in the rest of the world in January 2009. It is a year-long campaign with various elements launching throughout 2009.
Scope/Reach
It is likely that as Adidas are a big name that adverts such as this one, and this particular campaign will be appearing in many countries. Therefore there is a huge scope of customers in which there is to cover.
Objectives of Marketing Communication method
- One of the most important objectives of marketing communication for a business would be to increase its sales
- Introduce a new product
- To encourage consumers to buy more
- To encourage customers to try the product
- To increase sales amongst existing customers
- To regain former customers
- To maintain competitiveness
- To extend the firms database of customers
- To reinforce image of the product and the brand
Marketing communications deals with messages that are related to the media and used to communicate with a particular market. For example through advertising, direct marketing, marketing, promotion, sponsorship, public relations, sales promotion etc.
The objectives of this advert would be to make the customers aware that the product has been around for 60 years, and is still a fashionable symbol globally today. Therefore they are informing there consumers that there product is of a good quality and is worth buying again.
Promotion
Regarding promotion public relations is a major part of the promotional mix. Generally a business will aim for a good working relationship with the general public and customers.
Promotion is key to any business to creating a positive impression for customers. As Adidas is promoting the fact that they have been giving a positive impression for 60 years and have been successful, it will most likely carry on the impressive image that they have with this advert. Furthermore promoting can result in having a good relationship and communication with the press and media.
Problems Marketing Communication is trying to Solve
Awareness: In this advert, marketing communications will be lending itself to making the customer aware of the fact that Adidas have had a good image and have been popular for 60 years.
Sales: As mentioned in the marketing objectives, the key problem that the marketing communications will solve is to hopefully increase revenue and sales, therefore adverts that increase the image/popularity of a product will in turn increase the sales.
Economy: current economy problems may result in less sales. There marketing communications aims to making the consumer believe the the product they are advertising is something that they would want to spend their money on. Therefore again the aim is to increase sales.
Image: in 2008 it was reported about the 3 stripes on certain products representing Adidas therefore, by advertising the product with this continuous “stripes and soals” running throughout it will in turn add to the image that the business is trying to sustain.
Design
Due to the way that the advert has been set up, with the music video theme and the range of celebrities that have been chosen for this advert, Adidas has done well in attaining the attention of the age group that will listen or watch the celebrities in the video. Furthermore the song used “Beggin’ u” is a popular song also liked by many of the age group in the target market. Likely,if the record sales of the song rise, then so will Adidas’ sales.
The design of the advert also lends to the image of the product within the eyes of the target market. As if 14 – 25 year olds believe that Katy Perry or David Beckham wear the Adidas originals then they are likely to aspire to be like them.
In addition to this as the video only shows small clips of the celebrities it is likely that the target market will wish to watch the advert again in order to see who was at the “house party”.
Evaluation
The strengths of the advert are;
- The celebrity factor: This lends to the brands image and appeals to the target market that they are aiming for.
- The song used; this particular tune has been released before, Adidas have been successful in making a remix and including it in the advert as it is likely one that will stick in the consumers mind, therefore they are not forgetting the advert quickly, and are more likely to consider a purchase.
- As it is being broadcast on TV, more of the target market are likely to see it and due to the nature of the ad, may be watching out to see it again.
The possible weakness of this advert;
- The music video advertisement has been done many times before and is becoming popular for many businesses to use. Therefore this particular advert may not suit the claim of Adidas’ “Celebrate Originality”
- With the range of celebrities chosen, the public may look at the ad with a critical eye, knowing that that selection of people are not likely to be at a house party together.
- Adidas hasn’t brought anything new to the market, even though the “originals” line is popular, but for the scale of the advertisements customers may have thought that a different product was made available.
Message Contents
What in particular is being conveyed in this advert is a strong image of the “3 stripe and sole” original Adidas trainers that can be worn, not just at a sporting event, but in everyday life, such as a house party. Therefore Adidas is hoping to set themselves apart from competitors such as Nike.
If the product itself has a popular and more quality image due to the celebrities that are seen to wear this product then the benefit the customer are likely to see is that it will in turn give them a good image.
Message structure
This advert has been well structured in the way that it has been put together, the beginning. The introduction is the song “beggin u”, then one by one celebrities are shown at the house party with the often camera shot showing the famous Adidas striped shoes. This is assuming that the customers will recognise the product. The actual name of the product is not shown till the very end of the advert. This is a clever structure to use if there is new customers watching also as due to the range of people in the advert, it would be worth it to a new customer to watch the advert till the end in order to see what product these people are wearing.
Likely due to the amount of people in this advert, and the status that they had, this advert will have been very timely and expensive. Therefore Adidas must be convinced that their market will respond well to the advert.
In addition the timing of the advert will have had to have been right in order to set off the campaign at the beginning of 2009, in which it is the originals 60th anniversary.
Has the marketing communication been effective?
How a business will measure if marketing communications have been effective
- Distinguished themselves from competition – if Adidas has distinguished themselves from the image of just selling sportswear, then they will have managed to give themselves a different image to that of their competitors.
- Increased sales – as the sales of the record have increase it is likely that this piece of marketing communication will in addition increase sales.
- Awareness of product – although this product has been around a long time marketing communications have succeeded to remind customers of the popularity and image of the brand.
- Developed interest in the product – due to the celebrities and fun of the advert, interest will have been developed not only for the product, but for the business.
“Ultimately, the key to successful business communication is understanding your audience and demonstrating that knowledge as you respond to their needs in a timely, professional manner”. - Mark Organ
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adidas Originals 2009 advertising campaign celebrates “60 Years of Soles and Stripes”
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